Car buyers value reliability above just about anything else. ... Sportiest Compact SUVs in 2020 Toyota Yaris (2011 –present) - 99.1 per cent. With the help of reliability data, here's a list of the top 10 small, dependable, used motors you can pick up for less than £3,500 that will be relatively breakdown-free and cheap to own.High iQ: Toyota's dinky little city car topped the charts as the most reliable cheap small motor you can get for less than £3,500.Warranty Direct has tapped into its Reliability Index analysis to reveal the most reliable cars for those on a tight budget.It's based on 50,000 live policies, tracking how many claims are made for repair bills.It looks at the frequency and type of faults, the age and mileage of the car and the cost of repairs, before assigning it an accurate index score.Examples of each model in the top 10 can be found for sale online with less than 60,000 miles on the clock for less than £3,500.Japanese car brands - which have long been considered the most durable due to their superior production processes and more meticulous testing regimes - dominate the top 10, featuring four times.Even better news for cash-strapped drivers is that eight out of 10 models in the list (bar the two Honda Jazzes) are low insurance group models, meaning premiums will be low as well as repair costs.The Vauxhall Agila is one of the most uninspiring modern cars available. That means the Reliability Index ratings are constantly on the move. We’re not going to …

And for those that did, none of the faults were serious.Breakdowns weren’t an issue, nor was the amount of time spent off the road.The least reliable car under three years old received a pitiful one star rating, which comes as no surprise after nearly half of its owners had a fault with their car in the year before the survey.There were a staggering amount of common issues, including software glitches and problems with the engines cooling system, while a further 7% actually broke down.The most reliable car over three years old had a below average proportion of faults for its age and all the faults were minor - resulting in another fantastic full five-star rating.On the other hand, more than half of owners of the least reliable car (3-8 years) had to take their car to the garage for repairs in the space of 12 months and a worrying 11% of cars actually broke down.Add a deluge of common faults and a longer than average amount of time spent off the road and you get a disappointing one-star reliability rating.If you've not yet decided on a model and want to narrow down your search, you can see which manufacturer puts the most effort into making sure its cars don't break down and develop faults.We've looked at cars from 34 different brands to find out which makes the most reliable cars.Don’t Buy electric family car exposed in latest tests, plus which hybrid cars you should buy,Supermarket petrol quality: what you need to know,Six things you need to watch out for when buying a new car.Our Test Labs compare features and prices on a range of products.Try Which? Overall it had a mightily impressive 94.9% reliability score.The Hyundai Kona ranks 60th in our top 75 overall score and received criticism from owners about noisy engines and styling. Please continue to respect all commenters and create constructive debates.Are you sure you want to delete this comment?Are you sure you want to mark this comment as inappropriate?Please be respectful when making a comment and adhere to our,You can find our Community Guidelines in full,Create a commenting name to join the debate,There are no Independent Premium comments yet - be the first to add your thoughts,There are no comments yet - be the first to add your thoughts,https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/honda/jazz?utm_source=thisismoney&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Media%20Partners,https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/toyota/yaris?utm_source=thisismoney&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Media%20Partners,https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/audi/a1?utm_source=thisismoney&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Media%20Partners,https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/volkswagen/polo?utm_source=thisismoney&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Media%20Partners,https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/mazda/mazda2?utm_source=thisismoney&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Media%20Partners,https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/nissan/note?utm_source=thisismoney&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Media%20Partners. The Honda Insight is among the safest small cars for 2020, earning top marks across the board from IIHS and NHTSA. However, the Kona deserves its fifth position in our best reliable small car list because of its incredibly low reported fault rate of 4.5%. It’s more gremlin-ridden older cars that chip away at the score – regardless, overall, only 17% of A1 owners reported a fault; even when they did arise, they were rectified in less than a week.So those are the stars of the supermini sector… which, then, are the models that should be ashamed of themselves?