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The MOST UNRELIABLE cars (and brands) of 2026! | What Car?

These are the most unreliable automobiles in 2026– based upon what more than 39,000 owners told us in the yearly What Cars and truck? Reliability Study. We reveal the 10 models with the lowest reliability ratings, plus the five brands with the worst total outcomes.

You'll discover:
– How the survey works: 39,000+ owners, 225 models and 30 brand names rated on faults, repair work costs and time off the roadway
– 10th to sixth: the household SUVs and EVs starting the countdown
– 5th to fourth: premium SUVs and electrical designs struggle for reliability
– Bottom 3 revealed: the designs with the worst scores for faults and repair work hold-ups
– The most undependable cars and truck of 2026 revealed
– 5 worst brands overall: how the bottom five compare and which designs drag their ratings down
– What to purchase instead: find the full outcomes and the majority of dependable cars on whatcar.com

Inform us about the reliability of your car by completing the What Automobile? Dependability Study:

Don't forget to subscribe! Hit subscribe and switch on alerts for lots more brand-new vehicle reviews, reveals and road trips: @whatcar

Thinking of purchasing used or new? Read our full, in-depth Reliability Survey outcomes and examine the current pricing on every brand-new automobile right here:

What Vehicle? is the UK's greatest car-buying brand name and has been helping buyers for more than 50 years. Our tests are widely considered as the most independent and thorough.

Our YouTube channel brings you trusted evaluations on all types of automobile, plus cars and truck news, reveals and includes.

Thorough written reviews are available on our website www.whatcar.com, where you'll likewise discover advice functions, and the most recent new and pre-owned vehicle offers.

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#MostUnreliableCars #LeastReliableCars #WorstCars #CarReview #WhatCar

Video chapters:
0:00 Most undependable automobiles 2026!
0:35 How the Dependability Survey works
1:41 No. 10 to No. 6.
5:24 No. 5 to No. 1.
9:00 The 5 worst brands for reliability.
10:48 Complete results & tell us about your vehicle!

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Comments

61 responses to “The MOST UNRELIABLE cars (and brands) of 2026! | What Car?”

  1. @jondu-sud274 Avatar
    @jondu-sud274

    Very important subject. Highest value to buyers, new and used. More on this please.

    Reply
  2. @Gonefishin27 Avatar
    @Gonefishin27

    So if the Jaecoo J7 was launched less than 2 years ago in the Uk (Dec 2024) and has a 7 year warranty, why are so many owners being charged???

    Reply
    1. @ashliehiggins Avatar
      @ashliehiggins

      the only thing covered for 7 years is body rust, which is below industry standards as European and Japanese brands offer 12 years.

      Reply
    2. @Gonefishin27 Avatar
      @Gonefishin27

      @ashliehiggins : from the Jaecoo UK website : “ABOUT THE JAECOO SEVEN-YEAR WARRANTY
      We aim to achieve the highest standards of quality and warranty. Every new JAECOO comes with a comprehensive manufacturer warranty as standard, so there’s no need to worry about additional repair costs.”

      Reply
    3. @AdrianWagstaff-gt6ne Avatar
      @AdrianWagstaff-gt6ne

      Because the cars and the warranty are both rubbish

      Reply
    4. @user-xn9mu7op7h Avatar
      @user-xn9mu7op7h

      The Chinese

      Reply
    5. @Brian-om2hh Avatar
      @Brian-om2hh

      Probably because the warranty isn’t as comprehensive as they first thought, and the failures aren’t covered. The MG warranty is a bit like that…..I’ve also read comments – on MG owner forums – regarding indifferent customer service from MG dealers. I did quite fancy an MG5S (or whatever it’s called) at one point, but I’ll hold off now. My father in-law has a 9 year old Toyota RAV 4, which he bought new (he’s had 5 of them in 30 odd years). And it recently failed an MOT because of (I think) suspension arms. He always has the car serviced by Toyota, so the repairs were covered by Toyota’s 10 year warranty. He was told that had he been charged for the work, it would have cost £1500+.

