FLEET managers face a confusing picture over car reliability, with two new surveys offering differing pictures of how cars perform long-term. A JD Power and Associates UK Car Quality Study and a Consumers' Association survey published in Which? Car both rate Japanese models as the most reliable.

The JD Power survey says car reliability overall has improved massively over the last two years. The Which? survey disagrees, highlighting reliability worries over mainly European models. Manufacturers including Vauxhall, Renault and Ford which had models labelled as unreliable, have hit back, saying their own independent surveys produced excellent results for the cars involved.

The JD Power survey's top six manufacturers were all Japanese. Subaru was followed by Mazda, Toyota, Nissan, Honda and Daihatsu. Which? agreed, with the exception of Subaru. However, it also rated Volkswagen's Polo and Ford's Fiesta as above average. The JD Power study found that 71% of owners reported one or more problems with their P-plate car compared to 76% for N-plate car owners last year.