J.D Power: 2008 Initial Quality Study

[Pashdut]

szhosain you can add this to the sticky "M35/45 Reviews In Publications" & don't forget to change date in title

Nothing new here people...as usual Infiniti M won the best quality Midsize Premium car (tied with Mercedes E-class). Yep, #1

And on overall categories, Infiniti placed #2 after Porsche "Porsche earned the No. 1 spot for the third year in a row with a stellar score of just 87 PP100, while Infiniti jumped from 9th place to 2nd with 98 PP100."

So let's all pat ourselves on the back for making a wise decision

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/0...study/

[M45-Zero260]

Good stuff! Nice to see Infiniti nudge past Lexus

[mkaresh]

The IQS is fun for those who enjoy auto quality as a spectator sport. But for useful information it's a bit lacking.

Three things to realize:

1. Those scores combine "design quality" (how well the car functions) with "manufacturing quality" (repairable defects). Both good to know, but two different things I wouldn't personally lump together. A high score on one can cover up a low score on the other. BMW takes a severe hit because of iDrive.

2. They only release numerical scores for brands. There can be a lot of variation from model to model within a brand. The do release "circle dots" for the models, but these show the car's relative ranking. It's not clear how these dots translate into problem rates.

3. These scores are only for the first 90 days. J.D. Power tracks this and the third year of owneship (in a separate VDS study). The rest of a car's life they have no information on.

NICO has been helping me develop much more useful research, with posted repair rates for each model and updates four times a year, to closely track the cars as they age. The main thing needed: more participants.

Critique of J.D. Power's IQS

[szh]

szhosain you can add this to the sticky "M35/45 Reviews In Publications" & don't forget to change date in title

I know ... I have been lazy about this in a while. Been busy too ...

Z

[MagicM]

WOW i can't believe Mercedes beat Toyota, The list is sort of funny, it basically has all the Luxury manufactures of the American / Japanese companies at top, but their regular brands are at the bottom of the list. what i find funny is how Infinite is number 2 and Nissan is under the industry average. When you think about it the M and other Infinite cars are all Nissan's in japan. And how the hell did Jag get up to 9th it's almost with Honda, i'm also surprised to see Acura below average as well, i guess times are changing.

[mkaresh]

IQS can be quickly improved two ways:

1. Thoroughly inspect the product at the plant and dealer, and fix things before the buyer has a chance to know about them. To the extent this is a factor, IQS won't predict long-term reliability.

2. Thoroughly train the buyer in how all the controls work.

Both of these things cost money, so they're most often done by luxury brands. Mercedes in particular has put a lot of effort into both. They've explicitly stated the second. And one of their major plants had the lowest mechanical defect rate of any in the world--which suggests VERY thorough inspections.

Jaguars tend to have simpler controls than other luxury cars, which helps.

You won't find BMW near the top simply because of iDrive and their continuing inability to train buyers to use it and like using it.

[Pashdut]

08' M45x received an 8.1 out of 10 (Excellent) from CNET. Video below:

http://reviews.cnet.com/sedan/...bj=re

[S_Klass]

The Honda Fit, Civic and CR-V were all segment leaders, giving Honda the most for any single brand. Honda America also added the Infiniti M-Series and EX-Series.

Last I checked, my ride was made by Nissan.