James Ruppert: CT drummers who won’t disappoint Car News

I hope you have managed to contain your enthusiasm for announcing which cars are least likely to fail their first MOT. I’m sure you can guess what most of them are. Anyway, like this test, an access to information request doesn’t lie, so what models should we be looking for – or rather, which country products should we consider first?

Doing all of this about nationality might seem like a generalization – until you take a look at the top 10 list. Basically, if you want a worry-free driving life, you better buy Japanese.

Lexus’ strong performance is not surprising, as these are high quality cars that are only bought new by those who can afford the luxury.

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The £ 35,000 NX SUV tops the table, with less than 5% of them taken for their first test failing. A 2015 2.0 F-Sport with 43,000 miles and a few MOTs under its belt could set you back £ 18,750. It’s at a dealership for the smaller gasoline engine. Fancy a hybrid? Stick with the dealer network and a 2015 300h Premier, so you get all the usual backup cameras, bluetooth, and leather nonsense. Most importantly, you get a first test failure rate of 4.4%.

Another Lexus comes in fifth, with a failure rate of 6.6%: the sedan of the CT family. I was tempted by a 2011 200h SE with 200,000 miles at £ 3,995, but better to pick a dealer car. A 2016 34,000 mile 200h Sport will set you back £ 13,250.

The Honda Jazz is in second place with a failure rate of 5.9%, and the third is the Mazda MX-5, with a failure rate of 6.5%. Perhaps this is because both have a mature property profile, which can more than afford to care for and maintain them properly.

An MX-5 is much more interesting than a Jazz. I really like the foldable hardtop RF, and there are a lot of little-used examples. I would hop on a 2017 Skyactiv-G 2.0 launch edition with Recaro seats and just under 4,000 miles for £ 20,500.

Although Volkswagen languishes near the bottom of the league of early failure tests, some German makes and models have managed to hold up. The Porsche Macan, Audi Q2 and Mercedes-Benz S-Class placed sixth, eighth and ninth. Neither is a good deal, the spirit, with SUVs in demand and the previous generation limousine becoming irrelevant.