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robg · 06-25-2020, 05:40 PM

A few thoughts on this survey
1. The results of any quality survey seem to cause lots of consternation amongst fans of brands/models that do poorly. I think these surveys are useful to look at as a data point; but not a reason to buy or not buy a car (a perfectly executed turd is still a turd and similarly a car you love that has a few issues on delivery that eventually get resolved may turn into a keeper). There does seem to be a general correlation with how long a model has been out and how well it does on these surveys as well (or for a brand overall the average age of their fleet). That's nothing surprising; first year cars tend to have more issues.
2. I dont think its a surprise that Tesla did poorly. We have been hearing anecdotal evidence of various build quality issues for a long time. And its a consistent pattern. ZBB's post is just a recent example. I think build quality is an area where they are an outlier; even on the worst cars from traditional OEMS it's hard to find build quality defects. Knowing Land Rover always is last in most quality surveys I took a close look at the various models they had in the showroom when we got ours. The worst thing I could find was some slightly misaligned window trim on a Discovery Sport. I think for most cars, the majority of the issues reported on this survey come down to certain features being difficult to use, maybe some NVH complaints and various software glitches. On the flip side, build quality issues (paint excepted) are often the simplest and quickest things for dealers to address; you wont' even remember them a year into your ownerhsip.
3. Related to the point above, not all issues are created equal. Some of those issues might be design flaws that never get remedied while others might something very simple. Interesting to reference and maybe dig deeper on, but nothing to base a buying decision on. What JD Power really wants is to sell their data to manufacturers.
4. They changed the survey this year and added some questions; that may be why there was somewhat of a shakeup in the order as well as why the numbers all went up across the board.

06-25-2020, 05:40 PM	#10
robg Carmudgeon Join Date: Jun 2004 Posts: 3,253	A few thoughts on this survey 1. The results of any quality survey seem to cause lots of consternation amongst fans of brands/models that do poorly. I think these surveys are useful to look at as a data point; but not a reason to buy or not buy a car (a perfectly executed turd is still a turd and similarly a car you love that has a few issues on delivery that eventually get resolved may turn into a keeper). There does seem to be a general correlation with how long a model has been out and how well it does on these surveys as well (or for a brand overall the average age of their fleet). That's nothing surprising; first year cars tend to have more issues. 2. I dont think its a surprise that Tesla did poorly. We have been hearing anecdotal evidence of various build quality issues for a long time. And its a consistent pattern. ZBB's post is just a recent example. I think build quality is an area where they are an outlier; even on the worst cars from traditional OEMS it's hard to find build quality defects. Knowing Land Rover always is last in most quality surveys I took a close look at the various models they had in the showroom when we got ours. The worst thing I could find was some slightly misaligned window trim on a Discovery Sport. I think for most cars, the majority of the issues reported on this survey come down to certain features being difficult to use, maybe some NVH complaints and various software glitches. On the flip side, build quality issues (paint excepted) are often the simplest and quickest things for dealers to address; you wont' even remember them a year into your ownerhsip. 3. Related to the point above, not all issues are created equal. Some of those issues might be design flaws that never get remedied while others might something very simple. Interesting to reference and maybe dig deeper on, but nothing to base a buying decision on. What JD Power really wants is to sell their data to manufacturers. 4. They changed the survey this year and added some questions; that may be why there was somewhat of a shakeup in the order as well as why the numbers all went up across the board.