Most reliable car brands for 2026

A reliable car is one you can trust not to let you down. But no amount of test drives or chats with your local dealer will tell you how reliable a car is.

Every year, we survey thousands of drivers to find out if they've had any problems with their car. These can range from minor issues to catastrophic failures. We use the results to identify which brands make the most and least reliable vehicles.

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Most and least reliable car brands

Which? members can log in view access the car brand reliability tool below, which lets you look up detailed reliability data for each manufacturer, including for individual fuel types.

Not yet a member? Join Which? today to unlock our results and access all of our online reviews.

Simply search for a brand (and, optionally, fuel type) to see the star ratings for each age bracket.

Click the brand name for more information, such as the most common faults.

How we work out car reliability

Our robust reliability research is powered by the experiences of 63,334 owners who have given detailed insight into the ownership and maintenance of 72,470 cars (Which? car survey, in field April 2025 to June 2025).

The reliability scores are calculated from data including the number of breakdowns and faults suffered by cars in the past 12 months.

Faults are weighted according to seriousness. So the more severe the fault and the more time the car is off the road, the harder the model will be hit in our results. These scores are represented by a star rating, with one star being the worst and five the best.