      Reply
  3. @jondu-sud274 Avatar
    @jondu-sud274

    Since the faults seem focussed on non engine electrics, why not BRING BACK THE KNOBS 😊

    Reply
    1. @bullcompost Avatar
      @bullcompost

      There are loads of them. They are head of product development, now. 😜

      Reply
    2. @josephberrie9550 Avatar
      @josephberrie9550

      all the knobs are working in the quality and accountancy departments

      Reply
    3. @CianMcsweeney Avatar
      @CianMcsweeney

      cost cutting, manual controls often need to be designed per model and require more space and materials/labour

      Reply
    4. @ПанКоцький-ъ6с Avatar
      @ПанКоцький-ъ6с

      А куди діти жадібність інвесторів ???

      Reply
    5. @ianstewartorr8455 Avatar
      @ianstewartorr8455

      Say that under a red light

      Reply
  4. @paulprescott147 Avatar
    @paulprescott147

    If only everything in life was as unreliable as a Volkswagen

    Reply
    1. @Brian-om2hh Avatar
      @Brian-om2hh

      I’ve had several VW’s over my 50+ years of driving. Never a problem…. same with the 5 Skoda’s I’ve had. Good cars and great customer service.

      Reply
    2. @CianMcsweeney Avatar
      @CianMcsweeney

      VW used to be reliable, still driving a 2005 Golf that’s only now coming to it’s end of life, from the 2010s to now their reliability has gotten worse and worse every year

      Reply
    3. @christopherrumantono2384 Avatar
      @christopherrumantono2384

      I have the air cooled Beetle, is far more reliable than many people imagine

      Reply
    4. @eastwood978 Avatar
      @eastwood978

      Surveys like this are nonsense. The vast majority don’t take part. Those that do exaggerate and many of the reliability issues are things like owners inability to use Bluetooth to link their phone to the car. 39,000 took part in the survey over two years when 2 million new cars are sold in the UK each year. 😂

      Reply
    5. @oscartaylor8834 Avatar
      @oscartaylor8834

      VW is weird for reliability. I’ve had several. I’ve found they go wrong during their warranty for gremlins then out of warranty they’re usually alright. Had an Up in the family from new – went in about half a dozen times for repair including a new 02 sensor, new radio antenna and a new ECU among other things. Then after the warranty expired it was faultless for the next 7 years and only needed general service bits!

      Reply
  5. @stevencampbell1150 Avatar
    @stevencampbell1150

    What makes me laugh is the amount of German cars that are included in this list. People buy these cars thinking they’re bomb proof when they’re far from it. As for the JLR stuff no surprise there.

    Reply
    1. @BEVolutionUK Avatar
      @BEVolutionUK

      VW reliability has been dropping fast for the last 2 decades

      Reply
    2. @CianMcsweeney Avatar
      @CianMcsweeney

      they used to be reliable cars

      Reply
    3. @intruder313 Avatar
      @intruder313

      They used to be good but dropped off ages ago. Ford are more reliable now and even Porsche are infamously dodgy now.

      Reply
    4. @ColinJosefino Avatar
      @ColinJosefino

      No, most people don’t buy them for reliability, they buy them because they’re “cool” and are give you a “higher status”. Obviously things are shifting these days

      Reply
    5. @stevencampbell1150 Avatar
      @stevencampbell1150

      ​@intruder313that’s because Porsche are essentially VW. Ford on the other hand aren’t exactly a byword for reliability.

      Reply
  6. @paulgreen7906 Avatar
    @paulgreen7906

    Modern cars are full of unneeded tech. I see a computer screen on a dash…I think I bet that goes wrong very soon. I drive a 1990 Lancia Delta Integrale HF. I do all the repairs myself with a spanner a small hammer and a large hammer, no need to diagnose faults by plugging in a laptop!

    Reply
  7. @jamesecroucher Avatar
    @jamesecroucher

    Having watched this, bit unfair WhatCar to show a mildly blurred Vauxhall Corsa on the video thumbnail if it doesn’t appear at all 🧐

    Reply
  8. @ISuperTed Avatar
    @ISuperTed

    So dominated by German cars and JLR. Pretty sad really, shows how much standards have fallen, but prices have still rocketed.

