Bentley has been named as producing the least reliable cars. Surprisingly, quite a few of the German manufacturers have come towards the bottom on the reliability index as well including Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche.
Although I say surprisingly, that is because the majority of people associate these German manufacturers with the best quality in the industry, but for me personally, I am not that surprised. My family has had a history of German cars most notably Audis and it is absolutely true that the build quality of the cars have been going downhill (in my opinion since the B7 A4s). Audis used to be built very solidly, so much so that you would not hear any rattling or creaks in the interior. I have been driving an Audi A1 for around 4 years and I have been to the Audi dealer with ECU problems, turbo problems and suspension defects numerous times. Ok, so it’s the A1 and it is the lowest model in the range, but that is the car that Audi are probably selling the most of and to have all those problems will surely move some people away from the brand.
The reliability index is based on how many repairs are needed for all models of a manufacturer. Now what is surprising is that Bentley is at the bottom because obviously it’s a luxury car manufacturer. Then again, it’s part of the VAG group and similarly to Porsche and Audi, they are ranked near the bottom. One possible explanation is that because German cars have the most and best technology currently, it means that there is more that can go wrong due to the sheer amount of technology.
Perhaps another explanation for this is that there is such a demand for German built cars nowadays, that quality has gone down. Think about how many new models have come about since the last decade. Audi have constantly been beating sales records month after month and it’s not surprising why. They do make great cars with nice interiors and the build quality is good (bar the A1). This post is in no way saying that Audi make the worst cars, and I actually don’t believe that they’re one of the least reliable because to be honest, the only problems we’ve had with Audis is with the A1 so perhaps Audi need to focus on building the A1s more solidly (because that is ruining its reliability index). We are currently running two other Audis and no problems so far.
For your information, Honda was the most reliable along with other Japanese manufacturers. Good news for GM - Chevy came fourth. The reliability index is just some average stats. Some models of a manufacturer can be worse than others so it certainly shouldn’t dissuade you from buying from German manufacturers. I merely wanted to highlight the problems I personally have had with the Audi A1 only. The only thing I’d say is that quality should be the key focus for these German manufacturers if they are to maintain their aura of superiority.
