CRAP? The new JD Quality Study - 9 American car makers in top 15

[GTO]

Or have the Americans pulled up their socks...miraculously in one year? Buick, Mercury and Cadillac beat Honda, Acura and Toyota!

JD Link

[normally_crazy]

"CRAP" ?? Why ? Or is there some kind of a theory that the Americans cant pull up their socks ? Am going thru the report now , let me read it.

[Floyd de Souza]

Did you see where Hyundai & Suzuki are? And to think that in India they are amongst the top 5.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by Floyd de Souza

Did you see where Hyundai & Suzuki are? And to think that in India they are amongst the top 5.

Yeah, first thing I did was to check where Suzuki is on the list. And to say I was disappointed will be an understatement. But then, it is in August company when it comes to the brands that are below the industry average viz. M.Benz, Nissan, Mazda, Mitsu, Volvo, Saab etc etc.

I am frankly surprised by the difference in ratings between here and in the US. The US is a more mature market with consumer tolerance for defects very less, but the brands that are at the top here are at the bottom of the ratings heap in the US.

Also, check out the number of problems per 100 vehicles for even the brands at the top - high compared to the problems reported in their study here. Is it that we are getting better quality (less problems) cars than in the US ? Or is it that we do not take the trouble to report all problems that crop up with our cars, while the Americans are real finicky ?

[sajo]

Buick/Lincoln always managed to stay near the top of the JD power dependability ratings by offering old, dull and mostly featureless cars, which they had tried and tested over the years. But I dont understand how Mercury made it to the list. Though their car which came out at the top, the Grand Marquis, isnt what anyone will call ground breaking. I wonder how "newer" American vehicles like the Windstar,five Hundred, Cobalt fared.

[devarshi84]

Originally Posted by sajo

Buick/Lincoln always managed to stay near the top of the JD power dependability ratings by offering old, dull and mostly featureless cars, which they had tried and tested over the years. But I dont understand how Mercury made it to the list. Though their car which came out at the top, the Grand Marquis, isnt what anyone will call ground breaking. I wonder how "newer" American vehicles like the Windstar,five Hundred, Cobalt fared.

who told you that? Yes your conclusion may be true if it was 2005. the big three have finally woken up to the threat after half the battle is lost.

Mercury cars are also based on successful ford owned brand platforms.

check out the lincoln zephyr based on the ford fusion platform aka mazda 6 platform. thx

Also check out the navigator (due for replacement soon or so I heard.)

And if Lincoln is still a suspect brand to you check this out.





Just read yesterday that Ford has fired all the cylinders. 9 new cars coming out including the shelby prepared mustang. Hope they improve the crude interior quality.

[sajo]

Originally Posted by devarshi84

who told you that? Yes your conclusion may be true if it was 2005. the big three have finally woken up to the threat after half the battle is lost.

Mercury cars are also based on successful ford owned brand platforms.

check out the lincoln zephyr based on the ford fusion platform aka mazda 6 platform. thx

Also check out the navigator (due for replacement soon or so I heard.)

And if Lincoln is still a suspect brand to you check this out.

Just read yesterday that Ford has fired all the cylinders. 9 new cars coming out including the shelby prepared mustang. Hope they improve the crude interior quality.

Dude..I know that Ford is going to come out with some new cars like the Fusion based Edge and a new (and long overdue) 3.5L Duratec. I also know Lincoln is going to ditch the Zephyr (shouldnt have spoilt the name in the first place) in bring the AWD MKZ instead. The Navigator just received a minor facelift and improvements. A Town Car replacement (MKS) is also due in 2008.
Butt...these are all things to come. The survey was carried out for the year 2003-2006. And the car which came out tops for Mercury was the old Grand Marquis/Crown Victoria/Town Car combo, which are by no means modern.Other cars like the Windstar/Freestyle from the same period are not quite as trouble free. Lets see how they fare in the 2009 survey for all the new models.

[theMAG]

While American cars quality might have gone up, I honestly don't believe they're that world class to figure in 9/15 top cars.

If JD Power reports Oldsmobile to have fewer problems than Mercedes-Benz, its most likely due to very few Oldsmobile owners in the 1st place.


@Devarshi84: While that Lincoln might look professional in a pic, if an international customer is asked to pick between the Lincoln and a LandRover parked side-by-side with all nameplates blanked, he would still choose the LandRover. Its just that American designs are solely suited to American tastes which are quite different to international tastes.

[islero]

Its surprising to see Porsche not near the top. Dont they have a reputation for good quality vehicles?

[devarshi84]

In that case the old honda's and toyotas were the same.

BTW sorry for the misunderstanding. Too much auto news in the paper these days.

[lefthanddrive]

One thing to keep in mind when you are looking at statistics is where they come from. In this instance, they come from owner reported surveys. An older person has owned cars over the last 30 years. He has experienced crap from the 1970s. He/she is likely to be less critical of problems than a gen-xer used to ipods and other super reliable modern electronics. You'll find the results skewed a little, benefitting companies with more older and less younger customers. I brought this up with David Powers last year... he acknowledged the same, while contending that all manufacturers care about is customer perception...which is accurately measured in his study.

BTW: American cars are quite dependable and long lasting, especially the large cars like the Lincoln Town Car and Buick Le Sabre. Far superior to the Europeans here. Euro cars tend to have electrical problems and other issues with unproven high technology which the US large cars tend to not use.