Honda Dominates Which? Survey

Japanese car manufacturer Honda shows why it is one of the rising threats to other major carmakers. At this year’s Which? car reliability survey, the Japanese automaker virtually swept all distinctions for different segments. The said car reliability survey was conducted in the United Kingdom and is considered as the biggest survey in the said region. This year, almost 100,000 respondents were polled.

The Honda Jazz, which is known as the Honda Fit in the United Sates, Japan, China, and the rest of North America and South America, topped all cars on the survey. An overwhelming 96 percent of the more than 1,300 Jazz/Fit owners said that the hatchback rarely lets them down. This made the Jazz/Fit the leading nameplate in its class in terms of reliability.

The Jazz/Fit is not the only vehicle made by Honda with a good reliability according to consumers in the United Kingdom. The Honda Accord with its Honda Accord catalytic converter was tied with the BMW 3 Series and the Toyota Avensis for the top honors on the large car category. All these three nameplates received favorable comments from 94 percent of the polled owners of the said nameplates.

For the Multi Purpose Vehicle or MPV category, the Honda FR-V received 91 percent favorable votes from the polled owners. The MPV from the Japanese automaker is also the only minivan in the European auto market with a 3+3 seating configuration apart from the Fiat Multipla.

The previous generation of the compact sports utility vehicle CR-V also received favorable results as it topped the off-roader segment. The CR-V shared the honors with the Toyota RAV4 which is considered as its toughest competition in the market.

Aside from these winners, the car survey conducted by the subscription-only magazine and website includes Asian and European nameplates. For the luxury car segment, the most reliable car according to the respondents of the survey is the Audi A6 with a 91 percent approval rate. For the MINI-MPV segment, the Nissan Note topped its competition by registering 94 percent of approval rate from its users.

For sports cars, respondents of the survey singled out the Mazda MX-5 as the most reliable of the lot. The agile roadster from the Asian carmaker received a 94 percent approval rate from consumers.

Although Honda practically swept the survey, one disappointing result is that of the Honda Civic. The newest version of the Honda Civic only received an 82 percent approval rate from respondents owning the latest Civic. According to consumers, the newest Honda Civic has issues concerning its fuel system, steering and suspension as well.

According to Which?, the least reliable nameplate today is the Land Rover Discovery 3. The said nameplate only received 79 percent approval rate from respondents. The reliability or lack thereof of the Land Rover would surely hurt its stocks as Ford is now looking to auction off the British brand.

Aside from the Land Rover Discovery 3 and the Honda Civic, other nameplates which performed poorly in the reliability survey are the Volkswagen Passat, the Peugeot 307 and the Renault Megane. All of these received nod from only 82 percent of its respective owners.

According to Which?, these are the cars that they would recommend for their reliability: the Honda Jazz, Mazda 2, Toyota Yaris, BMW 1-Series, Mazda 3, Volkswagen Golf, BMW 3-Series, Honda Accord, Lexus IS, Toyota Prius, Audi A6, Jaguar XJ, Lexus GS, Nissan Note, Renault Modus, Ford S-Max, Honda FR-V, Toyota Verso, Mazda MX-5 and the Volkswagen Eos.