Motoring: For Long-Term Dependability, Check the Initial Quality August 13, 2006
A model?s repair record offers a reasonable basis for predicting how often it might need to visit the repair shop in the future.
FOR many consumers, the most important factor in choosing a new vehicle is not the hipness of its design, the comfort of its seats or even the number of cup holders on board. These practical-minded buyers want to know how well a car or truck will hold up in the years ahead; the less trouble-prone it promises to be, the more desirable it is.
While it is impossible to know exactly how dependable any new vehicle will be, a model?s repair record offers a reasonable basis for predicting how often it might need to visit the repair shop in the future. The latest survey of owners? experience, the 2006 Vehicle Dependability Study by J. D. Power & Associates, released last week, offers some useful indicators. Among other things, it shows that cars with few defects when new tend to remain reliable as they age.
The study by J. D. Power, the influential market research firm that rates everything from airlines to bass boats and mortgage lenders, measures problems experienced by owners of three-year-old vehicles. The 2006 V.D.S. is based on responses from 47,620 original owners of 2003 models.
This study is important to consumers: 61 percent of new-car buyers say that long-term durability is among their most important factors in choosing a vehicle, the firm?s research has shown. Automakers are eager to earn high ratings in this study because owners of three-year-old cars may soon be purchasing again, and good marks may encourage loyalty to the brand.
The numbers from this year?s dependability study reveal broader trends, too. For instance, the gap in long-term quality between luxury and nonluxury brands has been cut in half over the last four years. While Lexus is again the top brand in dependability ? for the 12th consecutive year ? and Cadillac ranks fourth, three of the top five are nonluxury brands: Mercury, in second place, Buick in third and Toyota in fifth.
J. D. Power calculates its rankings by the number of reported problems per 100 vehicles. The lower the score, the better the performance.
The study presents its findings in two ways, rating both brands and individual models. A total of 37 brands sold in the United States were ranked from the one with the fewest problems per 100 vehicles (Lexus at 136) to the one with the most faults (Land Rover at 438). The industry average for 2006 was 227 problems, down from 237 in the 2005 study.
The ratings for individual models lists the top three in market segments defined by Power. Japanese nameplates dominated: Lexus, Honda and Toyota had the most models at the top of their segments. Lexus had four: the GS 300-GS 430, GX 470, LS 430 and SC 430. Toyota also had four: the Echo, RAV4, Highlander and Tundra. Honda had three: Civic, S2000 and Odyssey.
Detroit?s automakers have been narrowing the gap with the Japanese. Of the 13 brands above the industry average this year, six were from Ford and General Motors and five were Japanese nameplates; only two, BMW and Jaguar, were European.
One pitfall of looking at three-year-old vehicles is that some models may already be out of production by the time the study is released; a number of segment winners are no longer available in new-car showrooms, making the information useful mostly to buyers of used cars. Another survey from J. D. Power, the Initial Quality Study, tallies problems of makes and individual models in the first 90 days of ownership. The 2006 I.Q.S. was released in June.
While it sometimes seems as though auto surveys are being released daily, the long-term look provided by the Power dependability study has little competition; it is the most widely cited of those conducted by market research companies. Another source of information for consumers is the annual car reliability survey by Consumer Reports; results from its latest survey were published in the magazine?s April auto issue. The 2006 survey was based on reliability information for about one million vehicles, provided by subscribers to the magazine and its Web site.
Consumers looking for solid finger-pointing advice will find a good deal of agreement between the surveys by Power and Consumer Reports. In addition, there is a strong correlation between the Initial Quality Study and what happens three years later in the Vehicle Dependability Study, said Neal Oddes, director of product research and analysis for J. D. Power.
?If you are going to improve in I.Q.S. over four years, there is a good likelihood that you will improve in V.D.S.,? he said.
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- Author : arnold
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