Reliable cars

Submitted: Monday, Mar 21, 2011 at 20:02
ThreadID: 85150 Views:2452 Replies:3 FollowUps:3
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Well, maybe this will put an end to the arguement or maybe start a new one.
The disapointing thing with the following list is that for every 100 cars the most reliable car has 101 problems.

In short: (number per 100 vehicles)
Toyota = 122
Nissan = 183
Landrover = 212
Jeep = 214

The most dependable car brands (USA)

By the way I don't drive a Toyota (or a jeep)

R.
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Reply By: Fab72 - Monday, Mar 21, 2011 at 21:01

Monday, Mar 21, 2011 at 21:01
l work with this data all the time at work.
JD Power is American. Here in Australia it's NVQS (New Vehicle Quality Survey).

Take your Toyota figure as an example.
The 122 problems are per 100 vehicles, meaning that on average each vehicle has 1.22 problems each. NOT 122 problems each vehicle.

Although reasonably accurate, I wouldn't hang my hat on this data. Some of the customer verbatims that accompany these scores leave a lot to be desired.

For instance.... a customer will tick the "Water leak" box. So an instant problem is scored against that vehicle marque. Then (suprisingly often) when you read the verbatim it will state "Water leak into the vehicle when driving with window down during rain". Yes, I know. They walk amongst us.

Other beauties I have seen are.
Wind noise from sunroof at 110kmph.
Poor engine performance (on a 4cylinder) when compared to previous V8 car.
Dust entry into ute tray.
Window tint too dark....hang on. That's not even a factory option!

The people that publish these results are desk jockeys and just count ticks in a box. The data is not cut or evaluated, well not until people like me make the customer follow up phone calls. In all fairness, all car companies get their fair share of these sort of verbatims, so although it's probably not as bad as it first seems, it is reasonably accurate regarding who has the more reliable car.

BTW. NVQS is a company that charges to collect and distribute the data to manufacturers here in Australia who subscribe to their services. The data is not published publicly here unlike JD Powers data in the US. Here in Australia, not all manufacturers subscribe to NVQS, so it doesn't represent a complete market snap shot.

Any questions? Fire away.

Fab.
AnswerID: 448892

Follow Up By: Rockape - Tuesday, Mar 22, 2011 at 06:50

Tuesday, Mar 22, 2011 at 06:50
Fab,
do the Australian auto clubs use your figures or do they correlate their own from their breakdown records.

I guess the idiot factor averages out across all the brands.
Have a good one.

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FollowupID: 721195

Follow Up By: Fab72 - Tuesday, Mar 22, 2011 at 07:19

Tuesday, Mar 22, 2011 at 07:19
Rockape,
NVQS data, as far as I know, is only available for the explicit use of vehicle manufacturers. Strictly speaking, Auto clubs would not fall into this category.

Fab.
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FollowupID: 721196

Reply By: Member - Joe n Mel n kids (FNQ - Monday, Mar 21, 2011 at 21:54

Monday, Mar 21, 2011 at 21:54
dependable car brands USA ??????
Ummmm this is Australia, Jonny pops Howard tried to sell us out but got stopped, i dont think we could rely to much on data from the USA on car problems eh :-)
AnswerID: 448898

Follow Up By: Trevor R (QLD) - Tuesday, Mar 22, 2011 at 09:25

Tuesday, Mar 22, 2011 at 09:25
I agree Joe, otherwise we would all be driving Ford Explorers. After all they are the worlds (or at least was) highest volume selling 4wd (I say 4wd loosely here) according to a salesman I had the pleasure of walking away from many years ago.

Rob, take study's like this lightly. I will do my research though speaking to owners of vehicles similar to that of my preference and needs. If it is 4wd you are after, speak to heaps of 4wd clubs, if it is performance vehicle you are after speak to heaps of street car clubs ect ect.

When I was researching for my Patrol, I spoke with Ambulance service divisions, railway vehicle maintenance, heaps of mine contractors and the like. I was aware of plenty of the issues surrounding this vehicle before I even bought one. Still it was the most dependable vehicle in it's category alongside the Cruiser, but I had already broken my Cruiser a number of times so I figured the Patrol was worth a shot. thank goodness I give it a go, 10 yrs, 2 Patrols and well in excess of 1/2 a million k's I am still a happy camper.

Also, plenty of "reliable" vehicles driven the wrong way can be described as garbage by their owners so speak to as many owners as you can.

Trevor.
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FollowupID: 721202

Reply By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Wednesday, Mar 23, 2011 at 09:50

Wednesday, Mar 23, 2011 at 09:50
Theres very little good published info on Australian delivered cars, but the link below from 2006 is good (read all 6 pages):
Australian Car Reliability survey:
AnswerID: 449041

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