Rock Dog

"The study is based on responses from more than 48,000 original owners of 2001 model-year cars and light trucks. The figures represent the number of problems per 100 vehicles"


The top 10
Lexus 162
Buick 187
Infiniti 189
Lincoln 194
Cadillac 196
Honda 209
Acura 212
Toyota 216
Mercury 224
Porsche 240

The Full Story

Pure Adrenaline

iTrader: (2)

See, I hate the J.D. Power ratings, because they never say what kind of problems they are. Porsche might have taken the last place, but their problems could be less severe than Acura's 212.


And anybody else find it ironically humorous that Honda's upscale prestige brand suffers from more problems than Honda itself?

orcaatk

I'm shocked that Cadillac made it so high up... Maybe it's just the 01's that people had in my area that sucked azz while the rest of the nation got the good ones. :shakehd:

Rock Dog

Porsche wasn't "last" that's just the top ten. Click on "The Full Story at the bottom of the post to see the whole story.

I know what you mean though, these rankings don't talk about the severity of the problems. If Porsche had say a dash light failure and a rattle in the console, as opposed to the tranny failure of the Acura. Which problem(s) would you rather have?

The initial quality survey J.D. does is misleading. Just about any manufacturer can design and build a car that's great for 30-90 days. But what are they like 5 years later?

AcuraT

Actually, GM is doing much better now. All their brands including Saab and Saturn scored above average except for Pontiac and Oldsmobile. No one cares about Oldsmobile, they stopped making them back in May. As a brand, GM is now beginning to challenge for the lead in quality (shocking, isn't it?) They are not perfect by any means, and quality for them depends very much on which car you buy. For example, purchase a Buick Regal and you get the most reliable midsize car built today (it beat for the first time the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord this year). However, do you want a Regal? Also, if you pick a different GM model... say, the Cadillac Escalade, it is the pits. So, you have to pick your poison with GM - you get lucky, or very unlucky depending on the engineer who designed your car. Someday they may match the Japanese, but not quite yet.

AcuraT

Rock Dog, this is the 3 year survey or the 2001 cars. Not the initial 90 days of ownership, which I regard close to useless. I am interested in the 5 year one which comes out in a month or two...

Rock Dog

Where did I say it was the 90 day survey. I referred to a 30-90 day survey, as a response to anothers post.

bayarea

Another thing from GM, the Hummer H2, has hideous maintenance records and yet that does not seem to affect its ratings...

Pure Adrenaline

iTrader: (2)

GM still sucks. My dad bought a new XL Denali in November last year. For the first month or so, it was cool. No rattles, felt pretty solid, except for the cheap materials.

Then the problems started appearing; rattles all over the car, squeaking moonroof, axle whine, squeaking suspension while turning, navigation unit failure, CD player unit failure, transmission started acting up, etc, etc.

I'm not even counting the misaligned Denali body claddings from the factory. They look fine when you look at each side individually, but when you compare both sides, they are soooo way off. The concept of QC is non-existent GM.

When we took it in for a rattle in the dashboard, they "fixed" it, but somehow left the service tag (the ones they hang on your rear view mirror with a number on it) UNDERNEATH the dash cover. I noticed it through the air vents and they took it out again to get the tag out.

Corporate sucks, factories suck, and their dealerships suck. I used to be a huge GM fan, but that has changed. It would've been better if the dealerships were alright, but man... they even broke the internal GPS antenna when they put in a new nav unit. As I was leaving the dealership the system showed that I was a block away from the White House. I'm in MICHIGAN!! They never did any of the things they said they would. And the assistant director actually went off on me, because I said they rely too much on the OBDII scanner, when all they had to do was smell the exhaust to realize that the catalytic converter was malfunctioning, along with a HORRENDOUS smell that filled the car and our garage, making its way into our HOUSE. We were forced to park our new car outside every night. We still have to. GM says they have no solution. Yet, I have checked out other Denalis and they are fine. They just don't want to put up the costs of repairing the emissions system. One more try, and if they keep denying it, we're going to claim Lemon.

