Which? is kind of the UK version of Consumer Reports. They publish a bunch of magazines. If you want a computer, you get the latest edition of Which? Computing, if you need a vacation, you leaf through Which? Holiday, and for a car, you get – you guessed it – Which? Car. You will receive quite a shock if you do.
Which? Car has released the findings of a comprehensive survey. They asked over 64,000 car owners. This wasn’t an extrapolation of a small survey of cars which they’ve tested or silly metrics, like “initial quality”. These were people who have lived with their cars and giving their experiences of it. As we all know, people’s experiences are the best metric of which car is doing well. So, shall we take a look…?
The supreme prize of the survey (Best car manufacturer) was the first point of interest. In 3rd place was Mazda, 2nd place went to Lexus. So, given that Mazda and Lexus came third and second, respectively, who do you think could have come first, to become Which’s best car manufacturer? Mercedes-Benz? BMW? Porsche? Nope. It was Skoda. The plucky little Czech brand won the Which? best car manufacturer title, beating out its sister marques, Volkswagen and Audi. That won’t sit well with Martin Winterkorn. Yes, the same car that once was known, in the words of The Telegraph, as the “butt of motoring humour, a car with the acceleration of an asthmatic tortoise, which wags said came in only one colour – rust.” Now, Skoda “has confounded its critics and been named as the best car manufacturer in a consumer survey published today.”
Next point of interest was the reliability survey. This survey is based on drivers’ views and experiences. Unsurprisingly (or surprisingly, depending your views), the top ten was saturated with Oriental brands. 2 South Korean and 8 Japanese. At 10, 9 and 8. was Kia, Mitsubishi and Hyundai. Personally, I was surprised to see Mitsubishi so high and I was more surprised to see Hyundai so low. At positions 3 and 2, we have Toyota and Honda. So, in drivers’ minds, Toyota and Honda haven’t lost their touch. But number 1 caught me out, as I didn’t think anyone bought their cars in the UK as I never see them on the roads. The winner of the reliability survey was….Daihatsu. Now, you could argue that’s another point for Toyota as they own Daihatsu through a majority stake, but I’ll let you argue that point amongst yourselves.
Another bizarre finding was who came 16th in the reliability survey. It was Ford. Again, I expected them to place higher. There was also another interesting finding about Ford in the survey, but I’ll come to that later.
At the other end of the reliability survey, we had some interesting talking points. Of the bottom 10 places, 4 brands were interesting. At 33, there was Chrysler. 32nd was Alfa Romeo. 31st was Jeep and at 27th was Fiat. Chrysler? Alfa Romeo? Jeep? Fiat? This doesn’t bode well for Sergio Marchionne’s empire. At 34th (bottom position) was Land Rover and at 24th was Jaguar. I’ll take all jokes with good faith! And no “bottom 10 of the reliability survey” would be complete without mentioning the fact that Peugeot and Renault were also there, at 28th and 30th, respectively.
In particular car segments, Toyota had the most reliable 4×4 with the RAV4. The Honda Accord (despite its weird angular design) came out holding the title “best individual car,” with the most satisfied customers. The CR-Z was named the best new sports car. In the supermini segment, the Kia Picanto was deemed the most reliable, with the Seat Ibiza as the least reliable. In the medium sized segment, the Mazda 3 was called the most reliable and the Nissan Qashqai came bottom (still doesn’t stop Nissan selling a shed-load of them, though). Then, we come to the large car segment. At the top of the table was the Honda Insight. But that wasn’t what interested me, it was the bottom of the table. Can you guess what was deemed the least reliable large car on the UK market? Renault Laguna? Peugeot 407? Mitsubishi Lancer? Nope, it was the Ford Mondeo. Is Ford Europe starting to slip as Ford North America gains traction? I have a feeling Bennie Fowler may be making a trip to Europe to whip some ass!
For all of us looking forward to the new “Euro-Fords” (I’m interested in the new Focus), this is a wake-up call.
Maybe the European designs that will be assembled in Mexico will gain (by osmosis?) the quality of present Fusions.
I’m not the least bit surprised.
Skoda makes some useful, nice and inexpensive cars. They’re very much a good value. As for Winkertorn, well, the sooner reality catches up to him and slaps him silly, the better.
Most of what Daihatsu makes is based off Toyota’s Yaris platform, which might not be stellar in terms of performance but it utterly bulletproof, inexpensive to maintain and friendly to abuse.
I can’t speak to Daihatsu’s road cars, but the government installation where I worked had a fleet of Daihatsu kei pickups for on-base use, and these rigs were remarkably trouble-free and stood up well to abuse.
“Winkertorn”, I like that….
@psarhjinian, uhh, no, while there is definitely some platform sharing going on (Daihatsu even has a version of the Camry!) most of the Daihatsu passenger car models are smaller and lighter than the Yaris.
Of course it’s possible that there exists a shrunken-down Yaris platform that Daihatsu uses — if so, can you provide some links for this info?
You’re probably right. I could have sworn that most of Daihatsu’s models were riffs on the CP platform, but I can’t find the evidence.
Skoda might be one of the main reasons for the decline of Toyota in Europe. They have been building reliable, sensible, conservative looking cars – just like Toyota but better value with their business model of positioning cars in between the classes – like Octavia which is a compact hatchback just as sensible and reliable as an Auris or Corolla but slightly cheaper and somewhat bigger with an enormous boot.
I wonder why VW never came up with the idea to rebadge Skodas as VWs and sell them in USA. With the very conservative design, reliability, excellent passenger space and value for money, Superb and probably even Octavia might have done very well over there.
Initial quality and reliability are perceived attributes. I’m guessing that Skoda and Daihatsu owners have much lower expectations than the rest of the UK motoring population.
Twotone
Is that a Skoda with the tree-stump for a rear drive train, or a Renault Dauphine 8? Inquiring minds want to know.
It’s indeed an early 1970s vintage Skoda 100, in original colour. The alloy wheels are aftermarket, though.
I’d like to know how they actually conducted this survey. It sounds like the answers are probably pretty subjective. Which supports Twotone’s hypothesis.
That photo is a riot. But it doesn’t reflect how the first wheels were made. They were cut out of the tree parallel to the grain, presumably to make the wheel stronger.
“The Honda Accord (despite its weird angular design) came out holding the title “best individual car,””Quote
To you this would be the 02-08 Acura TSX.Doesn’t look weird to me.
I think this is the current gen TSX. I find its top position to be highly suspicious. I took a detailed look at at least two Acuras TSX recently and was shocked to see literally glaring build quality defects.
Anyways, the results of this Which? survey are probably worth dick because the survey completely ignores sampling variation. If their sample only included, say, 3 Daihatsus (neighbourhood vehicles?) and the three just happened to be problem-free, the estimated probability of a defect on a Daihatsu is zero, a totally useless estimate because its standard error is huge.
PS The Insight classified as a large car… that’s peculiar
Yah, Dave, but crosscuts would make pissa wheel covers. :)