Kia & Jaguar top 2012 JD Power survey

[Moosejaw]

The results for the 2012 JD Power survey are in and it's topped by, of all things a Kia Sportage, with the Jaguar XF coming second, and Jaguar taking top manufacturer honours.

The rest of the top 20 is the usual suspects, including Volvos at 14th and 18th places.
...and 105th!

CLICKY LINK

[Aveton Gifford]

Still, they came 9th in the manufacturers survey, so not too bad!

[volvorocks]

Originally Posted by Moosejaw

The results for the 2012 JD Power survey are in and it's topped by, of all things a Kia Sportage, with the Jaguar XF coming second, and Jaguar taking top manufacturer honours.

What better news than Kia being at the top. A company that has 'moved mountains' in recent years and offer suberb products,even becoming stylish for goodness sake.Well done to Kia for listening.

At least Volvo beat Fiat!!

Regards

[GMad]

Kia make some absolutely cracking cars and proper Jaguars give me a semi, so I'll drink to that result

[Volvo6]

Although JD does give a good broad indication of customer satisfaction with cars I often think they are somewhat contrived...I mean look that the difference in ratings between the S40/V50, the S40 being rated higher for a lot of things ( for example dealer service and reliability); there is no objective reason for this since they are the same car. The only explanation can be differing expectations...hence why I find these surveys helpful but not really definitive.

[volvorocks]

Originally Posted by Volvo6

Although JD does give a good broad indication of customer satisfaction with cars I often think they are somewhat contrived...I mean look that the difference in ratings between the S40/V50, the S40 being rated higher for a lot of things ( for example dealer service and reliability); there is no objective reason for this since they are the same car. The only explanation can be differing expectations...hence why I find these surveys helpful but not really definitive.

I tend to agree with you on that, although many times in many surveys/polls Japanese and Korean (and Skoda Czech/German?? ) do consistently well across the board.

Regards

[banksy66]

"How was the overall score decided?
Each category was weighted according to how important owners rated it. The total scores awarded by owners were split as follows: vehicle quality and reliability (22%), vehicle appeal (31%), dealer service satisfaction (22%) and ownership costs (25%)."


Now what I find most interesting here is that what I would regard as the area of least importance for car ownership (vehicle appeal), actually carries the greatest weighting when it comes to calculating scores. Apparently having a "cool" car is more important than owning a reliable one with good dealer backup - I'm not sure respondents thought that one through properly

Personally, I'd rather have a solid, well built car with good quality back up and low running costs - whether or not my neighbours like it has absolutely no relevance to me whatsoever - in fact, all the more reason to buy something if the co*k at number 8 doesn't like it

[Ninja59]

i have to agree with the above the most important bit for the survey gets the least important bit mad.

[Moosejaw]

I'm not so sure.

OK, so not everyone's a petrolhead and to most folk a car is just a device to transport stuff around, but for anyone who cares, there's nothing worse than driving a bland car, or worse, one you actively dislike.

I'd far rather have a nice car I enjoyed driving that looked so good I'd wash it even when it wasn't dirty just so I could stand back and admire it than some dull but worthy and reliable lump of metal, even if did cost a few quid more at the pumps, or had the occasional hissy fit.

[Volvo6]

I can understand including criteria like styling for the low to mid price range because when such cars are bought people often want a good looking car but can't always afford to give looks a high priority...and end up buying a car they might not like the look of; therefore a reliable and good looking car is very welcome.

However with the large SUVs for example I'm looking at the results for the XC90 (which actually does quite well for reliability and quality) and wondering why, if styling is so important, someone would buy an XC90 when they could have a potentially much better looking (according to the survey...) Range Rover Sport or Disco for example and then rate the styling as poor in a customer survey...I mean if you didn't like the look why did you buy it? It's not like with reliability when you generally don't know until you've had it for a while...