According to George Owens, manager of product research at Power, "While increased demands on the assembly process have raised the potential for problems in new vehicles, manufacturers seem more determined than ever to deliver vehicles with the best possible quality."
Even more impressively, many of the redesigned models for the 2000 model year show fewer problems than their predecessors, which tends to go against the long-standing notion that you shouldn't buy a car in the first year after it's been redesigned. "Historically, redesigned models pose challenges to even the most quality-focused manufacturers," says Owens. "However, 60 percent of the models redesigned for the 2000 year performed better than the models they replaced, compared with only 29 percent in 1999."
While many of the models redesigned for 1999 followed the industry trend of increased problems in their first year of production, Owens says, these models have shown strong improvement in 2000. "For example, the Porsche 911 improves 46 percent and tops its segment, the Honda Odyssey improves 31 percent and ranks in the top three in the compact van segment, and the Acura TL improves 29 percent and ranks second in the entry luxury segment."
The official results of the top three vehicles, by segment and in order of finish, of the J.D. Power and Associates 2000 Initial Quality Study are as follows: