Jaguar, Buick most reliable cars, study finds

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http://www.wheels.ca/reviews/article/520872

Jaguar, Buick most reliable cars, study finds
PHOTO SUPPLIED The 2006 Buick LaCrosse was the most reliable midsize car according to the 2009 J.D. Power Vehicle Dependibility Survey. The LaCrosse is called the Allure in Canada.
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Lexus knocked from top spot for first time
Mar 19, 2009

Comments on this story (1) The Associated press

NEW YORK–Jaguar and Buick surged to the top of J.D. Power and Associates' closely watched vehicle dependability study this year, tying for the No. 1 spot and dethroning Lexus for the first time since the Japanese luxury brand has been a part of the survey.

Lexus, Toyota Motor Corp.'s luxury brand, took the next spot in the study released Thursday, followed by Toyota's namesake brand, then Mercury, Infiniti and Acura.

"Buick and Jaguar both lead the industry in nameplate performance," said Neal Oddes, director of product research and analysis at J.D. Power. "In terms of individual model performance, Lexus and Toyota still do very, very well.''

The annual study measures problems experienced by the original owners of vehicles after three years. Suzuki owners reported the most problems among the 37 brands assessed by J.D. Power.

Despite losing its crown to Jaguar and Buick, Lexus still swept top awards in four segments, while Toyota's namesake brand took five awards. General Motors Corp.'s Buick LaCrosse (called the Buick Allure in Canada) was J.D. Power's top midsize car, while Ford Motor Co.'s Lincoln brand took two awards. Chrysler LLC, which took no segment awards last year, won top honours for its Dodge Caravan in the van segment.

Jaguar jumped from the No. 10 spot in 2008, while Buick leapt from the No. 6 spot. The movement is notable for a study that is fairly consistent from year to year, and the results marked the first time Lexus was not either first or tied for first since it was first included in the study in 1995. Oddes said both Jaguar and Buick have made significant improvements recently.

"We see improvements all over the board with Jaguar," Oddes said, citing fewer reported problems with vehicle exterior, sound system and the overall driving experience. "The improvement at a nameplate level is significant.''

Mike O'Driscoll, Jaguar's managing director, said the award marks a huge step forward for Jaguar's image in the U.S., which he acknowledged has suffered recently. He said the company has been working furiously to reinvent itself in recent years.

"The improvements really started with a major investment we made at Jaguar in new technology and a much more intelligent approach to design," he said. "This is really a vindication of that investment and technology.''

Oddes also said Buick has taken heed of problems reported in previous J.D. Power studies and made "continuous improvement on their side of things.''

Jamie Hresko, GM's vice president of quality, said the win for Buick is a win for GM overall because the company has duplicated the lessons from Buick in all new models.

"I think we still struggle with the perception, that the perception of our product is substandard," he said. "If we continue to attack the markets that we consider will be high volume, which is markets like the Chevrolet Malibu, and we can sell a few hundred thousand of them, the reputation will spread.''

Buick has performed at or near the top of the J.D. Power rankings in past years, tying Lexus for first two years ago, but dropping to sixth last year. Hresko expects the company's other brands to do better than past years in the J.D. Power initial quality survey.

Jaguar, which Indian car giant Tata Motors Ltd. bought from Ford in 2007, remains a relatively small-volume brand in the U.S. It sold just 14,000 vehicles here in 2008, while Buick sold 128,000.

Oddes said this year's study was redesigned to exclude routine fixes from a vehicle's list of problems. For example, the study no longer counts tire or windshield wiper replacements as a reportable problem. The intended result is a study that focuses on actual glitches with a vehicle, Oddes said, though it also makes it difficult to make year-over-year comparisons.

"We cleaned up the survey to really try to focus in on things that are truly broken," he said.

The industry average was 170 problems per 100 vehicles, or somewhat less than two problems per vehicle. Last year, the industry average was 206 problems per 100 vehicles, but year-over-year improvements this year are much less pronounced when accounting for the changes in the study's methodology, Oddes said.

The numerical differences between brands that crowd the top are extremely small. For example, Jaguar and Buick owners reported an average of 122 problems per 100 vehicles, while Lexus owners reported 126 and Toyota 129. At the bottom, Suzuki owners reported an average of 263 problems per 100 vehicles.

