No one likes to think they bought a lemon, the sort of car built on a Friday afternoon when the lads on the factory floor just wanted to get home for the weekend.

Once upon a time you expected your fair share of problems with a new car.

Final development was often carried out at new owners' expense. That's why the Austin Allegro launched with a square steering wheel, why the Austin Maxi had a gearchange that felt like a long stick stirring a bucket of porridge and why innumerable Fiats and ancient Vauxhalls started to rust the moment you broke into a sweat.

Nowadays we expect a new car to perform faultlessly and, more often than not, they do.

But not always. Data put together by Warranty Direct has revealed the cars that are more likely to go wrong than the average.

The worst offender in the survey of more than 26,000 vehicles was the Renault Epace.

The big French people-carrier may be hot on style and innovation but it suffers a woeful reliability record. A staggering 71 per cent of vehicles built between 2000 and 2002 needed warranty work, 12 times worse than the best car, the Honda Civic.

Next worst were the Jeep Cherokee and the Saab 9-5, both with 55 per cent failure rates, closely followed by the Ford Galaxy and the Volvo C70 on 54 breakdowns in every 100 vehicles.

Sixth from bottom was the stylish Audi TT with 51 out of 100 owners recording a mechanical failure of some degree.

The luxurious Jaguar XJ, Vauxhall Frontera, Volvo V70 and Renault Laguna completed the inauspicious bottom ten.

Based on the study sample, 30 per cent of cars will break down during the course of a year, leaving owners having to fork out an average repair bill of £310.66. With an estimated 7.2m cars aged three-to-five-years-old on the road that's a massive £677m on unforeseen repairs annually.

Ironically, the poor reliability performance of Jaguar's XJ was in stark contrast to the manufacturer's entry-level X-Type executive runner, which has so far only caused a headache for nine per cent of owners. It was fourth overall.

Top of the pile was the old-shape, Swindon-built Honda Civic with just six failures for every 100 vehicles. Two more Japanese models - the everpresent Mazda MX-5 (7%) and Nissan Micra (8%) were just behind.

"These are real cars, real claims and genuine bills. They are the statistics that really count when you weigh up which used car to buy, " said Duncan McClure Fisher of Warranty Direct.

"It is hard to recommend a vehicle to someone when 70 per cent of owners have had to have remedial work done to it over the past 12 months.

"The fact that nearly half of the 80 models we analysed will break down more than the national average simply isn't good enough."

Britain's best selling model, the Ford Focus, was 26th (20% rate of failure), just behind its arch rival, the Vauxhall Astra, in 25th.

Other notables were the Vauxhall Corsa (11%), Volkswagen Golf (31%), Mercedes A-Class (36%), and Land Rover Freelander (42%).

Motor Sports Association chairman John Grant is to quit due to business commitments.

Grant's three-year tenure as chairman will come to an end on December 31.

Alan Gow will succeed him on January 1.

Colin Hilton, MSA chief executive, said: "John "He has done a great job for British motor sport and his many talents will be missed. I would also like to welcome Alan Gow. Alan and I have worked together on the board over the last few years and I know he has both the drive and enthusiasm to become an excellent chairman."