JD Power satisfaction study: Jaguar ends 11-year Lexus domination

By Tim Beissmann
May 31st, 2012

FIND DEALS

Jaguar has been rated the best automotive brand for ownership satisfaction in the UK, ending a run of 11 consecutive years for Lexus at the top of the charts.

The J.D Power and Associates 2012 UK Vehicle Ownership Satisfaction Study revealed Jaguar blitzed the rankings, scoring 828 points out of 1000 and finishing 27 points clear of Lexus and Skoda who tied for second place.

Jaguar’s satisfaction score rose three points from 2011, although the win was largely the result of other manufacturers losing ground.

Lexus’ score plummeted from 845 in 2011 to 801 this year, while last year’s second-ranked Honda dropped to fourth position on the back of a 36-point loss (797 in 2012).

Last year’s fifth-placed Mini was also hit hard this year, falling below the 770-point industry average to 768. Volkswagen and Toyota moved into the top 10, while premium brands Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Volvo and BMW maintained strong positions at the pointy of the table in 2012.

Brands ranked below the industry average included Kia, Ford, Mazda and Hyundai, while General Motors’ two UK brands – Vauxhall and Chevrolet – filled the bottom two places with scores of 747 and 713 respectively.

The study was based on the responses of more than 17,600 vehicle owners in the UK after an average of two years of ownership. Respondents were asked to rate their vehicles across 67 attributes that were grouped into four measures of satisfaction: vehicle appeal including performance, design and features; ownership costs including fuel consumption and repair costs; vehicle quality and reliability; and dealer service satisfaction.

At the segment level, Toyota and Volkswagen had four models on the podium, while Mercedes-Benz and Skoda each had three.

The Kia Sportage achieved the highest individual score, 838, to claim the title of the best compact SUV for owner satisfaction.

2012 vehicle ownership satisfaction study results

City car:

Toyota iQ – 818
Volkswagen Fox – 781
Toyota Aygo – 768

Small car:

Honda Jazz – 812
Nissan Note – 789
Skoda Fabia – 789

Lower medium car:

Skoda Octavia – 804
Toyota Auris (Corolla) – 795
Audi A3/S3 – 794

Upper medium car:

Toyota Prius – 830
Skoda Superb – 827
Volkswagen Passat CC – 809

Compact executive car:

Lexus IS – 808
Jaguar X-Type – 802
Mercedes-Benz C-Class – 795

Executive luxury car:

Jaguar XF – 834
Mercedes-Benz E-Class – 822
Audi A6/S6/RS6 – 790

MPV:

Mercedes-Benz B-Class – 806
Volkswagen Golf Plus – 799
Peugeot 3008 – 794

Compact SUV:

Kia Sportage – 838
Nissan Qashqai (Dualis) – 804
Volkswagen Tiguan – 803

Sponsored Ads

Jinnzhang

“Respondents were asked to rate their vehicles across 67 attributes that
were grouped into four measures of satisfaction: vehicle appeal
including performance, design and features; ownership costs including
fuel consumption and repair costs; vehicle quality and reliability; and
dealer service satisfaction. ”

See, I have said before JD Power is not a reliability survey with so many subjective matters being taken into consideration.
- Phil
  
  This is their “SATISFACTION” survey.
  
  Their “INITIAL QUALITY” and “DEPENDABILITY” surveys which are done seperately are for reliability.
  - Quoting F1MotoGP
    
    To quote F1MotoGP:
    
    “The JD survey is done:
    What was assessed?
    The survey was split into four
    sections: vehicle quality and reliability, vehicle appeal, service
    satisfaction and ownership costs. The first section allowed owners to
    comment on any problems their cars suffered; the second recorded what
    they thought about design and functionality; the third concerned the
    quality of service dealers provided; the fourth covered how satisfied
    owners were with the cost of running their cars.
    
    How was the overall score decided?
    Each category
    was weighted according to how important owners rated it. The total
    scores awarded by owners were split as follows: vehicle quality and
    reliability (22%), vehicle appeal (31%), dealer service satisfaction
    (22%) and ownership costs (25%).
    
