UK most reliable cars: Skoda, VW Golf+

[vmq6695]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7464980.stm

[datracer99]

Ha Ha. Different world over there.
Honda Civic hybrid is listed as a Large Car.

Ouch. Passat is listed under least reliable large cars.

"Skoda out-performs Seat and VW itself," the report said. "So much for being the budget arm of the VW Group."
And it noted that expensive German brands, including Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz all fell into the "average" reliability category,

[gerhard]

I've always taken the reliability surveys with a grain of salt.

In my view, they don't take enough into account - I mean if you buy a Kia Cerato for $16,000 d/a and the dash has a minor rattle, most people would put up with it. Not so if you bought a Passat.

Result - Passat less reliable than Cerato in the surveys.
As Penn & Teller would say, that's B******t.

[LiFers]

By the same token, if you pay twice the price for a car, it should be significantly better built, ie no dash rattle. It takes significant level of incompetantce to have twice the monetary resources and having problems with dash rattles.

The japanese have their own problems but dash rattles are something they banished in the 90's.

Don't get me wrong, I'm buying a golf, but I'm incredibly dissapointed that the people who manage quality at VW are incompetant. VW comes 2nd last on the US JD Powers Survey.

My boss used to be an engineer at Toyota Australia and tells me about the quality checks on the production lines. VW might know their sophisticated 'teknologie', but Toyota's sales figures suggest people buy reliability even at the expense of any style or fun. If VW could consistently get into the top 5 most reliable around the world (like Toyota & Honda have done for years), just imagine!

[gerhard]

By the same token, if you pay twice the price for a car, it should be significantly better built, ie no dash rattle. It takes significant level of incompetantce to have twice the monetary resources and having problems with dash rattles.

The japanese have their own problems but dash rattles are something they banished in the 90's.

Don't get me wrong, I'm buying a golf, but I'm incredibly dissapointed that the people who manage quality at VW are incompetant. VW comes 2nd last on the US JD Powers Survey.

My boss used to be an engineer at Toyota Australia and tells me about the quality checks on the production lines. VW might know their sophisticated 'teknologie', but Toyota's sales figures suggest people buy reliability even at the expense of any style or fun. If VW could consistently get into the top 5 most reliable around the world (like Toyota & Honda have done for years), just imagine!

Your boss must have been away from Toyota for a while, because Toyota quality has slipped dramatically this decade. There are plenty of reports of very poor quality control, from Corolla steering columns falling off to the Corolla diffs used in the 4wds breaking under light conditions.

Oh, and my 98 Jackaroo (Japanese) has an intermmittent dash rattle.


I have bought a Golf too, fingers crossed it won't be a problem car

[DionM]

I love this bit:

The manufacturers at the bottom of the rankings were Chrysler/Dodge and Land Rover

I used to own a Land Rover and I also own a Jeep

[LiFers]

Your boss must have been away from Toyota for a while, because Toyota quality has slipped dramatically this decade.

He has, and their quality has. I believe I read a year or so ago that they had publically admitted to growing pains (they are one of the fastest growing marques) and that they're committed to getting back on track re quality.

Either way, they still come very high in the JD Powers surveys even if there are some doozies out there:
2007 JD Power (US) Report:
In the first 90 days of ownership:
- There are 112 complaints about toyotas for every 100 cars sold (complaints increased 5% from 2006)
- There are 160 complaints about VW for every 100 cars (improved 7% from 2006)
- Industry Average is 125 complaints

In the first 3 years of ownership:
- There are 178 complaints about Toyota (improved 1%)
- There are 298 complaints about VW (no improvement)
- Industry Average is 216 complaints
(Audi did a little better in both tests, but still well under average)

JD Power understand that people also buy cars based on a factor of apeal, so in 2006 they did an APEAL study (I don't have the 2007 results)
Higher value means increased owner delight with the design, content, layout and performance of their new vehicles
- Toyota scored 760
- VW scored 791
- Industry Average is 769
- Audi scored 824, only beaten by Infiniti (Nissan), Lexus, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Porsche in that order.

Simplisticly, given two identical cars at the same price, people like VW better, but they buy a Toyota. I'd be willing to bet percieved reliability is the reason why 7 times out of 10.

In my case an Automatic Hot Hatch is my dream car, hence a GTI. If Toyota brought the Blade here (which they're not - stupid heads), I'd probably buy the poorer handling, poorer performing blade for the exact same reason.

(Disclaimer: US (or UK) JD Power studies measure complaints of US (or UK) cars which may be built in separate factories to AU (or UK) cars, hence each study will show different results. Also note, the AU car industry has been carefully discoraging JD Power from performing an AU study, although they might be doing one this year? Sorta like the proposed Lemon Laws where the automotive industry is on record for opinionating that there are so few Lemons in AU that we don't need No-Lemon Laws. WTF?)

Found the 2007 APEAL study (2008 not available yet). The GTI and Jetta scored the highest APEAL ranking in their categories.

[99gti]

I love this bit:



I used to own a Land Rover and I also own a Jeep

My Mum has a Grand Cheroke. They paid some stupid amount for it only a few years ago and the thing is falling apart.

[DionM]

My Mum has a Grand Cheroke. They paid some stupid amount for it only a few years ago and the thing is falling apart.

My Jeeps been pretty good, really. Once the cooling system gremlins are sorted the old XJ series are quite reliable. Better than the Land Rover, which had new gearbox, engine, fuel pump, intake manifold, computer x2 .......