Buying a new or nearly new car reduces that risk, but just because it’s fresh out of the showroom doesn’t mean it won’t go wrong. In the 2022 What Car? Reliability Survey, 21% of the cars up to five years old had at least one issue, and although 83% of remedial work was covered by car makers or dealers, that left 17% of owners with bills, some of which topped £1500.

So, the secret to keeping motoring costs down is to select the make and model of your new or used car carefully. Pick a dependable one and you should have no nasty surprises. That’s where our annual survey can help.

We asked nearly 25,000 owners to tell us whether their cars had suffered any faults in the previous two years over 14 key areas such as brakes, engine, and infotainment/sat-nav. We use the results to create a unique reliability rating for each model. Let’s take a look at the most reliable cars you can buy – and the least.

Thinking of buying a new small SUV? Then make sure you read our countdown of the top 10 cars in this booming sector – plus, find out which ones we'd avoid

We rate this electric SUV so highly that we named it Car of the Year. But does it continue to impress when you live with it every day?

With names like E-Tense, TFSIe and eHybrid, these SUVs are eager to promote their electrification and efficiency. But which one’s the boss?

What Car? is part of Haymarket Automotive, a division of Haymarket Media Group © Haymarket Media Group 2022