Jaguars, Jeeps and Landrovers are bottom of the breakdowns league, according to a survey of UK drivers.

Rover cars, meanwhile, are the least popular with their owners, with just over 40% of drivers recommending them to friends.

The findings of the Which Car 2000 survey, compiled by the Consumers Association, suggest that a high price tag does not guarantee comfortable driving.

Nearly one-fifth of Land Rover owners saw their car break down during the first two years, and 16% of Jaguar and Jeep owners had trouble in that period.

And the Jaguar XJ forced one-quarter of all owners to report a fault to the garage within one year of buying.

Top of the league

After surveying more than 30,000 car owners, the organisation identified a group of Japanese and Korean car firms to be on top of the reliability league.

Daihatsu, Honda, Hyundai, Lexus, Mazda and Toyota were all rated "best", while Daewoo, Mercedes, Nissan, Proton, Volkwagen, Suzuki, Subaru and the once derided Skoda were rated "good".

"Poor" reliability was the verdict for Citroen, Ford, Land Rover, Peugeot, Renault, Rover, Saab, Vauxhall and Volvo.

'Buy this car'

Personal recommendation is an important factor when deciding on the next motor, and once again three Japanese firms come out on top.

Owners of Isuzu (85%), Lexus (84%) and Subaru (82%) cars are most likely to recommend their model to a friend, closely followed by Skoda, BMW and Jaguar.

At the bottom of the league are Vauxhall (45%), Citroen (43%) and Rover (41%).

'Unscientific survey'

Car firms at the bottom of such league tables, however, are not too sure about the validity of the survey.

Jaguar described the findings as "unscientific", pointing out that just 199 of the 32,000 people surveyed were Jaguar owners.

To make a judgement on the quality of the top-rated Lexus cars, the Consumer Association relied on just 74 reports.

Taking the Isuzu to the top of the recommendation league were 46 happy owners - compared to Rover's 2,428, which came bottom.

Real choices

UK car drivers, meanwhile, keep voting in the showrooms of their local car dealers.

According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), the Ford Focus was Britain's most popular car during August, with 4,922 cars sold.

The Astra and Corsa came second and third.

Rover saw its share of the market shrink further, to just 2.83%, although the troubled Midlands firm is still up on a year earlier, due to strong discount driven sales in the second quarter of the year.

Big winners were Chrysler with its Jeep and Korea's Kia, albeit both growing from very low volumes.

Lexus, BMW, Citroen, Isuzu and Mitsubishi were among the losers.

British-made cars continued to lose market share, now holding just 23.6% of sales, while imports took the rest, with 76.4%.