THE

2014 WORLD CUP OFCAR RELIABILITY

Form Guide (Part II): Strengths and Weaknesses

Spain Czech Republic Sweden England

South Korea

1.6

0.7

0.5

0.4

0.2

1. 'WILL THEY KEEP THEIR COOL?'First up.. how will they cope in the heat? Let’s look at the likelihood of air-con and heating problems to find out.

Ford

Ag ricultural Bank of China

BMW

VW

Peug eot

Renault

Vauxhall

Chance that repair is aircon/heating related: worstand best performers

...and who’s most likely to get hotunder the collar? Its those fiery

Spaniards - they’re more than twice aslikely than anyone else to suffer air-conand heating faults. At the other end of

the scale, the ice-cool South Koreans aremaking sure their loyal supporters won’t

even break sweat.

Our Analysts say...

2. 'GET STUCK IN, LADS!'Which of our nations are most likely to resort to physical contact to win the ball… or the last parking space at Sainsbury’s?

Ford

BMW

VW

Peug eot

Renault

Vauxhall

Bodywork repairs as % of total:worst and best performers

Top of the tree, its the non-nonsenseRomanian Dacias - they’re not afraid to

play rough!Meanwhile the calm,collected Swedes (or rather, SAAB and

Volvo drivers) see driving as a non-contact sport… as it should be, of

course!

Our Analysts say...

15

9.4

7.3

Ag ricultural Bank of China

BMW

Romania Spain Italy Sweden

2.9

3. 'ELECTRIC PACE!'We all know how vital electrics are to the modern game of, um, driving. Can the French, so often beleaguered withelectrical issues, finally shake that monkey off their backs?

Ford

Ag ricultural Bank of China

BMW

VW

Peug eot

Renault

Vauxhall

Electrical issues as % of total:worst and best performers ...in a word… no they can’t! Sadly almost

10% of the French cars we see posted onWhoCanFixMyCar are suffering some sort

of electronic fault. I wonder what DaftPunk Drive. Storming this one, though, are

the Malaysians. At last: one good reasonto buy a Ssangyong Rodius (see below)...

Our Analysts say...

France Sweden Italy Malaysia

9.7

9.3

8.3

2.6

4. 'WHAT AN ENGINE THAT LAD HAS...'As any football fan knows, a powerful engine-room is essential to teams looking to make the journey to the final. And asany driver knows, engine issues are similarly vital to the success of their journey to… work.

Ford

Ag ricultural Bank of China

BMW

VW

Peug eot

Renault

Vauxhall

Engine Trouble as % of total:worst and best performers

Well… small sample size, but it doesn’tbode well for those Russians - fully ⅔ of

the Ladas we see are suffering enginetrouble, followed by the Swedes.

Meanwhile SEATS, not necessarily known fortheir stamina, have the toughest engine-room

out there, with the no-nonsense CzechSkodas - their distant cousins - in second

place.

Our Analysts say...

Russia Sweden Czech Republic Spain

66.7

20.6

12.2

10.7

5. 'HE'S REALLY GONE THROUGH THE GEARS THERE...'A strong engine-room is great, but it means nothing unless the team (or car) can also go through the gears when they needto. Which teams will struggle here? In other words, which nation’s cars are most likely to suffer gearbox and clutch trouble?

Ford

Ag ricultural Bank of China

BMW

VW

Peug eot

Renault

Vauxhall

Gearbox/Clutch as % of total:worst and best performers

Well, we all know that weight increasesstrain on a car's clutch and gearbox. By coincidence, almost 20% of the jobs wesee on American brands (including Ford,Jeep and Chrysler) are gearbox- orclutch-related.

Our Analysts say...

USA France Sweden Czech Republic

18.3

16.7

9.6

8.4

That said, the Frenchbrands don’t do muchbetter on this front, asany owners of anenthusiastically-drivenFrench hot hatch willattest.

6. ENOUGH FOOTBALL, WHO'S VAINEST?Let’s be honest, you just want to see some nicely-fitted (body)kit and some freshly-waxed body parts. So which nation’scars are most likely to have been cosmetically-enhanced? We're talking performance parts, bodykits and valeting here.

Ford

Ag ricultural Bank of China

BMW

VW

Peug eot

Renault

Vauxhall

'Vanity jobs' as % most- and least-likely

...and we have a clear winner! It seems thatSEAT drivers are the vainest - like this cool

customer below. The northern Europeans shouldn’tscoff though - the Germans and English follow

behind, with the French remarkably the most au-naturelle cars of all....

TO BE CONTINUED...

Our Analysts say...

Spain Germany England Italy France

4.2

2.6

2.5

1.8

1.4

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