What is the most overrated car manufacturer?

[Hungrymc]

wormus said:

Wouldn't get a RR sport though, they are just too yummy-mummy/self-made builder.

Tell you what, the new RRS (L494) It's a spectacular car.... I quite liked the old (T5) one which was like your disco but quite small internally but with much better trim. The new one is spectacular.

[toon10]

Audi for me if you take out the S and RS versions. They don't make bad cars it's just every time I drive a normal one I wonder why anyone would choose it over the equivalent BMW. Admittedly, I’ve not tried their entire range.

My boss has a good spec A4 and even the interior which is what they were famed for looked fussy and unappealing for a premium motor. Even the none premium cars like a basic Mondeo drive so much better than an A4.

[anonymous-user]

Audi - Bland, lifestyle cars, some with huge engines.
Alfa Romeo - Well dressed dreary drives. Trading on the badge.
Porsche - Stunningly poor reliability in recent years, despite this buyers forgive everything.
Land Rover - Unreliable money pits.

[anonymous-user]

whoami said:

A D4 is an enormous advance over a D3.

I don't doubt it and that's where my money is going soon. I meant from a practical point of view they have the same body, seat configuration etc. All the changes went into the oily bits, a new dashboard, and lights. You can even update the grille and lights on a D3 to make it look like a D4 they are that similar.

[Mr2Mike]

FeelingLucky said:

As soon as I read the header I thought some knobbler is bound to say BMW, the manufacturer that makes the //M series.

Anyone that feels the need to add two slashes to "//M series" proves the point about the type of people they attract.

[Pommygranite]

Audi is a marketing company that happens to make cars.

[unpc]

white_goodman said:

markcoznottz said:

Look the part, but that's easy for the price. Average tech, average dynamics, very good paint, average engines.

Disappointed that so many have said Aston, as an Aston Martin would be my dream car. They all look fantastic and average engines? Surely, they're all V8s and V12s and sound fantastic. What's average about that? Not a 4-pot diesel in sight!

Are all these criticisms levelled at the V8V in 4.3 form? I can't believe the V12 ones could be called slow. Also I don't believe anyone buys one thinking they are the last word in cutting edge tech. Surely they're bought as it's more of an event than anything else.

[TWPC]

Forbes produce a list of the 100 'most valuable brands' every year. See here:
http://www.forbes.com/powerful-brands/list/

You can sort it by industries - the column on the far right. In 'automotive' the ranking is as follows (from highest to lowest). Note that this is based on the US market.

BMW
Toyota
Merc
Honda
Audi
Ford
VW
Lexus
Nissan
Hyundai
Porsche

I think it's pretty amazing that as many as 11 car brands get into the overall top 100.

In terms of over- and under-rated brands, and I guess from a UK PH point of view, I think BMW looks over-rated (over 2.5x the value of Audi...?), VW under-rated (less than Ford) and Porsche seriously under-rated, though it's brand value is 32% of total revenue, miles higher than the others on the list - VW's brand value is only 5.5% of its revenue!

[TWPC]

Obviously this sort of analysis leaves out the likes of Ferrari and Rolls Royce...

Could Ferrari be the most over-rated brand?
It is unquestionably a great car company that has produced some fantastic vehicles but the brand is so incredibly well known, does the average punter really know how rubbish a lot of their cars have been in the past and the degree to which the F1 team has underperformed given its resources?

[Harji]

How can Toyota be overrated for their drive when they've never really been rated for it in the first place? It's not like they scream out "we've got the best handling car".

I've never had anyone discussing the handling merits of a Corolla such as yours.

[Jordan210]

To be fair to Aston you don't buy an Aston for the Tech. buy a 5 series BMW if you want that. You buy it for the look and noise and the hand crafted Britishness. When you see an Aston you smile. When you see a Porsche you think its just another Porsche. (well I do. I'm sure others do too)

But to me most overrated is Audi or Merc. Just not a fan people rant and rave about them but they look soulless to me.

Edited by Jordan210 on Wednesday 29th October 09:34

[trashbat]

That list seems odd to me, trying to assign value to something that's mostly intangible without going directly to company revenue. Plus where's Ferrari, for instance?

As I understand it, VW have a poor reputation in the US, the opposite of here.