    Source: Whatcar”
Turbo99

A noisy windscreen wiper rubber or a blown head gasket or a stuffed auto transmission are all counted as a complaint.
Phunken

Australia also have similar ranking but not release to the public, only used within the industry…
- Golfschwein
  
  The Canstar surveys are public, and provide interesting data on Australian buyers’ feedback, especially with our mix of Holdens, Fords and Toyotas thrown into the mix.
Ronnie

Yeah, JD Power is an insignificant self promoting money spinner & means nothing.
So the english love their english Jags more than the americans do…Duh !!!
Ycoc

Lexus pretty dominates these things worldwide, that’s expected though
Andrew

I’m suprised by the poor showing of Hyundai in this survey, given how much love they’ve been getting here in Australia (I mean, in the last couple of years).
- F1MotoGP
  
  In small car class the i30 finished 3rd behind Civic and Octavia was 1st.
F1MotoGP

JD Power satisfaction means nothing for Australia. I would like to see one here.

Germany: 1 Volvo, 2 Mercedes, last Chevrolet. (Jaguar not listed because of small sample),
Italy: 1 Audi, 2 Mercedes , last Dacia (Jaguar not listed)
France: 1 Honda, 2 Mercedes, last Suzuki.
Daniel

I know this survey really doesn’t mean much, but I think it’s time people woke up and realised that all cars have some niggles here and there and Jaguar/Land Rover actually really have gotten most of their problems sorted. I have a friend who owned a nightmare Lexus, I doubt that’s a very common occurrence, but it can happen. It’s just when you hear of a nightmare Jaguar people seem to have a habit of generalising because of the brands history. The fact is they’re turning out brilliant cars with few problems these days. I’d be interested to see how they stand the test of time, but the XJ has always gotten top reliability marks over the last ten years, so Jaguar do have it in them to make high quality reliable cars, it’s just it took them a while to do it with the whole range.
- Igomi Watabi
  
  Spot-on Daniel. One of the things that irritates me about caradvice (well, besides the clunkily slow website and the incessant commentary about car prices in Australia) is the fact that the vast majority of snippy comments about the reliability of this or that manufacturer is based on outmoded prejudices.
- Igomi Watabi
  
  Spot-on Daniel. One of the things that irritates me about caradvice (well, besides the clunkily slow website and the incessant commentary about car prices in Australia) is the fact that the vast majority of snippy comments about the reliability of this or that manufacturer is based on outmoded prejudices.
- Igomi Watabi
  
  Spot-on Daniel. One of the things that irritates me about caradvice (well, besides the clunkily slow website and the incessant commentary about car prices in Australia) is the fact that the vast majority of snippy comments about the reliability of this or that manufacturer is based on outmoded prejudices.
- Lexuslover
  
  I work in a Lexus dealership selling new cars. Disclaimer.
  Last year a customer decided to buy a Jag instead of the Lexus because his wife thought the Jag was more stylish and Jag were over their quality issues.
  12 months later he walked in to Lexus admitting the Jag had been a big mistake.Reliability issues have plagued the first 12 months of Jag ownership. Now though to get out of the Jag he has to take a big hit. Believe the quality improvement stories about Jag at your own wallet’s peril.Every few years Jag say their quality problems have been fixed.
- Lexuslover
  
  I work in a Lexus dealership selling new cars. Disclaimer.
  Last year a customer decided to buy a Jag instead of the Lexus because his wife thought the Jag was more stylish and Jag were over their quality issues.
  12 months later he walked in to Lexus admitting the Jag had been a big mistake.Reliability issues have plagued the first 12 months of Jag ownership. Now though to get out of the Jag he has to take a big hit. Believe the quality improvement stories about Jag at your own wallet’s peril.Every few years Jag say their quality problems have been fixed.
Jacob

Well done Tata!
- Schah7
  
  Stupid comment “Jacob”
gt86.com.au

Tata just provides the funding.. Well done UK team Jaguar!!
- Tomasz
  
  ..& Germany provides the CEO Ralf Speth & numerous other engineers..haha
- Chris
  
  You realised Jaguar is owned by Tata…therefore Well done Tata!. The turn around for Jag happened once Tata bought out Jag
  - Igomi Watabi
    
    rubbish
  - Igomi Watabi
    
    rubbish
  - Igomi Watabi
    
    rubbish
  - Schah7
    
    Rubbish to “Chris” also.
Pauly

Im amazed that 3 VW Group cars are in the top 10!

