Elon Musk’s Tesla cars have been named and shamed as the least reliable – while Japanese motors are labelled as the most dependable
Tesla was listed rock bottom on the WhatCar? Reliability Survey with faults reported by nearly half of its owners
ELECTRIC car maker Tesla performed shockingly badly in the annual WhatCar? Reliability Survey, having been listed as the least dependable brand.
Elon Musk's models came back with a 57.3 per cent rating, with nearly half of surveyed owners reporting faults.
With 18,284 drivers included in the study, 159 different cars were assigned a score - and the least reliable model was also named as Tesla's Model S (from 2013).
It had a reliability ranking of just 50.9 per cent, whereas the most reliable cars were the Toyota Yaris and the Suzuki Sx4 S-Cross - both with a perfect 100-per-cent score.
Japanese cars swept the board with Suzuki, Lexus and Toyota making up the top three dependable car brands, respectively.
The nation's Mitsubishi and Subaru also finished joint fourth alongside Korean car maker Kia.
Meanwhile, Britain's Land Rover is the second-worst reliable brand having scored 76.5 per cent in the survey.
Range Rovers made in the last five years were also listed behind the Model S as the least dependable cars.
The sub-brand's Evoque (from 2011) and the Land Rover Discovery Sport (from 2015) made up the top five least reliable cars, with the Ford Edge Diesel (from 2016) in third place.
Electric car, the Nissan Leaf (2011-17) finished third in the most dependable car models list with a 99.7-per-cent score.
It was followed by the Toyota RAV 4X4 (2013-18) and the BMW 3 Series (2005-14) - both with a rating over 99 per cent.
Steve Huntingford, editor of industry bible WhatCar?, said: “Reliability is a huge consideration for any prospective car buyer, as your car is likely to be your second-biggest monthly expense after mortgage or rent payments.
"You want your car to last and you don’t want to have to fork out huge amounts to fix faults and keep it running.
“Our annual survey has shown that it is Japanese models that continue to dominate the top of the reliability rankings, both for car model and brand rankings.”
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A Tesla spokesperson said in response: “Only 28 Model S owners responded out of a total of 18,000 car owners surveyed by What Car?.
“That’s less than 0.3 per cent of UK Tesla owners, so this survey is statistically meaningless.
“The results of this survey are also at odds not only with our internal figures showing customer satisfaction scores for Model S and X at well over 90 per cent, but with statistically valid surveys like our Net Promotor Score and Consumer Reports customer satisfaction survey, which we’ve topped every year since 2013.
“Ninety per cent of Tesla owners saying they would buy the same car again – more than any other brand.
“We are committed to making the world’s best cars, and in order to ensure the highest quality, we review every vehicle for even the smallest refinement before it leaves the factory.
“To the extent repairs are needed, the majority of work carried out on cars up to four years old is done under warranty and free of charge to the customer while they are supplied with a courtesy car.
“Unlike other manufacturers, Tesla repairs can also be carried out in a customer’s driveway or office by mobile service, or even via over-the-air updates to minimise any disruption.”