Tuesday 20th April 2004

J .D. Power 2004

The results are in - who's on top this year?

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Lexus is number one again, with Skoda in second place in this year's "J.D. Power and Associates/WhatCar? magazine 2004 Car Customer Satisfaction Study ", released today.

It's the fourth year running that Lexus has topped the chart and it achieved the highest score ever in the report’s 11-year history with an overall satisfaction score of 878, an increase of 17 index points on 2003.

Jumping two rank positions since 2003, Skoda follows Lexus in second place with 852 index points, an increase of 16 points on last year’s results. Mazda, which makes the most significant improvement in customer satisfaction since 2003, ranks third overall, increasing 38 points to 845.

Overall customer satisfaction across the UK has increased by three index points with Japanese brands in general remaining the most satisfying to own. Of the top 20 models, 14 are manufactured by Japanese companies, with the Honda Jazz ranking as the most satisfying car overall.

While Mini is included in the study for the first time, satisfaction with many British and other European brands remains well behind most Japanese competitors. Vauxhall is one local manufacturer to buck this trend. The UK’s second-largest brand has improved three times faster than the industry average since 2001, representing the most significant improvement by a brand over this period.

The 2004 J.D. Power and Associates/What Car? study is based on the evaluation of more than 23,000 owners of ‘51’ and ‘02’ registration vehicles, after an average of two years on the road and covers 33 brands and 120 models. Owners provide detailed evaluations of their vehicles and dealers, covering 77 attributes, grouped into four factors of satisfaction. The importance of each measure is shown as a percentage:

• Quality and Reliability (41%)

• Vehicle Appeal (26%) includes performance, design, comfort, features

• Ownership Costs (18%) includes fuel consumption, insurance and costs of service/repair

• Dealer Service Satisfaction (16%)

The 2004 study finds that overall customer ratings for vehicle Quality and Reliability fall for the first time since 2001, dropping five index points. Commenting on this, Rob Aherne, editor of What Car? magazine explained, "The proof of any car’s performance is in feedback from its owner, and it’s worrying that car owners are less happy with the quality and reliability of their cars than they used to be. Carmakers should certainly take these kinds of fluctuations seriously in order to meet their customers’ expectations ."

[Stuart J]

Well I can vouch for Skoda. I used to run an Impreza, I now run a slightly tweaked Octavia 4x4. The car is just so much better than the scoob, No Rattles, you can rag it to death & nothing Breaks (& it does over 20 MPG !!)

[RB Will]

was it an old impreza or a new one? If you are comparing it to an old one its a bit unfair really.

[CarZee]

los angeles said:

And exactly where did TVR appear on the list?

When the results came in, the fax machine went through 2 rolls of paper before we got to TVR