The Lower medium car segement was won by 2 cars that use the Golf MK5/MK6 platform too!

With all the negative press VW gets for reliabilty on CarAdvice, maybe those days are finally over.

Well done Jag and VW.
- Quoting Phil
  
  To quote Phil:”This is their “SATISFACTION” survey.
  Their “INITIAL QUALITY” and “DEPENDABILITY” surveys which are done seperately are for reliability.”
  - Golfschwein
    
    …which means that owners of the top ranking cars are extremely satisfied. What sort of things would make them dissatisfied?
    - Aaaarchow
      
      time…..
  - F1MotoGP
    
    The JD survey is done:
    
    What was assessed?
    The survey was split into four
    sections: vehicle quality and reliability, vehicle appeal, service
    satisfaction and ownership costs. The first section allowed owners to
    comment on any problems their cars suffered; the second recorded what
    they thought about design and functionality; the third concerned the
    quality of service dealers provided; the fourth covered how satisfied
    owners were with the cost of running their cars.
    
    How was the overall score decided?
    Each category
    was weighted according to how important owners rated it. The total
    scores awarded by owners were split as follows: vehicle quality and
    reliability (22%), vehicle appeal (31%), dealer service satisfaction
    (22%) and ownership costs (25%).
    
    Source: Whatcar
D987

Jaguar are ahead by quite a margin.

It’s a shame Ford was forced to sell Jaguar as they have some really good products that have since been released.
Sydlocal

A car company using the JD power symbol for an “award winning” car is like food companies using the Heart Foundation tick. They all have to pay a fee. So just like the Heart Foundation tick, even if it doesn’t have a “JD Power ‘tick’ of approval”, it doesn’t mean it is bad. To me that goes against some of the credibility of JD Power. Sure it is handy to use as a GUIDE, but it is not the final authority on the subject……. Phil………. So which department of JD Power do you work for Phil?
AndyGF

So when Lexus is #1 then the JD power survey is ‘gods own truth’, the second they get pipped, and a whole whack of VW brands start to play catch-up, then all of sudden the survey “means nothing”, “got nothing to do with reliability”, “get paid to fix results”, “self promoting”, “just a guide”, etc.

C’mon you fools; your loyalties are quite literally leaking through your porous skulls…

Ive said it before on CA, “Double-Standards”; mankind’s favourite flaw since the middle ages.
- Phil
  
  Very true allthough in reality, these VW brand results are pretty much the same as last year – Skoda 4th, Audi 7th, VW 12th – out of 28 brands.
  
  There’s also that term “Japanese reliability” that often gets thrown around despite the fact that most of the Japanese brands are independent of each other and achieve very different results - Toyota and Honda always near the top, Mitsubishi and Suzuki at the bottom with everyone else somewhere in between [yes i know this survey isnt entirely for reliability but anyway].
  Speaking of which, Suzuki and Mitsubishi! What a surprise! Down the bottom! Yet Again! Alborz Fallah are you taking note? You probabaly don’t take any notice of any of these surveys given the endless praise Mitsubishi “engineering and craftsmanship” got from you in your Nov 21st “Mitsubishi 30th anniversary Lake Eyre Tour” article.
- Sydlocal
  
  Whilst you may be speaking for other people you are not speaking for me. Regardless of what brand “wins” I still think it is only a guide. Whenever I make a large purchase, like a car, I use more than a single source for advice/reviews/opinions etc etc. Anyone who takes just a single “award” as gospel and chooses to ignore or not look at anything else is naive. Note, I am NOT saying that JD Power are wrong, they are a respected authority when it comes to surveys. However as “independent” as they are, people should also keep in mind how they make their money.
  What I am getting at is more along the lines that people should take this information on board along with information from other sources and then come up with their OWN opinion, not just the opinion of a single survey. If that happens to fall into line with JD Power, good on them. I can honestly say that I have had experience with brands that are near the bottom of their list and haven’t had a single problem with them and vice versa…
JHP

i’m alright with all the results…. but jaguar x type?
i thought they were discontinued quite a while ago?

Car Advice

JD Power satisfaction study: Jaguar ends 11-year Lexus domination

Sponsored Ads

Advanced Options