Dacia Duster.

[Yorkie]

I've mentioned before the 'J.D. Power Survey' of customer satisfaction with both the manufacturers overall, and with individual models of cars. I never take any notice of reviews by motoring journalists because they lack objectivity - often the journalist are taken on 'jollies' to exotic places to see new models, and they don't bite the hand that feeds them, or they might not get asked back next time. Also some 'reviews' are nothing more than paid for videos made by the manufacturers to show the features and benefits of their vehicles to best advantage. Basically, marketing their vehicles - advertising dressed up as editorial - in marketing terms, known as 'advertorial'.

I'm much more interested in what actual owners of vehicles have to say about their experience in owning and driving their cars.

The J.D. Power Survey of 16,000 car owners in the UK covers 116 models that are between one and three years old. Only models with more than 4000 sales and 50 clean surveys are eligible for inclusion. In total, respondents had clocked up more than 340 million miles in their cars. Owners rank their vehicles on 66 criteria, which are grouped to deliver an overall score. Points are accumulated to provide scores for good reliability, performance, service and running costs, which are then expressed as a percentage score.

There's still a large element of subjectivity when owners are asked to rate 'overall comfort' or road-holding capability', but there are some aspects where the answers will be objective, such as 'has the car broken down?, or 'have you experience any defects, if so, what have they been?

I think that 'prestige cars' will sometimes score low because the makers' hype tends to over-promise, and the cars may under-deliver'. If you're fobbing out >£50K then you're going to expect near perfection, which is an unrealistic expectation because hey - it's just a car, and if it conks out, people may laugh at you for being sucked in by hype and you won't like that.

The 2013 Survey results have recently been released.

In terms of overall satisfaction with manufacturers, with Jaguar tops the rankings.

In terms of customer satisfaction with individual vehicles, the Skoda Superb topped the list, with the Skoda Yeti second, pushing the Jaguar XF into third place. It has to be said though that only three percentage points separates the Skoda Superb in No 1 spot, and the VW Tiguan in 20th.

2013 JD Power Customer satisfaction survey - individual car model results (I've just shown the top and bottom twenty models):

Top twenty:

1. Skoda Superb 83.0%
2. Skoda Yeti 82.8%
3. Jaguar XF 82.7%
4= Citroën DS3 82.2%
4= Lexus RX 82.2%
6= Honda Jazz 82.0%
6= Volkswagen Passat CC 82.0%
8. Volvo S60/V60 81.9%
9= Lexus IS 81.4%
9= Mercedes-Benz B-Class 81.4%
9= Toyota Prius 81.4%
12. Mercedes-Benz C-Class 81.3%
13= Kia Sportage 81.1%
13= Mercedes-Benz E-Class 81.1%
15. Saab 9-3 81.0%
16. Ford C-Max/Grand C-Max 80.9%
17= Skoda Octavia 80.8%
17= Volvo XC60 80.8%
19. Nissan Qashqai 80.7%
20. Volkswagen Tiguan 80.6%

Bottom 20:

96=Kia Picanto 75.8%
98=Mazda 6 75.3%
98=Nissan Micra 75.3%
100. Citroën C1 75.2%
101= Renault Clio 75.1%
101= Suzuki Alto 75.1%
103. Peugeot 207 CC 75.0%
104. Peugeot 207 74.8%
105= Peugeot 308 74.6%
105= Vauxhall Corsa 74.6%
107. Kia Rio 74.4%
108= Alfa Romeo Giulietta 74.1%
108= BMW X1 74.1%
108= Citroën C5 74.1%
111. Peugeot 107 73.9%
112. Fiat Panda 73.7%
113. Ford Ka 72.2%
114. Fiat Grande Punto/Punto Evo 72.0%
115. Alfa Romeo MiTo 70.7%
116. Chevrolet Spark 70.2

Industry Average77.6%

Full Results here: http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-ca...el-results

2013 JD Power Customer satisfaction survey - full list of manufacturer results:

1. Jaguar 82.7%
2. Lexus 81.8%
3. Honda 81.0%
4. Škoda 80.9%
5. Mercedes-Benz 80.4%
6. Land Rover 79.0%
7. Volvo 78.9%
8. Toyota 78.8%
9= Nissan 78.7%
9= Seat 78.7%
9= Volkswagen 78.7%
12. BMW 78.5%
13. Audi 78.0%
14. Citroën 77.7%
15= Kia 77.5%
15= MINI 77.5%
17. Hyundai 77.2%
18. Ford 77.1%
19. Renault 76.6%
20. Mazda 76.2%
21. Suzuki 75.8%
22. Vauxhall 75.6%
23. Fiat 75.4%
24. Peugeot 75.0%
25. Mitsubishi 74.5%
26. Alfa Romeo 72.5%
27. Chevrolet 69.1%

Industry Average77.6%

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-ca...er-results

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-reviews/skoda

Really, we all base our views on our own experiences and those who we know. Until recently, because we get 25% discont on Fiats due to a family member working there, for 20 years we've had Fiats - four Pandas and a Seicento for my wife, and two Stylos and two Bravas for me. They never skipped a beat and never failed an MOT - excellent dealership too.

We've don't need two cars any more so have gone down to one car. Hence, the Panda has gone to our younger son, and I traded my Bravia in for a Skoda Fabia because it's bigger than a Panda, but not so big that my wife would feel inhibited from driving it. (Fiat don't have any models that would meet our present needs). Both the Panda and Fiat are towards the bottom of both the above lists, but not reflective of our experiences. The Panda had an annual service, MOT and a free full valet inside and out which came to just £110 in September.