    Reply
    1. @insaneshepherd8678 Avatar
      @insaneshepherd8678

      VW software showing off

      Reply
    2. @TheImperfectGuy Avatar
      @TheImperfectGuy

      Jaguar and Land Rover have an esteemed 50 year history of being horrifically unreliable though

      Reply
    3. @Kidderman2210 Avatar
      @Kidderman2210

      @TheImperfectGuy And both were part of British Leyland in the 1970s. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

      Reply
  9. @whatcar Avatar
    @whatcar

    Has your car let you down? Or has it been faultlessly reliable? Let us know by filling in the What Car? Reliability Survey using the link below:

    https://survey.alchemer.eu/s3/90474827/6fe2cc473d53&rdt=1

    Your responses will be included in next years results!

    Reply
    1. @Smite-MeisterEd Avatar
      @Smite-MeisterEd

      You would think that older and more expensive brands will have less reliability issues .

      Reply
    2. @borassictime918 Avatar
      @borassictime918

      If only everything was an unreliable as a Volkswagen…🤔

      Reply
  10. @fester. Avatar
    @fester.

    Land Rover/Range Rover I had to say a prayer every time I took it out. Never again now

    Reply
  11. @DjangTchoub Avatar
    @DjangTchoub

    You can add the Skoda Superb estate as far as I’m concerned, 2023 model 56,700 miles, 4 days out of warranty last month and needing its first MOT when the central electronic command unit failed needing a replacement at a cost of £1200. I dropped in at 2 Skoda garages from Dover going north (Canterbury and Ashford) to ask for a diagnosis and neither took the time to look at it. It was eventually repaired at the garage where I purchased the car and they said the unit failed because I had a 3rd party tow bar attached. (Skoda wouldn’t attach a tow bar when I purchased it in 2024.) I have lost confidence in the brand.

    Reply
    1. @ketkroketdumont8238 Avatar
      @ketkroketdumont8238

      Skoda=VW

      Reply
    2. @eastwood978 Avatar
      @eastwood978

      Maybe they were correct & a cowboy connected the tow bar electrics wrong & damaged the control unit. Can’t really blame the vehicle if true.

      Reply
  12. @ChuckNORRlS Avatar
    @ChuckNORRlS

    Top 10 Most Unreliable Cars:

    1. Volkswagen Tiguan (New Generation) (7:53)
    2. Renault Arkana (7:15)
    3. Mercedes-Benz GLE (6:35)
    4. Volkswagen ID.4 (6:00)
    5. Land Rover Discovery Sport (5:24)
    6. Jaecoo J7 (4:42)
    7. BMW X3 (Previous Generation, Petrol) (3:57)
    8. Volkswagen Tiguan (Previous Generation) (3:25)
    9. Nissan Qashqai (Previous Generation) (2:25)
    10. Range Rover Evoque (1:47)

    5 Least Reliable Brands Overall (9:00)
    26th: Fiat (including Abarth)
    27th: Volkswagen
    28th: Jaguar
    29th: Audi
    30th: Land Rover (The least reliable brand with an 84.9% average score

    Reply
    1. @marian.florin. Avatar
      @marian.florin.

      ur the king

      Reply
    2. @ninoloso Avatar
      @ninoloso

      U r the Emperor

      Reply
    3. @DebinNovaScotia Avatar
      @DebinNovaScotia

      Thanks for the quick list.

      Reply
    4. @bluegtturbo Avatar
      @bluegtturbo

      No surprise there…all the usual suspects

      Reply
    5. @YJK-l4k Avatar
      @YJK-l4k

      Gotta respect Jaguar Land Rover for their year on year consistency for being the most unreliable cars. They clearly work at it. Should really go bust soon.

      Reply
  13. @funnyaisongs118 Avatar
    @funnyaisongs118

    This is too funny. People keep saying do not buy Chinese cars as they are cheap and unreliable, yet out of all the Chinese brands available in the UK at the moment, only one Chinese car brand made it onto this list. JLR seems to always make it on the crappy car lists, but for some reason, people still are willing to pay silly money for them?

    Reply
    1. @eastwood978 Avatar
      @eastwood978

      Chinese cars are all new no 5 year old Jaecoo 7’s with 150k on the clock been pulling horse boxes & caravans around working hard. Time will tell. Probably be pretty good but to early to say.

