Interesting

[Dino]

Can't get no satisfaction?

Posted by Bill Thomas at 11:30AM on Wednesday 07 February, 2007 4 Comments

 

There are quite a few car reliability/satisfaction surveys floating around at the moment, including Top Gear's own, which is obviously the best - you'll read about that soon enough - but for now I'd like to direct your attention to the Warranty Direct reliability league.

Some 450,000 vehicles, all between three and nine years old, from 33 manufacturers, were surveyed across the US and UK. The results are based on the number of failures reported during a given one-year period for every 100 Warranty Direct policies sold. The results (see table below) make interesting reading.

Mazda won with only 8.04% breakdowns, which is hardly surprising - their cars are superbly built. Kia makes it into fifth, after Honda, Toyota and Mitsubishi. There's a fair jump from Honda to Toyota, incidentally, which score 8.90% and 15.78% respectively. Is Toyota slipping?

Mini and Citroen scrape into the top 10, the only European manufacturers to do so, in 9th and 10th respectively.

The manufacturers I'd like to make special reference to are Ford, Volkswagen, Audi and Land Rover.

First, Ford. It ranks 14th out of 33, so a smidge better than middling, with a score of 26.76%. Surely, Ford can learn something from Mazda, a company it has a controlling stake in?

The 4% grouping between 10th (Citroen, 25.98%)) and Mercedes (20th, 29.90%) is fairly tight, and of the big non-Asian manufacturers, Ford is the leader, but it really needs to get up into the top 10 to get things moving again and write off that multi-billion dollar debt. Preferably closer to 15% than 20%. The cars are well made, so it's not out of the question.

However, not only did Ford top Mercedes by six places, it also destroyed Volkswagen, which could only manage 23rd with a whopping 31.44% breakdowns. Can we please dispel the myth, once and for all, that VW makes reliable cars? Judging by the results posted here, VWs are relatively dodgy. Like BMWs, in fact, which only score 18th at 28.64%.

And look at desperate, flailing Audi, languishing sixth from the bottom at 27th and a huge 36.74%. Solidly built or trading on brand image? The latter, judging by this. Avoid, avoid!

Last and least, poor dear old Land Rover, second from the bottom. Shocking. Nothing good can be said about this 44.21%, given the sheer size and scope of the survey, other than the fact that they beat arch-rivals, Jeep. If you own a Jeep between three and nine years old, remember this blog when you're standing on the hard shoulder sometime in the next 18 months.

The message is clear, new car buyers - if you want proper reliability, go for a Mazda or a Honda and forget the rest.

Table to illustrate the reliability ratings of 450,000 vehicles by manufacturer.

 

Position Manufacturer Incidence rate (%)

1 Mazda 8.04%

2 Honda 8.90%

3 Toyota 15.78%

4 Mitsubishi 17.04%

5 Kia 17.39%

6 Subaru 18.46%

7 Nissan 18.86%

8 Lexus 20.05%

9 Mini 21.90%

10 Citroen 25.98%

11 Daewoo 26.30%

12 Hyundai 26.30%

13 Peugeot 26.59%

14 Ford 26.76%

15 Suzuki 27.20%

16 Porsche 27.48%

17 Fiat 28.49%

18 BMW 28.64%

19 Vauxhall 28.77%

20 Mercedes 29.90%

21 Rover 30.12%

22 Volvo 31.28%

23 Volkswagen 31.44%

24 Jaguar 32.05%

25 Skoda 32.12%

26 Chrysler 34.90%

27 Audi 36.74%

28 Seat 36.87%

29 Renault 36.87%

30 Alfa Romeo 39.13%

31 Saab 41.59%

32 Land Rover 44.21%

33 Jeep 46.36%

 

 

 

Source: Warranty Direct

Permalink:

http://www.topgear.com/blogs/planettopgear...-cant-get-no-...