8 November 2001: A survey of 620,000 vehicles operated by UK leasing companies has found the Honda Accord and Toyota Avensis to be at the top of the league for reliability.

The survey was carried out by Fleet News and listed vehicles according to the lowest number of breakdowns per 100 cars on their fleets. Points for reliability were accredited each time a vehicle was cited by a leasing company, awarding five points for a first place, to one point for a fifth. Only multi-marque leasing companies took part.

Other cars close to the top were the Lexus IS200, VW Passat and BMW 3 Series. TW