If short-term owner satisfaction and reliability means anything to you then read on:
The J.D. Power and Associates/CAR Magazine 2010 South Africa Initial Quality Study results have been released.
In the findings, the Hyundai i10 won the 'lower compact car' segment while the Honda Jazz trumped the 'lower small car' category and the Volkswagen Jetta aced the 'upper small car' sector.
Moving onto fancier metal, it was the Mercedes-Benz C-Class that came out tops among medium cars and in the SUV stakes the Nissan X-Trail beat the compacts while the Volvo XC60 won the 'medium SUV' category.
Chevrolet's Corsa Utility topped the compact bakkie segment and in the traditional bakkie sector is was Toyota's Hilux that emerged victorious.
Looking at the passenger vehicle manufacturers overall, Mercedes-Benz came out tops with 103 problems per 100 vehicles (PP100), followed by Honda (121 PP100) and Audi (133 PP100). Ford, Nissan and Renault ended up at the bottom of the pile in that order.
However there were some carmakers that were not ranked due to the small sample size and these are: Chery, Chrysler, Citroen, Dodge, Fiat, Geely, GWM, Jaguar, Jeep, Lexus, Mini, Mitsubishi, Opel, Peugeot and Tata.
The study (which involves 7700 new vehicles) is a customer-driven measure of problems experienced during the first three to seven months of ownership, and examines 228 individual problem symptoms across nine factors.
These are: vehicle exterior; driving experience; features/controls/displays; audio/entertainment/navigation; seats; ventilation; interior; engine/transmission and various other problems.
MANUFACTURER RANKING:
PASSENGER VEHICLES: (PP100)
1. Mercedes-Benz (103)
2. Honda (121)
3. Audi (133)
4. BMW (138)
5. Mazda (142)
6. Kia (145)
7. Volvo (145)
8. Suzuki (147)
9. Toyota (172)
10. Hyundai (179)
11. Land Rover (184)
Segment Average (184)
12. Volkswagen (193)
13. Chevrolet (200)
14. Daihatsu (200)
15. Ford (212)
16. Nissan (260)
17. Renault (285)
BAKKIES (PP100):
1. Toyota (165)
2. Opel (200)
3. Isuzu (216)
Segment Average (227)
4. Ford (264)
5. Nissan (288)
CATEGORY WINNERS:
LOWER COMPACT CAR:
1. Hyundai i10 (130)
2. Chevrolet Spark (170)
LOWER SMALL CAR:
1. Honda Jazz (100)
2. Mazda 2 (120)
3. Opel Corsa (122)
UPPER SMALL CAR:
Volkswagen Jetta (113)
Audi A3 (130)
Mercedes-Benz A-Class (130)
MEDIUM CAR:
Mercedes-Benz C-Class (97)
Audi A5 (98)
COMPACT SUV:
Nissan X-Trail (112)
Volkswagen Tiguan (121)
Honda CR-V (125)
MEDIUM SUV
Volvo XC60 (127)
Toyota Land Cruiser Prado (184)
COMPACT PICK-UP
Chevrolet Corsa Utility (163)
Opel Corsa Utility (200)