Date: 29 Jul 1998 11:43:56 GMT From: John Karwoski <jekv12nopsamdnet.att.net> Subject: Saab Reliability - the latest
Here's an excerpt from the latest Roundel, the BMW Car Club of America's magazine, regarding dependability of various marques. Interesting to note that not all of the Japanese makers are good, or even better than average. J.D. Power Dependability Study For the fourth year running, Lexus scored best on a J.D. Power and Associates study on the dependability of five year old vehicles. ...Power says the study was conducted among original and second owners of 1993 model year vehicles. 28,000 respondents were asked to rate their 1993 vehicles across 89 problem areas based on the past 12 months of ownership. The industry average was 399 per 100 vehicles.... [article then talks more about Lexus, and how BMW improved a lot...] Other big gainers (over 1997) were Saturn and Saab. Losers relative to 1997: Lincoln, Audi, Honda, Volvo (!) and Jaguar. This survey is considered a better indicator of long term reliability than Power's better known Customer Satisfaction Index, which rates cars in their first year of ownership and measures touchy-feely aspects like customer handholding.... Table with 1998 and 1997 Dependability study indexes: Marque 1998 1997 Lexus 167 217 Cadillac 234 240 Infiniti 273 261 Mercedes 278 282 Acura 281 276 Buick 290 299 Lincoln 312 269 Toyota 313 301 Audi 316 242 Olds 317 329 BMW 319 358 Honda 341 290 Saturn 357 387 Saab 359 Below Average Subaru 360 370 Volvo 381 352 Jaguar 386 350 Mercury 387 389 Nissan 391 377 Industry Average 399 393 Below Average (alphabetized): Chevy, Chrysler, Dodge, Eagle, Ford, Geo, GMC, Hyundai, Jeep, Land Rover, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Plymouth, Pontiac, VW.