Jaguar is most satisfying car
The most satisfying new car to own is the British-built Jaguar XF, according to the 20,000 people who completed questionnaires in the annual Driver Power of customer satisfaction carried out by Auto Express magazine.
Jaguar’s new saloon took the top spot in its debut year, seeing off the challenge from Skoda’s Superb, and last year’s winner, the Octavia. A broad cross-section of drivers rated the XF’s combination of luxury, comfort and driving dynamics above all others.
They also valued the old-model Superb’s excellent value for money considering its specification and build – and the fact that you can pick up used examples for far less than many so-called quality cars.
A superb result for Skoda was cemented by third place for the Octavia, which took overall top slot in the Driver Power survey in 2007 and 2008. With a wide range of economical VW group engines and a rugged appeal, the Czech car is hard to beat for budget-conscious family drivers.
Land Rover has had a miserable time of late – and in previous customer satisfaction surveys – but should be cheered by fourth place for its current Discovery. The seven-seat 4×4 scored the highest marks for practicality, while drivers also praised its ride.
The second premuim 4×4 in the top five, the Lexus RX, is also the highest placed Japanese car. With a large proportion of examples featuring hybrid power, the premium SUV has received a top all-round average score.
There were some surprises at the bottom of the list of 100 cars. Last place, and the dubious honour of being the least satisfying car to own, went to the previous version of the Discovery, built from 1998 to 2005. Owners say that Land Rover’s practical workhorse is desperately unreliable, awkward to drive, slow, has high running costs and poor build quality.
More surprising is the BMW-built MINI languishing in 99th position. This year’s Driver Power survey relates to the original versions of the One, Cooper and Cooper S, built from 2001 to 2007. Owners say that the ride is dismal, while the practicality is poor. While seventh in the handling category is what they expect, 81st for reliability isn’t.
Another German car, the Volkswagen Polo (2002 to the present) was 98th, let down buy ride and practicality. It seems the new version, due this summer, can’t come soon enough for VW.
Another surprising appearance at the bottom of the list was the Toyota Aygo, in 97th position. While owners praised its low running costs and reliability, they weren’t quite so taken by its performance, ride or practicality.
The last model of the Vauxhall Vectra was 96th. It came last in the ease of driving category and 97th for reliability. Its replacement, the Insignia, is a much better car in all aspects but at least a used last-model Vectra should be cheap…
Not surprisingly, given that it had two cars in the top five, Skoda emerged as the manufacturer supplying the most satisfying cars to own – and even ousted Lexus from the top slot. The Japanese marque renowned for its engineering and build quality slipped to second overall.
Porsche improved by one place from last year to take third. The majority of the German firm’s score is down to the sheer driving enjoyment delivered by all of its products.
Jaguar also improved by one position from 2008, confirming the huge effort it has made to improve the appeal and reliability of its cars – a move borne out by the increasing number of accolades for the XF.
Honda, which normally scores highly in customer satisfaction and reliability surveys, slipped two places to round off the top five.
Less satisfactory were Jeep, in 31st of the 35 manufacturers rated, one position ahead of parent company Chrysler. Troubled General Motors’ brand Vauxhall came 33rd overall.
The bottom two spots went to the French, Renault just outscoring arch-rival Peugeot to avoid the wooden spoon.
Full analysis of the top 100 cars in the UK and a complete rundown of manufacturers are in the current issue of Auto Express magazine, on sale now, or go to the Auto Express website.