The JD Power report for vehicles sold in England has just been released. It is interesting to compare this to the one for the U.S. This "Customer Satisfaction Survey" is done with What Car? Magazine and consists of 70 questions across a range of topics. The survey is done with 23,000 owners of cars registered between September 2002 and August 2003. Eight areas of interest are surveyed: mechanical, interior and exterior problems, vehicle performance, vehicle interior and exterior, dealer service, and ownership costs.
Like in the U.S., it is not necessarily a prestige car that wins. There were 124 marques that were in the survey which were made by 32 different manufacturers. And while the survey may be similar to what is done here, the results are different. Of course, some of that difference is that there are cars sold in England that aren't sold here and visa versa.
What is the best-rated car in England? It is the Honda Jazz, which isn't sold here. It is a sub-compact that isn't a big seller in England. The top rated car last year slipped one to number two and it is the Lexus IS. That one is sold here, but isn't at the top of our list. The third rated car is the Toyota Yaris, which is the Echo here. I don't believe that it is at the top of our list either.
Number six on the list is the BMW 5-series. Number seven is the Kia Sorrento. And tied for number eight are the Honda Accord and the Toyota Corolla. Can you imagine a BMW rating higher than the Honda Accord on the U.S. list? I'm sure BMW would like to, but I doubt that it will happen soon.
Next on the list, at number 10 is the Porsche Boxster. That is another car that isn't that close to the top of the JD Power list in the U.S. Number 11 on the list is the Mazda 6, which is another lower-rated car here. Number 12 and 13 respectively are the Honda Civic and CR-V. Those are highly rated here, but probably at about the same place on our list. Number 14 is the BMW 3-series. And number 15 is the Hyundai Santa Fe.
In the top 15, then you have two BMWs and one Porsche. Where is the top Mercedes? Try the C-class at number 60. In fact third from the bottom, you will find the Mercedes ML tied for number 120. Audi? They do a bit better than Mercedes. The A2 and A4 are tied for number 30. Volkswagen does better with their Bora (our Jetta) at number 24.
In the sixties, seventies, and eighties, Europe was the profit center for Ford and GM. That began to change in the nineties, and these days they struggle for profit just like they do in the U.S. The best rated Ford is the Focus at number 46. Their family car, the Mondeo (used to be Contour here), is a bit lower at number 53. GM does a little better, but not much. Their top-rated car is the Vauxhall Agila at number 35.
The bottom-rated car is the Kia Sportage. Note that Kia has one at the very bottom, but also one at as high as number seven. Odd, isn't it?
The manufacturers are rated as well. Here, we have a result the same as in the U.S. The top-rated manufacturer is Lexus. But number two is interesting. It is Skoda, which is the Czech version of Volkswagen. Volkswagen itself is just number 16, and their Spanish version, Skoda, is number 22. How can that be?
The top-rated German is BMW at number 5, with their subsidiary MINI at number 6. Audi is number 9, and Mercedes falls to 21.
Ford is higher than GM at 17. GM is below the industry average at number 20.
The French are all below the industry average. The British (or whatever are left of them) are on both sides. Jaguar is number 11, but Land Rover is near the bottom at number 20. The Italians? Well they are at the bottom with Fiat at number 31 and Alfa Romeo at the very bottom at 32.
The manufacturer placings are pretty similar to those seen in the United States survey. One observation is that both the French and Italians probably wouldn't be very successful if they decided to start importing cars into the U.S. Reliability is a priority to American buyers and the French are near the bottom of this survey and the Italians are at the bottom. There will be some buyers who want something unique, but those are very unlikely to support a manufacturer who wants to import lots of cars.
British journalist Jeremy Clarkson has published his list of best cars. He has cultivated the image as the most outspoken reviewer of cars in the world. Being outspoken means that your selections must be at least eccentric -- and they are. I won't list all of them, but some are worthy of mention here. Bear in mind that he is British, so he tends to favor vehicles made there.
Jeremy's choice for luxury car is the Rolls-Royce Phantom. He says, "Today luxury is all about gizmos, but the bold Rolls-Royce just gets on with it." His second choice is far less expensive as the diesel Audi A8. Third is the Jaguar XJ-R. Fourth is the VW Phaeton. His "no way" selection is the Lexus LS430.
The "executive car" is important in England, because it is the choice of business people who lease cars with the company paying for them. Jeremy's choice is, in fact, the most popular business lease in England, the BMW 5-series diesel. He says, "The 5 is still leader of the pack and the brilliant 3-liter diesel is the one to go for." It is really interesting that his second choice is the Subaru Legacy. Even with their unreliability, he picks the Mercedes E-class diesel in third place. The French Renault VEL Satis comes in fourth, but the "no way" pick is the Peugeot 607.
The "family saloon (sedan)" is another important car in England. Jeremy's choices are unexpected here too. His first choice is the Mazda 6. He says "Out of nowhere it became the only decent challenge to the driving prowess of the Mondeo." Hmmm. And what does he choose for second? Of course, the Ford Mondeo. All of the reports I've read say that the Ford Mondeo is the best driving car in this class. Third place is the Renault Laguna, a car we will never see here. Fourth is the Honda Accord. Note that this isn't the same car we get. It is the Acura TSX here. And, without explanation, his "no way" car is the BMW 318i.
His convertible class is a gathering of really different cars that only share the common characteristic of a disappearing roof. His first choice is the Honda S2000, about which he says, "Not only does its engine rev to a monstrous 9000rpm, but it will do so until the end of time." A little exaggeration anyone? His second choice is the BMW Z4 3.0. From the other end of the spectrum comes the third choice, the Mercedes SL55 AMG. Finally, the fourth pick is the Audi A4. I can't imagine a buyer who is considering one of those having any of the others on his list. Oh yes, the "no way" pick is the VW New Beetle 2.0.
This week I've looked at the scientific list of English "best" cars and one of the least scientific. Both are revealing about what people think of their cars.
