The more expensive the better? The well-known axiom is refuted by the study of J.D. Power, an American marketing and consulting company that gained fame primarily due to research on the automotive market.
At the end of February 2017, the company published a new car reliability rating. In it, the most popular of the issued brands of cars of two years of age are located according to the level of reliability, quality and durability.
It turned out that although Lexus and Porsche are the undisputed leaders in terms of the reliability of their cars, the owners of less expensive cars can also enjoy excellent quality.
For the 28th study, the reviews of 35,186 car owners in 2014 were examined, indicating problems that they had experienced during the year after buying the car. The overall quality of the car is derived from the number of breakdowns per 100 units, respectively, the lower the figure, the more reliable the car. In total, the study described 177 breakdowns, grouped into 8 main categories.
According to experts, the most problems fall into the category of audio / communication / entertainment / navigation. The total number of breakdowns in this category is 22% of all. Most often, users complain of poor Bluetooth connectivity and the inability of the system to correctly recognize voice commands. New to the top 10 automotive issues of 2017 is battery failure.
For the sixth consecutive year in Lexus leads the ranking with a score of 110 out of 100 cars. The same number of breakdowns have cars of another premium company - Porsche. Following them is Toyota with the number of breakdowns of 123 per 100 pieces - the Toyota Camry is still the leader in the reliability of the model in its category. Overall, Toyota Motor Corporation received an impressive number of awards - 10 out of 18; This is the highest number for all the years the rating has existed. Buick took fourth place (126 breakdowns per 100 cars), and fifth from German Mercedes-Benz (131 breakdowns).
Hyundai continues to work on itself. If, according to the results of research in 2016, cars of this brand had 158 breakdowns per 100 cars, then in this their number decreased significantly and became equal to 133. As a result, Hyundai jumped from 19th place to sixth. It is worth adding that Dodge and Ford also worked on themselves, compared to 2016, they reduced the number of breakdowns by 21 each, as well as Land Rover, which reduced their number by 20.
A complete list of the most reliable cars of 2017
Judging by the rating, it turns out that owners of cars manufactured in 2014 experience fewer problems than the industry as a whole. If the average number of breakdowns per 100 cars was 156, then for 2014 cars it is less - only 134.
According to Dave Sargent, Vice President J.D. Power, the reason here is that buyers are increasingly refusing to buy cars with a bad reputation. More manufacturers can not afford to sacrifice quality for the sake of profit. Also experts J.D. Power found that, along with brand loyalty and advertising, a key factor in the growth of auto sales is the high reliability of the car over a long service life. For example, a brand Toyota is the highest ranked non-premium - On average, has $ 750 more from car sales than the market average. As a result, these $ 750 per car turned into companies with a profit of more than 1.3 million only for cars manufactured in 2014.
Although, of course, luxury cars are of excellent quality, but money in the market is made in the mass segment. So every year there is less chance that buyers will spend money on an unreliable car.
