Which cars are the most reliable – South African Ipsos Quality Survey

By Chad Lückhoff

Reliability is one of the most deciding factors when selecting a new car, not only in the new car market but in the used-car sector as well. While the reliability of a used car can be influenced by the age, mileage and service history, cars that were reliable to start with generally pose less of a risk.

It's a huge selling factor for manufacturers and Ipsos, an international research company has evaluated over 70% of the local market to ascertain their reliability. While there are a few notable names who chose not to partake in this survey and study, the overall results are not as surprising as one would think.

In 2015 Ipsos changed the format of the study somewhat, including design faults into the study of defects which changes the rankings a little, but gives the consumer a better idea of where the shortcomings of the new vehicle are, not only in quality but in design.

Attached to this article are several images that show how some of the popular choices in South Africa rank amongst their peers. The gauge is PP100 which implies Problems Per 100 vehicles, so a lower number is better.

Local IS lekker

The good news is that the locally manufactured vehicles fared considerably well when compared to their imported counterparts.

In the Passenger Car sector, locally produced vehicles returned an average of 60 PP100 with defects counting for 38 while design flaws counted 22. This is in comparison to imported vehicles that finished on 68 PP100 with a split of 41 for defects and 27 for design flaws.

The Light Commercial Vehicle category saw local offers register 86 PP100, split into 54 defects and 32 design flaws. The imported range fared better though, with a score of 67 PP100 consisting of 39 defects and 28 design flaws.

The most common complaint amongst almost all categories from owners surveyed 90 days after purchase, was with regards to fuel consumption. This is predictable thanks to the rising costs of fuel locally as well as the manufacturer quoted consumption figures, which are seldom tested outside of controlled environments, factoring in things like altitude, fuel grade, and quality.

The second most common complaint was a lack of performance followed by unspecified noises.

How they ranked

The Passenger Car category saw Audi, Volkswagen and Toyota each collect four gold awards, while Nissan picked up three and Ford two.

In the Recreational Vehicle category, Toyota was awarded gold twice, followed by Audi, Renault, and Opel with one gold award each. 

It was Nissan, with five gold awards, which came out top in the Light Commercial vehicle category, followed by Toyota with four, and Volkswagen with two.