10 LEAST reliable cars in 2024!

What are the least reliable cars you can buy? According to Warrantywise, the UK’s leading provider of aftermarket warranties, here is a list of 10 less reliable cars. They have data from thousands of breakdowns and car-related problems. They’ve analyzed this data to work out which cars are the most and the least reliable. They recorded the age and mileage of each car and they know how much they cost to fix and how long the repairs took. So, Warrantywise factored in all this information into a reliability index and that gives each car a score out of 100. The lower the score, the less reliable the car is.

10. Range Rover Sport

10th place on this list goes to the previous generation Range Rover Sport. Warranty wise gave it a reliability score of 34.6 out of 100, thanks to some fairly common suspension issues. On average, Warrantywise paid £2,280 to fix these Range Rover Sports, but that’s nothing compared to what one repair costs. One car had a much more serious engine fault that ended up costing £3,252 to put right. I bet the owner was glad they had an aftermarket warranty when they got that bill. I shouldn’t be laughing, really.

9. SEAT Leon Cupra and Audi A7

Taking joint ninth place are the SEAT Leon Cupra and Audi A7, which both scored 33.4 out of 100. To be specific, I’m talking about cars registered between 2014 and early 2022. The most common issue with the A7 had to do with the emission control system, while the SEAT Leon Cupra suffered from cooling issues. The average repair cost for these cars was £1,020 for the SEAT and, unsurprisingly, slightly more for the Audi at £2,367 for the A7. But the most expensive faults were much more expensive. One SEAT Leon Cupra had an engine fault that cost £3,984 to fix. Still, that’s about a tenth of the price of that previous Range Rover Sport engine fault. But one unlucky A7 owner had a serious engine fault that cost Warrantywise £31,900.

8. Audi RS3

The eighth least reliable car on Warrantywise’s list is another Audi. It’s the previous generation RS3. Warrantywise has paid out £339 on average to fix broken RS3s, and the most common issues were gearbox faults. But that’s not all. The gearbox in one car was so buggered that it cost £9,500 to put right. Warrantywise factored all this into its reliability index and gave the Audi RS3 a score of 32.1 out of 100. Now, I wonder, in the past whenever I’ve launched Audi RS3s, they were really brutal off the line. However, with the later generation models and the very most recent cars, the launch is much more progressive. I wonder if Audi was aware that the launches were hurting their gearboxes. I don’t know, I’ve just totally made that up, but it sort of makes sense to me.

7. Audi RS6

In seventh place is yet another Audi. It’s the Audi RS6, specifically the C7 and early C8 models.. Warrantywise found that the most common issues with the older RS6s were electrical problems. The average repair bill for these cars came to £279. Ironically, the most expensive breakage on one of these cars was to do with the brakes, and it cost a total of £8,581 to fix. Wait a minute, let’s just stop there. That’s a lot for fixing the brakes. They must have been the carbon-ceramic ones. This meant that the Audi RS6 scored 30.3 out of 100 in Warrantywise’s survey.

6. Tesla Model S

Next up in sixth place is the Tesla Model S. I bet you were all waiting for a Tesla on this list, right? What might not surprise you is that these cars tend to suffer from, yeah, electrical issues. On average, the Model S cost £1,281 to fix. But one major battery problem on a Tesla Model S actually ended up costing Warrantywise £10,025 to fix. Now, Tesla actually offers a really impressive 8-year, 150,000-mile warranty on battery and drive units in the new Model S, so this particular car must have been a bit older. But when you factor this into the overall reliability score, Warrantywise awarded the Tesla Model S just 25.9 points out of a possible 100.

5. Maserati Levante

At number five, we have an Italian car living up to the stereotype. They don’t have the best reputation for reliability, and it looks like the Maserati Levante is no different. Warrantywise gave it a score of 25.3 out of 100, putting it in fifth place. Weirdly, there wasn’t one single common issue affecting these cars, just lots and lots of different ones. And they were pretty expensive to fix too, because the average repair cost recorded by Warrantywise for the Maserati was £2,974. But the most expensive repair cost more than nine times that amount. One unlucky owner, or should we say lucky because they actually took out an aftermarket warranty, had engine problems with their car which came to a total bill of £27,800.

4. Tesla Model X

In at number four, another Tesla. According to Warrantywise, this is the least reliable electric car on this list. It’s the Model X. Can you guess what the most common issues were? Not electrical faults this time, and not those really complex Falcon Wing doors. The most common problem was actually with the car’s suspension. The average repair cost on a Tesla Model X came to £1,181, but one suspension issue was so severe that it cost Warrantywise £4,704 to fix. So, how come Warrantywise ranked this Tesla as less reliable than the Maserati Levante even though the repair costs are less? Well, it turns out there was just more chance of a Tesla going wrong. So, more chance of a Tesla going wrong than a Maserati. Makes you think. Anyway, this contributed to the Tesla Model X only scoring 24.6 out of a possible 100 points for reliability according to Warrantywise.

