Sorry for double-posting, but I accidentally posted this in the off-topic forum... Mods feel free to delete.


Looks like JD Power can't decide wether to rate reliability or quality...

http://www.detnews.com/2003/autosin...ness-231761.htm

, Suzuki and Isuzu, which usually finish towards the bottom of their surveys, are towards the top.
ALL the European makes are below average, no surprise there as far as I'm concerned.
Oddly, Subaru is also towards the bottom end... I generally held them in high regard...

As far as I'm concerned, this is further proof that JD. Powers' surveys are inaccurate and basically a joke.

 

Your link is bad. Try this one:

http://www.detnews.com/2003/autosins...ess-231761.htm


The surveys are actually pretty good. You have to understand what the questionaire is asking. This particular one takes a look at trips to the dealer (which is part of another survey), and divides them into maintenence and repair trips. It's pretty questionable, since different makes have different service intervals, but in theory should indicate how reliable cars are. However, I think there are a lot of other factors - how extensive the dealer network is, how expensive maintence is, etc - which aren't properly factored in.

 

Thanks for correcting the link.

I'm sorry, I just can't agree that these surveys are any good. IMHO there are three reasons for this:

1) as you demonstrate, it is easy to misread the results unless you do some research into the survey itself.

2) thus, it is also easy to misrepresent the info (indeed, a lot of journalists quote this stuff, not knowing what the surveys truly represent).

3) ease of result manipulation and questionable research method.

I will expand on item #3:

The sample size is minuscule compared to the number of vehicles actually sold. I.e. is this truly representative of the general experience of the consumer populace? In addition does the sample size represent the general populace proportionately?

Sample demographics: who is sampled where and what is the individuals' background? In addition, owners of different brands treat their cars differently. Lexus owners are much less likely to "mod" their cars vs owners...

Questions asked and score weight: How the questions are asked and how they are weighted can easily skew the results and can favor one manufacturer over the other.

Sorry for the long post. I think consumer education is VERY important and I find J.D. Power, Autopacific, Consumer Reports, etc, and the way they present their survey results misleading and potentially misrepresentative.

Thanks for letting me rant.

 

As you may know, there are 3 types of lies: Lies, damn lies, and statistics. Or something like that. Anytime you take a sample, you can generally make the numbers say anything you want. Just ask Enron. So your 3rd point is spot on.

Ultimately, there is no perfect way to evaluate quality, reliability, and durability (3 distinct but related things). There are hundreds of variables. As misleading as they can be, I think we all benefit from JD Power and Consumer Reports in that automakers strive to make better vehicles. So even if the numbers themselves are bogus, the results aren't.