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JD Powers Survey of Car Initial Quality

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RobT

RobT

Jedi Warrior
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Mini ranks dead-last in initial quality, and second-last is that other British icon - Land Rover! Oh well, I guess some things never change.

https://blogs.edmunds.com/straightline/20...-at-bottom.html

So glad I traded in my Land Rover - when I bought my '04 Mini! (Which, I should add, has been much more reliable than my wife's Chevy, and had NO initial quality issues)
 
What happened to Buick. They had made it to the top of the heap a while back. And MINIs were ranked very high when they first came out. My how things change.
 
It depends entirely on what the problems are. Lexus owners will complain about the alignment of a piece of trim or a stitch pattern on a seat that a Buick owner would never see. I worked for Lexus and the levels are high. The surveys are still valid because the higher the price of car, the higher the expectation of perfection.

And Mini's aren't cheap cars and the owners tend to know quality cars, so they are probably under a very watchful eye.
 
I hate surveys!

What does number of problems per 100 vehicles mean? Are they adjusted in any way? For example, the same vehicle may be (and likely is) brought back in for several issues, or several times to correct the same issue. Seems to me more information is needed before judging quality.

Policy around our household is never to answer questions on the phone. Amazing how many callers are dumbfounded when I tell them that, and that I'd be happy to look over a survey/answer questions, if they'll send stuff in the mail. Especially effective with sales calls at the church. "This is a special promotion by phone only." :wink:
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]JD Powers no longer passes the smell test. [/QUOTE]
Read the first comment on the survey. It pretty much says it all.

J.D. Powers is useless. This survey is of cars that have been owned for less than 90 days. How many bad things have you found in the first three months of a new car? The "long term survey" (the one Buick and Jaguar tied for first in this year) is for cars that are all of 3 years old. Is that "long term" for you?

J.D. Powers makes their living by leasing the rights to the results of their surveys to the manufacturers to use in their advertising. It's not surprising that one survey will favor one group of cars (initial quality) and another favors different cars ("long term"). <span style="font-style: italic">Even <span style="text-decoration: underline">if</span></span> the survey results are on the up-and-up, why are the studies done this way? My answer: to maximize J.D. Powers revenues first, to help manufacturers product marketing second, to evaluate car quality for any purpose dead last.

The Mini Cooper ranks "average" for reliability and "well above average" for consumer satisfaction in <span style="font-style: italic">Consumer Reports</span>' owner survey, which while not perfect at least uses a VASTLY larger sample size than J.D Powers---<span style="text-decoration: underline">and is non-profit!</span>
 
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