3. BMW M3

Now we come to the three least reliable cars according to Warrantywise. In at number three, we have the BMW M3. Now, I love my old G80 BMW M3, and thankfully I had no issues with it whatsoever. Warrantywise gave this particular car a rather disappointing 24 out of 100 in its reliability index. That means that the M3 is the least reliable small saloon car too. Common issues related to the twin turbos you get on the M3’s S55 engine, and this contributed to an average repair bill of £2,451. The gearbox didn’t prove all that reliable either. Warrantywise had to pay a stoning £1,115 for a transmission failure in one particular M3. Now, if you want to see how every generation of BMW M3 compares in terms of their performance when racing over the quarter mile, click on the pop-out banner appearing in the top right-hand corner of the screen or scan the QR code on the screen now with your phone.

2. Land Rover Discovery

The second least reliable car according to Warrantywise’s reliability index is the Land Rover Discovery and the Range Rover. Specifically talking about the Discovery 4 and 5 and the previous generation Range Rover. These cars scored 22.1 in the reliability index. This makes the Discovery the least reliable seven-seater on this list, and both it and the Range Rover take the top spot as the least reliable large SUVs according to Warrantywise.

Both cars suffered from common electrical faults, and both had similar average repair costs. The Discovery cost on average £1,241 to put right, and the Range Rover chalked up an average repair bill of £1,834. There’s little to choose between them when you look at the most expensive repairs too. Warrantywise forked out a whopping £22,695 to fix the engine in one Discovery, and one engine fault in a Range Rover cost a staggering £26,654 to fix.

1. BMW I8

According to Warrantywise, the least reliable used car, It’s another BMW, and it’s the i8. It only scored 16.5 out of 100 for reliability. This also means it’s the least reliable sports car on the list as well as being the least reliable car overall. You won’t be surprised to hear that most of the common issues were to do with the car’s hybrid electrical system. The average amount that Warrantywise paid to fix these issues was £2,206. But it turns out the i8’s internal combustion engine isn’t immune from problems either. The most expensive claim that Warrantywise paid to fix was to do with the fuel system on an i8, and this came to a hefty £7,530. Now, you might be wondering why the BMW i8 has actually topped or should be bottomed this list when actually the repair bills aren’t as big as some other cars on this list. Well, that’s because of the frequency or likelihood of an i8 going wrong.

Least Reliable Cars by Category

The least reliable city car according to Warrantywise is the second-generation Smart Forfour. This scored 60.9 out of a possible 100 points, which is actually pretty reliable, but it’s still lower than any other city car on Warrantywise’s list. According to Warrantywise, they paid out £949 on average to fix problems with these Smart Forfours, which were often to do with the electrical system. But one car had a clutch issue that ended up costing £5,817 to put right.

Next up is the least reliable hatchback or small estate, and the award goes to the second-generation Mini Clubman. Overall, this car didn’t score too badly according to Warrantywise. It chalked up 57.8 points out of a possible 100. The most common problems were electrical faults, and the average repair cost came to £156. But one Mini Clubman had a very serious gearbox issue that ended up costing £8,768 to put right.

Moving on to pickup trucks, according to Warrantywise, the least reliable one is the first-generation Volkswagen Amarok. It scored 41.5 points out of 100. The most common faults with these trucks have to do with the emissions. Wait a minute, a Volkswagen with emission issues? Anyway, on average, Amarok faults cost £1,547 to put right, which isn’t too steep. The most expensive fault didn’t break the bank either. Warrantywise paid out £5,223 to fix a problem with one car’s fuel system.

Now, We’ve talked about the least reliable large SUVs and seven-seaters you can buy, but what about smaller five-seater SUVs and crossovers? Well, the least reliable smaller SUV according to Warrantywise data is the first and second-generation Audi SQ5, the ones made between 2014 and 2021. The most common faults with these cars had to do with the fuel system, and the average repair cost when this SUV broke down came to £1,247. However, one SQ5 had a turbo that ended up costing £10,678 to fix. As a result, the SQ5 scored 34.9 out of a possible 100 points in the Warrantywise reliability index.

Additionally, you might want to avoid older versions of the BMW 7 Series, specifically the fifth and sixth-generation cars made since 2014. These scored 39 out of 100 possible reliability points, and according to Warrantywise, this means they’re less reliable than other luxury saloon cars like the Mercedes S-Class, Audi A8, or the Jaguar XJ. When a BMW 7 Series went wrong, Warrantywise ended up paying an average of £1,965 to fix it, and most of these repairs were the result of suspension issues.

But the most expensive fault was much pricier. One car had a serious gearbox problem that cost Warrantywise £11,826 to put right.