Industry lifts its game in J.D. Power survey

Winners are grinners in the USA's annual J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Vehicle Dependability Study that has placed Jaguar and Buick as the equal-best, highest ranking nameplates.

The J.D. Power consumer survey tracks problems encountered by original owners of three year old vehicles and gains attention worldwide as an indicator of dependability and functional build quality.

For the 2009 survey, the average problems encountered by more than 46,000 original owners dropped from 206 per 100 vehicles to 170. Buick and Jaguar each averaged 122 per 100 vehicles, elevating the former from number six in 2008 and the latter from number 10.

The Lexus/Toyota onslaught starts from third position, where Lexus saw four of its models getting a segment award. Toyota, with five models scoring awards, followed in number four ahead of Ford brand Mercury in fifth.

All top five brands received a five-star rating from J.D. Power.

Among the four-star rated brands sold in the US were Acura, Cadillac, Honda, Infiniti, Lincoln and Porsche. Three-star dependability ratings went to Audi, BMW, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Ford, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Subaru and Volvo.

Criteria for the dependability awards cover a total of 202 problems in eight major areas including exterior, driving experience, features/controls/displays, audio/entertainment/navigation, seats, heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, interior and engine/transmission.

According to J.D. Power statistics, dependability plays a major part in customer loyalty. For example an engine or transmission rebuild during the three-year survey period will cancel out 89 per cent of repeat business compared to around 60 per cent among customers experiencing no problems.

The current financial crisis is having a big impact in the US, where the average trade-in age today is 73 months, compared to 65 months in 2006.

APEAL study

If you need to know what US customers think about the performance, execution and layout of their new cars, J.D. Power's annual APEAL study could provide some answers.

The study questions new car owners 90 days after first collecting the keys to measure the reality of ownership against pre-purchase expectations.

The 2009 survey involved 80,900 new-car recipients questioned between February and May. It indicated that people are little more satisfied this year, with the industry average score raised from 770 out of 1000 possible points in 2008 to 779 in 2009.

Habitual winners of the APEAL awards come from the top shelf of the new-car store and this year was no exception, with Porsche continuing a five-year winning streak by sitting comfortably above the rest with 869 points.

Next was Jaguar with 859 points, followed by Cadillac with 852 points.

The top ten, in order, included Audi (846), BMW (844), Mercedes-Benz (841), Lexus (837), Infiniti (828), Land Rover (822) and Lincoln (820).

Individual rankings in various classes included the smart fourtwo in the Sub-compact class ahead of Scion xD and Honda Fit, the Mini Cooper ahead of VW Jetta and Mitsubishi Lancer in the Compact Car class, VW Golf GTI alone in the Compact Sporty Car class because no other car rated above the class average, Mercedes-Benz SLK and Nissan Z only in the Compact Premium S[port Car class for the same reason, VW Passat CC followed by Cadillac CTS and Audi A4.5 in the Entry Premium class, Dodge Challenger (see above) alone in the Midsize Sporty class, Hyundai Genesis followed by Jaguar XF and 5 series BMW in the Midsize Premium class, Mercedes Benz S-Class followed by Lexus LS in the Large Premium class, VW Passat, Mazda6 and Honda Accord in the Midsize class and Nissan Maxima, Pontiac G8 and Toyota Avalon in the Large class.

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