Six of the top ten most dependable models in the survey of used cars were British-built Japanese cars and four of them were Hondas.

The Corolla was built in Burnaston, Derbyshire, while the second-placed Honda CR-V, which was built between 1997 and 2002, was manufactured in Swindon.

Honda had the highest proportion of models of any manufacturer in the top ten, with the CR-V, HR-V ('99-'05), S2000 ('99-onwards), Civic ('96-'01, '01-'05) and Accord ('99-'03) all scoring highly. Not all British manufacturers fared well, however, with the Jaguar XK8 ('96-'06) sitting third from bottom in the table, and the Land Rover Freelander ('00-'06) and Range Rover ('95-'02) seventh from last. Steve Fowler, What Car? editor said: “British workers should be proud that their products have done so well.” The study analysed data from 26 manufacturers and included 133 different models. Data from more than 35,000 vehicles was considered, and the average age of cars in the survey was 4.9 years.