The UK’s most popular van is also the most reliable. The Ford Transit came top of the FN50  van reliability survey while Ford’s small van, the Transit Connect, retained its second place from a year ago.

Last year’s top performing model, the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, took third place. Volkswagen’s most popular vans, the Transporter and the Caddy are fourth and fifth respectively, retaining top five positions.

The survey asks FN50 companies to rank their best performing vehicles for reliability based on breakdowns and warranty claims.

Mark Ovenden, managing director, Ford of Britain said: “Ford is extremely proud that the Ford Transit and Ford Transit Connect have taken the top two spots in this reliability survey which is based on hard facts.
“This is a tribute to the passion and dedication of our designers and engineers at Dunton who make quality the highest priority, and which has kept Ford at the top of the UK Commercial Vehicle market for over 46 years.”

Further analysis of data in the 2012 survey has resulted in the top 10 places for vans being revealed for the first time. The Mercedes-Benz Vito takes sixth position, while the Vauxhall Vivaro, and its sister van the Renault Trafic, take sixth and seventh respectively.

The Vauxhall Movano large van takes ninth position, while the popular Citroen Berlingo takes the final position in the top 10.

Ford has improved from second position for van manufacturers taking to top spot, followed closely by Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen for second and third.

Those responding to the vans component have a combined LCV fleet size of 160,000. This, combined with around a car parc of around half a million from respondents of the car reliability section makes the FN50 survey the largest reliability study of its kind in the UK.

Top 10 most reliable vans (last year’s position in brackets*)
1 Ford Transit (4)
2 Ford Transit Connect (2)
3 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter (1)
4 Volkswagen Transporter (5)
5 Volkswagen Caddy (3)
6 Mercedes-Benz Vito
7 Vauxhall Vivaro
8 Renault Trafic
9 Vauxhall Movano
10 Citroen Berlingo

Top 10 most reliable van manufacturers (last year’s position in brackets*)
1 Ford (2)
2 Mercedes-Benz (3)
3 Volkswagen (1)
4 Vauxhall (-)
5 Citroen (-)
6 Renault (5)
7 Nissan
8 Peugeot
9 Fiat (4)
10 Toyota
(*2011 tables ranked only top five)

Author: Simon Harris