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Thousands of you have already taken part in the Auto Express Driver Power 2005 survey. The questionnaire is all about your car's reliability and your satisfaction with it, which by coincidence is a hot topic across the Atlantic right now. While much of the car industry focus is on Los Angeles and Detroit - because of their respective motor shows - bosses won't be ignoring what's going on in New York, home of the Consumers Union.

11th January 2005

The CU doesn't mess around, mince its words or mind who it upsets. The organisation speaks to literally millions of people and asks them about recent problems they've been having with their cars. This year it's 1997-2004 models that are under the microscope. Just like Driver Power, it names and shames the guilty vehicles, the companies who make them and, by implication at least, the regions of the world whose local firms are responsible for the least reliable motors.

CU uses a complicated system, but mostly it's the Japanese firms which are top of the pile. Toyota/Lexus are on 16 points, followed by Honda on seven, Mitsubishi and Subaru on two apiece, then a bunch of companies (Buick, Hyundai, Nissan and Mazda) with one point each. No European firm makes it into this elite league. And that's because they're bogged down at the bottom. The Volkswagen brand is firmly but inexplicably rooted to the foot of the CU table, with minus six points, with the Mercedes marque also in the relegation zone on minus five. BMW, Jaguar and Volvo each score minus two with Land Rover, Porsche and Saab bringing shame on their good names with minus one.

So what does that mean in terms of the great car-building areas of the world? In total Europe is the worst, with a disgraceful collective score of minus 20. The Americans are next with minus 13. The natural conclusion is that Far Eastern firms build the most reliable cars on the planet. That won't surprise a lot of people, but the size of their victory in this latest CU poll certainly will. They are streets ahead of the competition.

What's most shocking is the fact that North America comfortably occupies the middle ground. 'Yank Tanks' have traditionally been dismissed as unreliable cars of indifferent build quality, but to do that now is doing them a disservice. And equally, European vehicles can't pretend any longer that they're second only to Japanese for their reliability and eagerness to please. Generally, at the start of 2005, they're not. If you're looking for specific brands to have a go at, this survey condemns cars with Volkswagen and Mercedes badges on the bonnet as just about the most unreliable around.

If VW and Merc have a problem with that verdict, take it up with the CU and its subscribers, not me. But these once-great firms would be better off putting more time, money, manpower and research into building better cars. The sooner, the better.

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