The most frequently reported problem was wind noise, followed by brake noise, peeling paint, brake vibrations and problems with a vehicle's lights, Oddes said. The problems have been fairly consistent from year to year, he said.

J.D. Power's dependability study surveyed 46,313 original owners of 2006 model-year vehicles in October 2008. The results are watched closely by automakers and are often used in advertising. Owners' opinion of a car after three years can be a major influence on their opinion to buy that brand again.

The firm also releases an initial quality study, which measures problems in the first 90 days of ownership. That study usually comes out in June.

[Mugen EvOlutioN]

well Buick is a pretty damn solid car. dad bought a fully loaded Buick Regal back in 95 after 2 years we sold it to my uncle after 2 years. he drove it to the ground with 300k kms + and he abandoned it, solid no quesiton about it

[Uncle Benz]

Buick I'm not surprised but Jaguar is a bit of a surprise. I guess Ford really has improved quality. Wonder how Jaguar will hold up now that it's owned by Tata?

[Mugen EvOlutioN]

nah i dont know about jaguar man

one of my dad's close friend had a top of line jag, back than, MSRP $80-100g forgot, anyhow it was unreliable and parts were expensive

[03aspec]

jaguar? wow, that's a big surprise.

[kc1337]

FUCK YOU LEXUS

[jigga250]

these JD Power surveys always seem highly questionable

[ericthehalfbee]

Originally Posted by jigga250

these JD Power surveys always seem highly questionable

Unless precious Toyota or Honda are tops, then they're 100% reliable.

[asian_XL]

obvious, people who drive a buick should know nothing about cars...
even the check engine light is on, or exhaust is leaking, or brake pad is missing, or there's a hooker in the trunk, the driver would never notice it, that's why they don't bring their car to a garage or dealership

[?NR]

Jaguar.. reliable..

hmm..

umm..

wow?

[hk20000]

Ford's stuff are pretty reliable these days.

[jigga250]

Originally Posted by ericthehalfbee

Unless precious Toyota or Honda are tops, then they're 100% reliable.

fucking JAGUAR? Are you serious?

[godwin]

Jaguar are great especially the latest and the greatest.. since the depreciation was so high and MCL would service them even with full US warranty. The kicker is DRL can be done via key setup on the Nav screen.

The last few years, Jaguar uses transmission from ZF etc.. so they are basically german cars with Ford designed engines.

The one thing Jaguar always wins is the leather especially vs the Japanese.. it is more durable and thicker.. it won't look like crap after the warranty wears out.

Best buy for under $40k for the XJ.. 10k more for the XK.

If you look at residuals.. Toyota and its ilk have been falling quite a lot in the last 2 years.. basically after all the quality problems like Tacomas etc surfaced.

Again these survey result reflect the reliability group of cars.. the one car you own is still a probability distributed within that group.

[ericthehalfbee]

Remember how shitty Hyundai was? Anyone remember the Pony or Excel? Now look at them. Things can change...

[68style]

Jaguar is NOT owned by Ford! It's owned by Tata and has been for over a long time now!!

[ericthehalfbee]

Originally Posted by 68style

Jaguar is NOT owned by Ford! It's owned by Tata and has been for over a long time now!!

True.

But all the vehicles Jaguar currently sells were designed/developed when Ford still owned them. Tata is reaping the benefits of what Ford has done with Jaguar. The stats for this study are also from when Ford actually still owned Jaguar.

Makes one wonder why Ford sold Jaguar at a time when they're making their best cars ever.

[hk20000]

Jaguar wasn't a profitable arm for Ford. However what's more interesting is Ford's let-go of the Aston Martin brand, which was raking in much profit....

Imagine they build the Ford Mustang on the Aston Martin platform. Now it'll handle as good as it looks, fan-fucking-tastic. But it was not to be.

[JOHNNY_TRAN]

Buicks Rule !!!

[wasabisashimi]

jaguar sold what? like 2 cars last year? who buys jags. Study size = 2, 2 car driven for average about 2 years, of course it is reliable car. Try driving a Jag 10 years, or 300,000km plus and see if it has corolla reliability. Then we'll publish study