To understand the difference between automobile quality today and 20 years ago, it helps to think of someone being "out of their league" and thereby incapable of competing with the more skilled players.
Twenty years ago there were products that were so bad compared to other products that it was like a bunch of weekend hackers taking on a top-rated pro team, even though they all cost about the same amount. So having a study (stand up so we can recognize you, J. D. Power) was very helpful to consumers.
Today, the drive for quality has created something close to automobile parity, and all of the vehicles on the road are amongst the best in the world. As a result, there's no rational reason to pick Car A instead of Car B because their problems per vehicle scores were .80 and .81, respectively.
With scores this close, consumers are now free to put their money into something that they really, really want instead of something they think they should buy, and isn't that a lovely state of affairs? This means that you no longer have to buy, say, a Toyota Camry to avoid aggravation, that you can buy a mid-size sedan that's just as reliable but that you really want to own.
To be fair to Toyota, that could still be a Camry, but at least then you'd be buying it because you wanted it, not to avoid something else.
In general terms, then, I feel relatively safe in telling consumers to take a chance on the vehicle they really want to own rather than the one they think they should own. Which brings us quite nicely and at long last to the Vehicle Satisfaction Award (VSA) study that George Peterson and his colleagues at AutoPacifica in Southern California come up with every year.
Peterson mostly does this study so he can sell his findings (in the Satisfaction Benchmark Study) to the car companies and other organizations who want to know what gives consumers a lasting case of the happies, but consumers can find some value in the reasons that the survey respondents gave for liking the vehicles they bought.
Bear in mind however that everyone brings his or her own expectations to the market, and that a careful examination of the potential choices (and the dealerships that sell them) before you buy is probably the best way to be satisfied with your new vehicle.
Having said all that, here are the results of AutoPacifica's VSA awards in different categories, with comments by Peterson to explain why the survey respondents picked them.
Subcompact: Unfortunately, the Scion xB that topped this category is not available in Canada, since Toyota Canada declines to bring it in. The people who did buy it liked the hyper-boxy vehicle for its "fuel economy, price, rear seat room... and funky styling."
Mid-size SUV: Chevrolet Equinox and Hyundai Santa Fe tie in this segment, after the Korean car being at the top for four years by itself. Oddly, Peterson does not give any reasons for the Canadian-built Equinox's popularity beyond saying that he knew it was "something special" when he first saw it and the results confirm his initial impression. Sante Fe does well because of its "strong combination of product competence, value and warranty."
Compact SUV: Honda Element and Hyundai Tucson tie on the list of slightly smaller SUVs, for different reasons. "Tucson's new style, new package, affordable pricing and outstanding warranty provide a combination that it difficult to beat," says Peterson, while Element "may be the new king of funk, but its function wins the day. Element is easy to drive, easy to live with and highly functional. It may have been developed to be a rolling dorm room for Twenty-Somethings, but the Gen-Xers and Boomers who are buying it think it's great."
Twenty years ago there were products that were so bad compared to other products that it was like a bunch of weekend hackers taking on a top-rated pro team, even though they all cost about the same amount. So having a study (stand up so we can recognize you, J. D. Power) was very helpful to consumers.
Today, the drive for quality has created something close to automobile parity, and all of the vehicles on the road are amongst the best in the world. As a result, there's no rational reason to pick Car A instead of Car B because their problems per vehicle scores were .80 and .81, respectively.
With scores this close, consumers are now free to put their money into something that they really, really want instead of something they think they should buy, and isn't that a lovely state of affairs? This means that you no longer have to buy, say, a Toyota Camry to avoid aggravation, that you can buy a mid-size sedan that's just as reliable but that you really want to own.
To be fair to Toyota, that could still be a Camry, but at least then you'd be buying it because you wanted it, not to avoid something else.
In general terms, then, I feel relatively safe in telling consumers to take a chance on the vehicle they really want to own rather than the one they think they should own. Which brings us quite nicely and at long last to the Vehicle Satisfaction Award (VSA) study that George Peterson and his colleagues at AutoPacifica in Southern California come up with every year.
Peterson mostly does this study so he can sell his findings (in the Satisfaction Benchmark Study) to the car companies and other organizations who want to know what gives consumers a lasting case of the happies, but consumers can find some value in the reasons that the survey respondents gave for liking the vehicles they bought.
Bear in mind however that everyone brings his or her own expectations to the market, and that a careful examination of the potential choices (and the dealerships that sell them) before you buy is probably the best way to be satisfied with your new vehicle.
Having said all that, here are the results of AutoPacifica's VSA awards in different categories, with comments by Peterson to explain why the survey respondents picked them.
Subcompact: Unfortunately, the Scion xB that topped this category is not available in Canada, since Toyota Canada declines to bring it in. The people who did buy it liked the hyper-boxy vehicle for its "fuel economy, price, rear seat room... and funky styling."
Mid-size SUV: Chevrolet Equinox and Hyundai Santa Fe tie in this segment, after the Korean car being at the top for four years by itself. Oddly, Peterson does not give any reasons for the Canadian-built Equinox's popularity beyond saying that he knew it was "something special" when he first saw it and the results confirm his initial impression. Sante Fe does well because of its "strong combination of product competence, value and warranty."
Compact SUV: Honda Element and Hyundai Tucson tie on the list of slightly smaller SUVs, for different reasons. "Tucson's new style, new package, affordable pricing and outstanding warranty provide a combination that it difficult to beat," says Peterson, while Element "may be the new king of funk, but its function wins the day. Element is easy to drive, easy to live with and highly functional. It may have been developed to be a rolling dorm room for Twenty-Somethings, but the Gen-Xers and Boomers who are buying it think it's great."