The BMW 3 Series has been named as the most reliable new car, based on data from the UK's 50 largest leasing companies.

As part of the annual FN50 survey, leasing providers revealed that the BMW 3 Series suffered the least breakdowns and warranty claims in the last 12 months.

BMW was also crowned the most reliable brand overall. It regains the title in 2024 after slipping into third place in 2023. Prior to this BMW held the top spot for eight years.

FN50 leasing companies collectively operate more than 1.33 million cars, many of which are company cars, making this one of the largest and most comprehensive reliability studies available.

You can read the full reliability analysis in the 2024 FN50 report.

2024's most reliable car model:

1 - BMW 3 Series

BMW 3 Series

2 - Toyota Corolla

Toyota Corolla

3- Tesla Model 3

Tesla Model 3

4 - Tesla Model Y

Tesla Model Y

5 - Volvo XC60

Volvo XC60

6 - Honda Civic

Honda Civic

7 - BMW i4

BMW i4

8 - Audi A3

Audi A3

9 - Kia Sportage

Kia Sportage

10 - Skoda Octavia

Skoda Octavia

2024's most reliable car brand:

  1. BMW
  2. Toyota
  3. Audi
  4. Tesla
  5. Volkswagen
  6. Volvo
  7. Mercedes-Benz
  8. Hyundai
  9. Honda
  10. Kia

BMW has regained its place as the most reliable car manufacturer, according to this year’s FN50 survey.

The Munich brand lost out to Toyota last year, slipping into third place after an eight-year stronghold of the top position.

Toyota falls to second place, still putting in a strong performance, after slowly climbing the table over the last five years. Key to its ranking is the Corolla, which remains the second most reliable model in this year’s survey. 

Audi falls to third place, overall, after five years in second position. The drop coincides with the poor performance of its ageing A4, which fell from fourth place in 2023 to 11th place this year.

Tesla becomes the fourth most reliable brand, leapfrogging Mercedes-Benz, thanks to an improved result for both its Model 3 and Model Y. 

Volkswagen remains the fifth most reliable car brand, despite none of its cars appearing among the most reliable models. In fact, the Golf, ID3 and ID4 have all slipped out of top 15 since last year.

Volvo also retains its mid-table position, despite the XC40 dropping out of the top 10. 

Mercedes-Benz remains on a trajectory of decline, having held third place in 2019 and 2020. It slips into seventh, this year, just above Hyundai.

Korean brands also performed poorly this year. The Hyundai Tucson fell from third place to 15th, while Kia’s Sportage fell from fifth to ninth. As a result, Kia just hangs on to a top 10 position at the bottom of the table.

Honda puts in a more positive performance, with the Civic moving up one place in the model ranking. Overall, the Japanese brand secures ninth place.

More articles on:

FN50 2023 report

 

A record year

2023 is a year of records for the UK’s biggest leasing companies: the most vehicles funded ever and the highest ever combined profits, according to the 2023 FN50 insight report.
Growth in cars triggered by salary sacrifice has lifted the total risk fleet while supply shortages since the outbreak of the pandemic have pushed residual values to record levels, driving up leasing balance sheets.

Read the report for full analysis