[geist]

Just picked up Decembers Top Gear Magazine and in its 2004 Survey the MINI is ranked 26th out of 142

Not bad

[Paul]

For what?

That is to say, what or how are they rating the cars?

[Pglenning]

Top Gear motoring survey 2004 - Ranking by manufacturer

1 - Lexus (92.8%)

2 - Skoda (91.1%)

3 - Mazda (89.5%)

4 - Honda (88.9%)

5 - Toyota (88.5%)

6 - Porsche (87.7%)

7 - Mini (87.4%)

8 - Subaru (87.3%)

9 - BMW (87.15)

10 - Hyundai (85.3%)

11 - MCC Smart (85.2%)

12 - Jaguar (84.8%)

13 - Audi (84.4%)

14 - Volvo (84.3%)

15 - Lotus (84.1%)

16 - Suzuki (83.1%)

17 - Saab (82.9%)

18 - Seat (82.3%)

19 - Chrysler (82.3%)

20 - Nissan (81.6%)

21 - Ford (81.2%)

22 - Mitsubishi (80.4%)

23 - Rover (80.4%)

24 - Vauxhall (80.0%)

25 - Volkswagen (79.7%)

26 - Alfa Romeo (79.2%)

27 - Jeep (79.1%)

28 - Daewoo (78.7%)

29 - Mercedes (76.8%)

30 - Land Rover (76.7%)

31 - Citroen (76.4%)

32 - Renault (75.2%)

33 - Fiat (74.8%)

34 - Peugeot (73.1%)

Each of the 52,630 Top Gear viewers and readers who took part in our survey this year were asked to reveal how every aspect of car ownership experience matched up to the expectations they had when they first took delivery of their car. Each car is given an overall satisfaction score out of 100. This is made up from:


Reliability (20%)
Build quality (25%)
The driving experience (21%)
Ownership costs (13%)
Customer care (21%)
This time, cars built between a 2001 y-plate and 2003 52-plate are included. To guarantee a true result for each, data analysis experts Experian checked personal data and registration numbers to avoid faked entries. They also ensured a minimum of 50 verified responses were received for each model before the results could be published

[KlausR]

LOL!

What kind of survey should that be that puts Skoda on 2nd? IMHO it´s just another of those "The best car for somebody who doesn´t like cars" list.

My personal list of favorite manufacturers would start Ferrari - Porsche - BMW... which would include MINI, because...don´t want to start that again.

Klaus

[LMB]

Quote: Originally Posted by KlausR

LOL!

What kind of survey should that be that puts Skoda on 2nd?

Their owners are obviously easily pleased.

[geist]

Quote: Originally Posted by KlausR

LOL!

What kind of survey should that be that puts Skoda on 2nd? IMHO it´s just another of those "The best car for somebody who doesn´t like cars" list.

My personal list of favorite manufacturers would start Ferrari - Porsche - BMW... which would include MINI, because...don´t want to start that again.

Klaus

It was compiled of 56230 Top Gear readers who actually own the cars. These are results of the survey carried out.

I would imagine that those who read Top Gear magazine tend too have an interest in cars

[drbsheffield]

I just thought that I would have to let you know about my experiences with cars particularly with the Skoda rating.
I would totally agree with the fact that Skoda coes so far up, I am totally mad abouts cars as is my brother and between us we have owned 3 skoda fabia's. My last Fabia was traded in against my current BMW, soon to be replaced by a mini because it has proven to be so unreliable, within my family at one time, we have had a total of 5 skoda fabias none of which have had any problems whatsoever, compare this to the unreliability of my BMW and seemingly, at times of the Mini!

Of course the Mini is in a different class of car to the fabia, but as a fun to drive, fantastically built and engineered small car nothing can touch the fabia. If you dont believe me, go and drive a Fabia vRS, fantastic car, absolutely flies and 50+ mpg to boot.

[TURB CAB]

Lexus (92.8%) that always on top. Never needed to do anything to that car. Never a repair. Maybe we should have Lexus build our MINIs.

No replies !!!! just a joke.

[lightbody]

The expectations of owners cannot be ignored in these sorts of surveys! Mercedes owners have very high expectations, Skoda owner's may not be quite so high. I think the MINI suffers a bit because the expectations are very relative to the cost of the car.

[Lorri]

Quote: Originally Posted by drbsheffield

I just thought that I would have to let you know about my experiences with cars particularly with the Skoda rating.
I would totally agree with the fact that Skoda coes so far up, I am totally mad abouts cars as is my brother and between us we have owned 3 skoda fabia's. My last Fabia was traded in against my current BMW, soon to be replaced by a mini because it has proven to be so unreliable, within my family at one time, we have had a total of 5 skoda fabias none of which have had any problems whatsoever, compare this to the unreliability of my BMW and seemingly, at times of the Mini!

Of course the Mini is in a different class of car to the fabia, but as a fun to drive, fantastically built and engineered small car nothing can touch the fabia. If you dont believe me, go and drive a Fabia vRS, fantastic car, absolutely flies and 50+ mpg to boot.

Yep, Skoda's are good cars.... Steve wanted me to have one just not the fun appeal that the MINI has

[Cooper76]

Well, like they said, Skoda could have been a force in WRC if they only had the backing...

[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.

[Cooper76]

Quote: Originally Posted by 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.

Excellent post!

To which I just realized the French makes are having some difficulties. I wonder if they would receive such poor marks in other European countries as well?