That's part of Warranty Direct, so applies to vehicles warranted with them.

Just looked at Toyota Landcruiser on their site, rated as poor, which tells me all i need to know.

You could do far worse than use HJ's reviews on this very site, the good and bad sections in particular to get a feel for likely reliability.

So much depends on the use and the care and preventative maintenance a vehicle has received in its life, and with a used car you can only go by what you see in front of you and what you can learn from the car's history in terms of servicing and number of owners.

Reliable vehicles still need good maintenance or they will be worse than an unreliable vehicle that has been well cared for and maintained meticulously.

Those 1.6 HDi engines generally only suffered due to poor maintenance or if the injector seals failed, but lack of care is rife with new car owners, especially those who will shift them on when warranty expires, this all makes used buying more of a careful selection process than many can be bothered with, lack of due diligence in research and inspection is the best way to end up with a lemon.

Edited by SLO76 on 03/02/2020 at 14:21

Bear in mind that people do not just use such surveys evenly, i.e. a wide and representative cross-section of the public. That's why I take such surveys, especially when they are from firms that provide after-market warranties for second-hand cars, with a big pinch of salt.

As SLO says, funny how certain makes from certain parts of the world and certain models of car seem to to make up the vast majority of older cars, often despite them being sold in vastly smaller numbers than Euro brands. What reputable minicab drivers like is indeed a good guide, given how much mileage they do (including in areas not affected by low emissions zones).

Cars also following the KISS principle also tend to hang around for longer, as long as they have decent rust-proofing.

The problem with surveys is that the results depend on the question asked (do they only consider cars between 2 and 4 years old for example) and partly that the survey selects a particular group of people eg readers of What Car, or people with Direct Line.

One good example is electrics. Posh cars with lots of electrics may well score lower, nit because the cars are worse, but because they have more items that can fail. So your bargain basement car might appear more reliable.

A good example of the daftness of surveys appeared a few years ago. It might have been What Car. They scored the Skoda Citigo or Seat Mii much higher than the VW Up, but they are essentially the same cars, made in the same factory, with small cosmetic differences.

Most new cars will have faults. However some cars are better made than others, for example better underbody rustproofing, so although they may perhaps have more faults for the first three years under warranty, over ten years they might end up far better. I was impressed by my VW Up (which does have known gearbox issues) compared to my previous Ford so I stuck with VAG.

It's exactly 40 years (from when I had the first of seven Renaults) from when dealers have cleaned my cars inside and out when servicing them.

I'm fairly sure they clean them after the service rather than before, but they could choose to do it the other way round if a car is caked in mud. I agree entirely if you want a mechanic to do a good job you shouldn't make it difficult for them.