      Reply
    2. @boboutelama5748 Avatar
      @boboutelama5748

      They are indeed, unreliable. Other quality rankings have shown it.
      But even those that are a little bit more reliable, suffer from bad corrosion protection and lack of availability of spare parts.
      And, to be honest, who wants a car made by concentration camp detainees ?

      Reply
  14. @Dorset_Dave Avatar
    @Dorset_Dave

    This list is based on owners filling in a survey, whereas the Warranty Wise reliability index is based on actual warranty claims and repairs, and their top ten are 5 Land Rover models, 3 BMW’s, 1 Audi, and 1 Merc.

    Reply
    1. @insaneshepherd8678 Avatar
      @insaneshepherd8678

      Sure, but that has it’s own issue since premium cars tend to have more insurance. An issue in a 10 y/o Dacia might get fixed in the local independent repair shop while the LR with the same age would be a warranty claim.

      Same as the WhatCar list, both have a bias against premium cars.

      Reply
    2. @306maxievo2 Avatar
      @306maxievo2

      Yeah, surveys are a terrible way of doing this sort of thing.

      All of a sudden an infotainment issue is considered to be as important as an issue with an engine that causes a breakdown.

      Reply
    3. @HALman1973 Avatar
      @HALman1973

      @insaneshepherd8678 Because people who spend the extra for their premium car expect a premium product that doesn’t keep going wrong.

      Reply
    4. @simono4991 Avatar
      @simono4991

      That cannot be, as only Land Rovers are unreliable, everyone knows German cars are all completely reliable.

      Reply
  15. @log874 Avatar
    @log874

    In true Whatcar style, they still rate the new VW Tiguan 4 stars, and the ever reliable Lexus UX 3 stars 😂.

    Reply
  16. @ltrtg13 Avatar
    @ltrtg13

    It doesn’t surprise me about JLR. I hear 40% of their cars are built to process and 60% aren’t. As I describe their cars, 40% are screwed together and 60% are screwed up.

    Reply
    1. @eastwood978 Avatar
      @eastwood978

      You’ve been fooled by statistics. JLR sells 80k vehicles in the UK each year, VW 160k, 2 million new cars are sold each year while this survey over two years had less than 40k responses. Most of the “faults” were the inability to understand functions or difficulty pairing a phone to the entertainment system. It’s meaningless as they don’t differentiate between a bit of loose trim and a failed gearbox.

      Reply
    2. @YJK-l4k Avatar
      @YJK-l4k

      standard for JLR, they just cant build good cars, they cheap out on under the skin components. Always have been unreliable and always will be. Most of the cars i see broken down on the motorways are Land Rovers

      Reply
  17. @shavaughndavidson2257 Avatar
    @shavaughndavidson2257

    Realize who is no longer on the list MG

    Reply
    1. @TerryHickey-xt4mf Avatar
      @TerryHickey-xt4mf

      I have owned an MG ev for over 3.7 years here in NZ, and it has been faultless. I keep seeing these youtube reports about how unreliable MG are in Europe, so it was a bit of a relief to see them NOT on the list.

      Reply
  18. @deepcut.official Avatar
    @deepcut.official

    Absolutely brilliant watch!. My 16 year old Mitsubishi has cost me 700 quid in repairs since buying it back in 2019.

    It’s so crazy to me that folks still think German cars are bomb proof. BMW alone have been nose diving since the mid noughties!.

    I’ll stick with my shitheap for a few more years I think 💪

    Reply
  19. @rob2020-wz6ru Avatar
    @rob2020-wz6ru

    I gave up on French and German car many years ago. I prefer Toyota and Lexus. I’ve taken a chance, and bought a 2024 MG4. Strangely enough it hasn’t had any issues. It start and go and are fun to drive. A very joyful ownership.

    Reply
  20. @osmund10 Avatar
    @osmund10

    What a sterling start for the Jaguar 01! JLR worst brand, two models in the top ten worst – could there be a more reassuring entry into the super luxury class? It’s almost like failing to high jump 150cm, then confidently raising the bar to 220cm.

    Reply

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