Butt Of Motoring Humour On Top Of "Which? Car" Survey 2010.

Cammy Corrigan
by Cammy Corrigan

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!

Cammy Corrigan
Cammy Corrigan

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  • Uncle Mellow Uncle Mellow on Jul 23, 2010

    "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.

    • SomeDude SomeDude on Jul 23, 2010

      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

  • Andy D Andy D on Jul 24, 2010

    Yah, Dave, but crosscuts would make pissa wheel covers. :)

  • Ronin It's one thing to stay tried and true to loyal past customers; you'll ensure a stream of revenue from your installed base- maybe every several years or so.It's another to attract net-new customers, who are dazzled by so many other attractive offerings that have more cargo capacity than that high-floored 4-Runner bed, and are not so scrunched in scrunchy front seats.Like with the FJ Cruiser: don't bother to update it, thereby saving money while explaining customers like it that way, all the way into oblivion. Not recognizing some customers like to actually have right rear visibility in their SUVs.
  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
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