[shoestring7]

Sadly I'll have to nominate Lancia, post 1970s*. Never has a brand squandered a heritage (Lambda, Aprilia, Aurelia, Fulvia, Stratos, Integrale) so comprehensively. This is exclusively down to the complete incompetents at Fiat who firstly removed all of the engineering quality that made Lancias as well built as anything German, and then spent the next 40 years screwing with the brand values so comprehensively that no-one knew what it stood for (Luxury? Sporting? Big? Small? Stylish? Utilitarian? Traditional? Innovative? Le Mans? Rallying?) before chucking in the badge engineered towel and calling tinselled Fiats Chryslers FFS.

SS7
*Knowing the Integrale is a late '80s design, but it was based on a 1970s Fiat rebodied by the genius Giugiaro.

[anonymous-user]

TWPC said:

Forbes produce a list of the 100 'most valuable brands' every year. See here:
http://www.forbes.com/powerful-brands/list/

You can sort it by industries - the column on the far right. In 'automotive' the ranking is as follows (from highest to lowest). Note that this is based on the US market.

BMW
Toyota
Merc
Honda
Audi
Ford
VW
Lexus
Nissan
Hyundai
Porsche

I think it's pretty amazing that as many as 11 car brands get into the overall top 100.

In terms of over- and under-rated brands, and I guess from a UK PH point of view, I think BMW looks over-rated (over 2.5x the value of Audi...?), VW under-rated (less than Ford) and Porsche seriously under-rated, though it's brand value is 32% of total revenue, miles higher than the others on the list - VW's brand value is only 5.5% of its revenue!

The Americans have a much more realistic view of the quality and reliability of the VAG cars and European cars in general. VW and Audi are considered to be diabolically unreliable, fragile and expensive to repair, which is a much better reflection of reality than the perception in the UK I feel. VW have been trying to crack the US market for decades with occasional breakthroughs in sales let down by st quality very quickly becoming apparent .

[Beer Man]

FeelingLucky said:

Beer Man said:

THE most overrated?

BMW.

to be fair, their marketing department must be staffed entirely by genius types as their cars are f****** awful

As soon as I read the header I thought some knobbler is bound to say BMW, the manufacturer that makes the //M series.
Cars that (almost always) hugely out perform their underpinnings. Have a read through the other suggestions and ask yourself, did you call it right with BMW?

Did your finger slip on the keyboard? What's the // about???

Anyway, apart from the M3, M5 and M6 (which, let's face it, are either ugly or bland), which, if my baby maths is correct, is three cars.

Out of HOW many in the range?????

[krusty]

Must be the odd one out then.... I've had / Have lots of Audi's and Land Rovers and have never had anything bad to say about any of them.....

[kambites]

On Pistonheads, I think I'd put Porsche and BMW equal first. Not because I think they make bad cars, on the contrary they tend to make the best cars in their respective sectors by some margin. However, the gap to their competitors is nowhere near as wide as many people make out.

The best manufacturers/cars almost always tend to be the most overrated, in my experience; and the worst often the most underrated.

Edited by kambites on Wednesday 29th October 10:05

[chrispmartha]

Beer Man said:

Did your finger slip on the keyboard? What's the // about???

Anyway, apart from the M3, M5 and M6 (which, let's face it, are either ugly or bland), which, if my baby maths is correct, is three cars.

Out of HOW many in the range?????

Not sure why there is so much BMW 'hate' on this site, yes they do make some everyday 'bland' cars as it were, and they are very popular (which is why I suspect there is so much hate) but to say the M series range is 'bland' seems a little OTT and then if you look at the i3 and i8 they are hardly bland are they.

[shoestring7]

dme123 said:

[ VW have been trying to crack the US market for decades with occasional breakthroughs in sales let down by st quality very quickly becoming apparent .

So 5.5m Beetles sold in the US over nearly four decades was a failed attempt to crack the US market then?

SS7

[jhonn]

Allow me to offer up another generalised, subjective opinion - this time based on info from Top Gear and some practical experience.

This time not just a manufacturer, but a whole motoring corporation - the culprit?..

Renault/Nissan/Dacia

Nissan were great, when they were primarily Japanese, then Renault brought them down to their basically crap levels - Nissan now vastly overrated.

Dacia - wow, were they hyped up by TopGear (particularly James May) - what's all the fuss about? - it's a dreary econobox built (if you're lucky) to the same crappy levels as Renault/Nissan; Dacia - vastly overrated.

All part of the Renault group.