Mazda claims top place in reliability survey

Mazda vehicles have claimed the top place in one of the world’s largest ever studies into car reliability. Almost 92 per cent of the Mazda cars surveyed, aged between three and nine years old, suffered no mechanical failure of any type – outperforming all other brands.

The study, which was conducted by independent automotive warranty specialists, Warranty Direct, looked at the reliability of more than 450,000 vehicles, from 33 manufacturers, across the UK and USA. The resulting ‘Reliability League Table’ shows the number of failures reported for every 100 vehicles covered by its warranty policies.

Mazda was rated number one with a failure rate of just 8.04 per cent of all vehicles aged between three and nine years old. At the opposite extreme, famous 4x4 brands Land Rover and Jeep scored 44.21 and 46.35 per cent failure rates to fill the last two places in the survey.

“Mazda has been justifiably proud of both the build-quality and long-term reliability of its vehicles for many years,” commented Rob Lindley, managing director of Mazda Motors UK.

“This new survey clearly endorses our own views and confirms that Mazda reliability is not just very good – it’s the very best. To beat such global quality icon brands as Toyota, Honda, Porsche, BMW and Audi is a fine achievement.

“Over the last decade, loyal buyers of the Mazda MX-5 sports car have become familiar with our renowned build quality. In 2002, Mazda kick-started the change in perception of its brand with the first Zoom-Zoom product – the hugely popular Mazda6 – adding style and excitement without any loss of quality or reliability.

“Over the past five years Mazda has grown sales in the UK more than any other car brand – perhaps this has something to do with our legendary reliability. Today we market a completely renewed product line-up and passed the 50,000 sales mark for the first time in 2006. Now, one in every five sports cars sold in the UK is a Mazda, while our Mazda6 and Mazda3 ranges are immensely popular – an achievement underscored by the highest levels of reliability which ensures enjoyable and painless vehicle ownership.”