[Mini_me]

The fact that Lexus and Toyota etc. are all high up there does not surprise me. The Japanese seem to test their products like no other nation.

Mini seem to be the most fun for the money but Skoda provide the most overall value for money. Skoda have similar quality to the German cars, decent ride and handling, but for far less money. I use an Octavia estate(=wagon for those in the US) as the second car in the family. I think of the Mini as the first car because it is the one I use whenever I don't need the extra space/carrying capacity.

I also think there is some truth in the fact that when you buy a premium car the expectations are higher (and therefore the dissatisfaction greater if anything goes wrong). But Skoda are turning out some great cars irrespective of the price. With the Mini I think if you start to score the car in an objective manner you'd probably find that it gets a lower score than the score you would give it off feeling alone. If have had some niggles with both Minis I've had - things that would have dropped the car several spots down my personal satisfaction ranking if they had occured on the Skoda.

But the Mini is car that grabs the emotions more than the head (not least because of the smiles and 'high' on an open twisty road). For that I can easily forgive it the slight imperfections. Since the survey will be undertaken in an objective way that can only be done with the head I think it misses out on a part of Mini which is core (and and maybe unique?) to it's overall satisfaction - Heart and Soul.