8:05 am, October 2, 2025
The most unreliable used cars have been revealed by What Car? after a survey of more than 30,000 drivers – and the Nissan Juke topped the pile.
Some 24% of owners of the petrol-powered Nissan Juke, made from 2019 onwards, said their car had gone wrong and 60% said the faults had cost them more than £1,500 to repair.
The latest generation 2024 model Volkswagen Tiguan was the second most unreliable car and the Kia Sportage made between 2016 and 2021 was the third worst performer.
What Car? has named and shamed the most unreliable cars in its annual Reliability Survey which asked owners if they had suffered any faults in the last two years, how long repairs took and how much they cost. The results are expressed as a Reliability Rating percentage for each car.
MG was the worst performing brand, closely followed by Nissan, Fiat, Jaguar and Land Rover.
At the top of the reliable cars pile, four cars scored 100% ratings giving them equal first place in the survey. The latest Hyundai i10, the Hyundai Santa Fe made between 2018-2024, the Kia EV3 and the Toyota GR Yaris scored 100%.
The most unreliable used cars
Source: What Car? October 2025, reliability rating after dash
- Nissan Juke petrol (2019-present) – 55.2%
- Volkswagen Tiguan (2024-present) – 64.2%
- Kia Sportage (2016-2021) – 72.9%
- Mazda CX-60 (2022-present) – 76.2%
- Mercedes C-Class (2021-present) – 76.3%
- Volvo S90 (2016-2023) / Volvo V90 (2016-present) – 76.7%
- Audi Q7 (2015-present) – 78.6%
- Volkswagen ID.4 (2021-present) – 79.6%
- Hyundai Ioniq Electric (2016-2022) – 80.1%
- Renault Austral (2023-present) – 80.4%
Overall, 22% of owners said their car had experienced issues in the past 24 months. Some 95% of owners said the repairs were carried out for free, 4% cost up to £500 and 1.4% of owners had to pay out more than £1,500 to get their cars fixed.
What Car? consumer editor, Claire Evans, said: ‘One in four cars aged up to five years old went wrong, and although most were fixed by the car makers, when they didn’t step up and do this, it left some owners with eye-watering bills.
‘Buying brand new isn’t a guarantee you’ll get a reliable car, as the Tiguan shows, and there can be big differences in dependability between models from the same brand, so it’s vital to check the What Car? Reliability Survey findings for any model you’re considering buying.’
The most reliable used cars
Source: What Car? October 2025, reliability rating after dash
- Hyundai i10 (2020-present) – 100.0%
- Hyundai Santa Fe (2018-2024) – 100.0%
- Kia EV3 (2024-present) – 100.0%
- Toyota GR Yaris (2020-present) – 100.0%
- Toyota Aygo X (2021-present) – 99.7%
- Vauxhall Grandland petrol (2024-present) – 99.6%
- Toyota RAV4 (2019-present) – 99.2%
- Mini Hatchback (2014-2024) – 99.1%
- Volkswagen T-Roc (2018-2025) – 99.0%
- Porsche Macan (2014-present) – 99.0%
In terms of the most reliable car makers, Honda was top with 96.6%, Mini second 96.4% and Suzuki third with 95.7%.
A Nissan spokesperson said: ‘We are pleased to see that Qashqai, X-Trail and LEAF all performed well in their classes with a 95% or higher reliability score, and all were in the top 25% of most reliable cars overall.
‘The Juke result is disappointing as it differs from our customer data and from other independent sources and we are discussing this with What Car?
‘Nissan is fully committed to the highest standards of quality and reliability in its vehicles and always values fair and constructive customer feedback.’