Oh, and the resale value? If I remember correctly, in the last 7 months or so, we lost about 10 grand. Hell, we've only paid off half of that in financing. Never again. No more GM. When they go non-union and start hiring German and Japanese engineers and designers, I'll come back.


Also, my dad's friend bought a new Deville DTS a while back. From day one, he noticed a really bad smell inside the car. The dealership tried just about everything, but couldn't figure out where it was coming from. The smell was so bad that he couldn't drive his car anymore. Keep in mind the car is still brand spanking new. The dealership refused to switch cars. Finally, they found the problem -- a half-eaten hamburger inside the rear passenger-side door panel.

Fucking UAW lazy-ass incompetent faggots. I hate them with a passion.

AcuraT

Hmm, seems some anger management issues here Just kidding. My neighbors next door bought a car the same time I bought my Acura TL in 2001, it was a GM car. It was a Buick LeSabre. Three years later, 65,000 miles and the only problem they have is an annoying rattle. However, I consider my transmission failure at 67,000 miles a little more severe. I think the point is with all brands there are lemons - some have more than others. Some GM models are good - you managed to pick two that do not have good ratings according to Consumer Reports. Some Honda models are not so good. The 2001 Acura TL is CU has fallen to average after three years of ownership, for example, but the 2001 Honda Civic is excellent. The Buick LeSabre in 2001 is above average. Unfortunately, I wish the Unions had more to do with it. It has to do with the engineers who design the cars and the parts that operate. The transmissions that are failing in the Acura TL's - made in Japan. Yes, the car is made in the US, but if you look at the sticker required on every new car it states that the engine/transmission in the Acura TL still comes from Japan. Go Japanese workers! Again, just kidding - as it again has to do with the engineers.

MADCAT

I totally agree with about the GM cars and where/who/how they’re made. We were given a tour of the GM factory in Oshawa during a high school trip and boy that was the biggest load of crap I have ever seen! I never saw so many beer cans in a workplace. And the idiots working their didn’t give a crap about anything they were doing, in fact I believe you when you said you found a hamburger in the door because I saw a couple of beer cans during the manufacturing process in the doors! Heck, that could be the cause of the rattles in American cars!

The American work ethic is just terrible! These cars hold people in them and people depend on these cars for their living. And they cared about these cars like gum on a sidewalk…. and yes…we did have American made cars before…but never again…my 99 TL is flawless so far.

1SICKLEX

uHHH, your TL is made and designed by us "lazy" Americans. Did you know that? Your TL is made in Ohio, USA.

Pure Adrenaline

iTrader: (2)

Yes, I am well aware of where the transmission is built. But that wasn't the issue. I was talking about GM, not Acura. Honda/Acura can go to hell, too, for all I care. Such a pain to work on.



1SICKLEX -- At least they are not union workers... yet. They are paid for their skills, not for their membership in the UAW. These UAW workers are getting paid good money for doing next to nothing. They don't have a concept of work ethic or pride. Unions started out with good intentions as history shows, but now it's just a foundation for trying to get more money and not do shit, all because they pay for their membership and are protected.

GM has to set aside 40 billion dollars for UAW regulation purposes (I think pensions and other shit). That's 40 billion they could spend on R&D and improving product quality.

GM is too big, too loosely controlled, and has too many distractions. Platform sharing is rampant, almost to a point that it's disgusting. The GMT360 and 380 platforms are shared among SIX divisions. What the fvck?

AcuraT

The only point I was trying to make is that all manufactuers have their problems, some more than others. The top 4 manufactuers for three year quality are now:

Toyota
Honda
Porche
GM

GM is not the best. But they are not the worst anymore either. Honda is still regarded among the best, but both Honda and Toyota showed more problems, not less, in the latest JD Power survey. I guess buyer beware is the callword now.