Wait a Second Before You Invest Any More Energy in J.D. Power

Aaron Cole
by Aaron Cole

There’s a considerable need for independent research and analysis, especially when it comes to cars.

But I have something to tell you about J.D. Power and Associate’s annual Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout study: it’s remarkably flawed.

The annual survey — alongside most other annual surveys — serves as a stump from which automakers proudly proclaim, “We’re the best, see? These guys just said so.”

But the APEAL survey, alongside J.D. Power and Associate’s Initial Quality Survey, give a distorted glimpse at the reality of buying a car.

They have no perception of cost. And that’s a big, big problem.

If you could afford a new Porsche, how satisfied with that purchase will you be in 90 days, when seemingly nothing expensive has gone wrong? What about 4 years later when warranties start to wane, and regular maintenance includes parts like a notoriously fussy internal oil separator that runs $2,000 to fix? Rear calipers that run $3,000? Or a $523.50 oil change? That Porsche you purchased may not be all that appealing anymore, I’m guessing, regardless of the awards J.D. Power can heap upon the company.

(Even further, I’m guessing the buyer who can drop $100,000 on a sports car is the type of buyer that can ditch that car for another sports car in three years and report that they’re pleased as punch again with the purchase.)

Meanwhile, if your bought-on-a-budget Toyota Corolla lugged your soul-crushing commute to work at 7 a.m., how stoked are you on that purchase 90 days — or even 90 minutes — after walking off the lot? I bought a new toaster last week and I wasn’t jazzed about it before I checked out at the register.

There needs to be a dose of reality when viewing these surveys. Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Jaguar and Land Rover all topped the list of initial appeal, but also topped Forbes’ list of most expensive cars to fix.

It makes sense. Really expensive cars are really nice. Really nice, expensive cars are also really complicated. I know, because I drive them all the time. An S-Class is more appealing than a Toyota Yaris because Mercedes-Benz makes really nice cars that cost a lot of money.

To say that Porsches have more appeal than Subarus is a no brainer; I don’t need 77 attributes with a verified score out of 1,000 to say that a big house with a rollercoaster looks better than a small house with a leaking basement. But I can only afford one of those.

But I do need a study that reliably and logically presents their ownership, maintenance, resale proportional to budget. Average MSRP and cost of ownership don’t factor into the J.D. Power survey.

That’s not to say Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar or Audi make bad cars. J.D. Power just makes a narrow study that’s contorted way beyond its intent or measure.

Aaron Cole
Aaron Cole

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  • Doublechili Doublechili on Jul 23, 2015

    The more you spend, and the smarter you think you are, the more likely you are to answer survey questions to validate your expenditure and self-perception. "I made a great decision and spent my money wisely!"

    • See 4 previous
    • Pch101 Pch101 on Jul 23, 2015

      @Pch101 Argh. Go read the thing. They ask about stuff such as the lane departure warning system and parking assist. Do you have them? Do you use them? Do you like them? Why do you like them? How often do you use them? How much would you be willing to pay to have them again? etc. You're all hot and bothered about something that you know nothing about.

  • Doublechili Doublechili on Jul 23, 2015

    "You’re all hot and bothered about something that you know nothing about." Wouldn't be the first time. Or maybe that's your way of saying I win? ;) But if you're talking about testing being the know-nothing thing, I'm making a pretty big-picture point here. If someone pays $40,000 for a Pilot with, among other things, Honda Sensing safety features, are they going to have as much underlying/subconscious/you-name-it incentive to answer positively as someone who paid twice as much for essentially the same vehicle? And if it's simply a laundry list and the vehicles that have the most checked boxes wins, what's the point of a survey since you seem to be saying the best equipped vehicle will win? It's like when you read "$30 million study determines that men like breasts"....

    • Pch101 Pch101 on Jul 24, 2015

      You still haven't read the press release, have you? It specifically contradicts your main contention, as it notes that non-premium brands are gaining. But I suppose that you wouldn't want to know what this thing measures, since you've already decided that it does something else.

  • ToolGuy Once again my home did not catch on fire and my fire extinguisher(s) stayed in the closet, unused. I guess I threw my money away on fire extinguishers.(And by fire extinguishers I mean nuclear missiles.)
  • Carson D The UAW has succeeded in organizing a US VW plant before. There's a reason they don't teach history in the schools any longer. People wouldn't make the same mistakes.
  • B-BodyBuick84 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport of course, a 7 seater, 2.4 turbo-diesel I4 BOF SUV with Super-Select 4WD, centre and rear locking diffs standard of course.
  • Corey Lewis Think how dated this 80s design was by 1995!
  • Tassos Jong-iL Communist America Rises!
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