JD Power Survey Strikes again

[Zak33]

Ready......Customer Satisfaction for 3 year old cars !

1: Honda Jazz
2: Lexus IS200/300
3: Mazda 323
4: Skoda Octavia and Mazda Premacy and Toyota Yaris
7: Skoda Fabia
8: BMW 5
9: Toyota Corolla
10: Mazda 626
11: Daewoo Demio
12: Volvo S80 and Toyota RAV4
14: Suzuki Ignis and BMW 3
16: Honda HRV
17: Honda Civic
18: Honda CRV
19: Saab 9-5 and Mazda MX5


etc etc

Highlights?

Suzuki Liana at No 37!

C Class Merc ties with a Hyundai Elentra and the V Dub Polo! at 67th

And lets not go down the "Corsa is highest scoring Vauxhall" road huh?

What possesses people with such DULL cars to ask for a questionaire to fill in and normal people with normal cars only EVER seem to ask for a form to fill in if they HATE their car!

Some positions deserved...(old model) Vectra at 93rd........deserved....god awefull thing.

But HYUNDAI SANTA FE at 27th...in front of Ford Focus?....COME ON

[Richie]

BMW 5

Altho I thought it would be higher.... I know its the only car thats received the What Car best executive car (and mebbe best overall car IIRC) for every year its been in production (1996 - 2002/03)

[Fox]

These surveys are not worth the paper they are written on.

Why? It's all about perception and expectations.

Consider 2 cars with the same fault - the ciggerette lighter tray fell out.

If the car is a Skoda Fabia, the owner will pop it back in. He bought a cheap car. He won't mark it down for something so petty. If the car is a BMW 760i, the driver will be more miffed. He paid for a quality car.

Example 2.

Two people have identical cars - Mazda6 2.0 TS.

One person used to drive a J reg Vauxhall Cavalier. To him, the Mazda6 is the best car in the world, ever. He simply adores everything about it, and cannot praise it enough.

The other person used to have a company provided BMW 528i Sport. He finds the Mazda6 slow, the build quality poor, he doesn't look the finish, the equipment level, infact, he doesn't really like his car at all. He rates it poorly.

Same car, different results. You only need to look at the tests that show the dealer satisfcation rating to get the same story - in the one in What Car? last year we had Rover 45 owners saying the dealer was apalling, yet MG ZS owners saying their dealer was the best thing since sliced bread. Errr, hello? Same car, just extra stick on tat. Same dealers. Why such a different? Different people have different expecation.

I had my Mondeo serviced a month back and the dealer washed the car. I was overjoyed, I didn't expect it and thought it was fantastic. Had I subsequently filled in a customer satisfaction form I'd have given my local Ford dealer top marks. However, had the same thing happened to a Lexus customer, he'd either have thought nothing of it, or complained he didn't get the complimentry valet, and marked the dealer accordingly.

[Shad]

Well said

I don't care if Alfa are never in the top 10, let alone the top 100; I love my car no matter what any damn survey says

[Clingy]

Well, I wouldn't totally dismiss the surveys. You are dead right about "expectation", but then if you are considering a Skoda, you are unlikely to be also considering a Beamer. It may help if you are trying to decide on a Mazda or a Toyota....etc etc.

[Zak33]

iff a car is really really near the bottom for 2 years...it deserves it

Old Vectra.....Frontera......Galaxy....

horrible.

But otherwise.....the guys statements about expectations are more important than even THEY realise....

cos the CUSTOMER has to goout of his/her way to ASK for a Customer Satisfaction Form to fill out....

HENCE....if you buy a Hyundai and are overjoyed with it in relation to the Cortina you used to have.....you actually wanna tell the world.

If you have a Mondeo that keeps letting you down......you wanna slag it off...and you ask for a questionairre...

I have had MORE repeat customers for Vectra than I ever had for Cavalier.....which is weird, cos Vectra was, in my opinion....crap

But the punters thought it was doing a fine job....but those punters NEVEr asked for a JD Power Survey to come to them...some of them dont even watch Top Gear or read What Car....so how WOULD they know.....and they are embarrressed that Jeremy Clarkson slags off their pride and joy...but they buy another anyway.

Its a bit like Voting....if you are not really bothered you just don't....er....bother

So ity is like asking for people who either LOVe or DESPISE their cars.....its all a bit unbalanced really