Reliability has always been a big selling point for cars, and with economic times being a little harder than they were a few years ago, it has become even more important. Those in the process of deciding on a new or second hand car will find a recent reliability survey by What Car? and Warranty Direct of particular interest; of the top 10 most reliable cars, the top 5 spots are taken by Japanese marques.

Honda came out on top, followed by Toyota, Lexus, Suzuki and Subaru. Korea’s Hyundai came next, after which came two more Japanese car makers – Mazda and Mitsubishi.

The survey also revealed that luxury cars were much more likely to break down than normal production cars. This is bad enough for such expensive items, but when you consider how much it costs to repair higher-end cars, it becomes even more serious.

Of all the brands in the survey, Land Rover was considered least reliable. Overall, European brands did not fare well, experiencing failure rates (the chance of at least one breakdown a year) of between 31% and 55%. This figure compares to just 10% for a Honda.

Despite this news, the desire to buy-in to luxury marques shows no sign of abating. Many put the failure rates of luxury cars down to the sheer number of gadgets that are packed on-board – gadgets that customers now expect.

While finding a reliable car appears to be no small task, at least it’s easy to find breakdown insurance you can rely on – with startrescue.co.uk.