Motorists seeking the greatest reliability in a second-hand car should buy Japanese models, according to a new survey.

Japanese vehicles took four of the top five places in a used car reliability survey table compiled by What Car? magazine.

Best of the European brands was Mercedes-Benz, which was rated second in the list.

But top UK makes such as Rover, Vauxhall and Land Rover finished in the bottom half of the 22-strong table.

The table, which was also compiled by the Warranty Direct company, showed how many times cars needed attention through warranty claims. Mazda topped the list with 17 claims per 100 cars.