Motoring: Germans reign supreme; Jag drivers’ UKIP link & more

GOOD news if you’re a German car manufacturer – 7 out of 10 Britons that expressed a preference favour them above other makes.

Not so good news if you’re a French manufacturer – Citroen in particular; three out of the company’s model roster find themselves in the bottom 10 of UK driver favourites.

So go the results from this year’s important What Car?/JD Power customer satisfaction survey.

 But what about the plucky Brits themselves I hear you cry – well, we scrape into the top 10 (just); Jaguar’s XF claiming 10th spot.

The survey is based on the opinions of 15,000 owners of cars registered between January 2011 and December 2012. It measures satisfaction levels across several key categories, including vehicle appeal, vehicle quality and reliability, ownership costs and dealer service satisfaction.

Like it or not, it has become the industry benchmark over the last decade or so and its findings are important because many consumers unsure about their final decision may well be swayed about where to spend their money.

So, if you’re facing a buying dilemma and would like to know how others feel, then let’s take a look at the findings in more detail.

As mentioned at the start, seven of the top vehicles are from German manufacturers – three alone from Volkswagen, while a further two are from the wider VW group.

Taking the top spot this year with the highest points rating – and voted Best City Car – is the VW Up. Consumers said they loved its reliability, its easiness to drive and fuel-efficiency. Drivers also loved the interior space, layout and colour, and the fact it was easy to see out of.

Another VW model – the Golf Plus – claimed second spot, followed by group stablemate, the Skoda Yeti.

Striking a blow for Britain – with appropriate nods to India – Jaguar proudly waved the red, white and blue by taking Best Automotive Brand.

What Car? editor Jim Holder said: “The Volkswagen Group deserves special congratulations for having six cars in the top 10. It is clearly building cars that have showroom appeal and, even more importantly, deliver in real life. Cars that perform in customer satisfaction surveys are a great recommendation for car buyers and act as a great barometer to a car’s quality.”

The Top 10 models for 2014

1          Volkswagen Up
2          Volkswagen Golf Plus
3          Skoda Yeti
4          Mercedes-Benz C-Class
5          Volkswagen Scirocco
6          Volkswagen Tiguan
7          Lexus CT200h
8          Skoda Octavia
9          Volvo V70/XC70
10        Jaguar XF

Those at the less flattering end are:

109         Chevrolet Spark
108         Alfa Romeo Mito
106         Citroën C3
106         BMW X1
105         Ford Ka
104         Fiat Grande Punto / Punto Evo
103         Citroën C4
102         Smart Fortwo
101         Ford Fusion
100         Citroën C1

Striking a blow for Sweden (and China, seeing as the brand is now owned by Geely), the Volvo V70 and XC70 were named winners of the Executive Car class in the customer satisfaction survey.

Back to Germany. Mercedes-Benz also has reason to be pleased. It has risen up the rankings claiming third place overall and scooping the top family car position with the C-Class.

The C-Class finished in fourth place, making it the UK’s most satisfying family car. Particular praise focused on its efficient and powerful range of engines, the comfort features and its styling.

One final note before we move on – I once had a Chevrolet Spark as a hire car and found it be a great drive with good road manners and a character that immediately led to me christening it ‘Sparky’.

Surveys aren’t always the best guide.

Jaguar owners display UKIP tendencies

WHILE we’re in Euro-mode, a new survey (another one!) has apparently found that 27% of Jaguar owners will vote UKIP at the next election.

The survey was conducted by WeLoveAnyCar.com, the UK’s biggest car review site, and appears to confirm the stereotypical view of the Jag driver as being white, middle aged and conservative.

It questioned 3,896 known Jaguar owners and found that despite their UKIP leanings, most were okay with Indian owner Tata’s stewardship, and agreed the brand had massively improved and they loved their dealers.

So far as its Indian ownership is concerned, just 5% of those surveyed said this had made them less likely to buy a Jaguar next time. Indeed, 80% thought Jaguar had ‘improved’ or ‘massively improved’ in the last three years.

Since Tata acquired Jaguar, 44% of owners thought it meant a ‘better future’, 32% said they were ‘better cars’ and 22%, a ‘bigger range’.  However, 26% of Jaguar owners thought that the company coming under Indian ownership was ‘slightly sad’. Overall, 32% of owners rated Jaguar 10 out of 10 with 84% rating the company 8, 9 or 10 out of 10.

Jaguar owners are a class of their own; 86% are aged 50 and over and the respondents were overwhelmingly male – 94%.  Jaguar owners are loyal with 30% having owned four or more Jaguars.

Gratuitous, us? Surely not

NEVER one to need an excuse to use a glamorous picture I was spoiled for choice when it came to this piece.

So gratuitous or not here’s one to salivate over – the best thing to come out of Sweden since Abba, the Koenigsegg Agera One.

The blame for this one lies with ex-British Touring Car champion Tim Harvey who has outlined the Top 10 supercars being paraded at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Here’s his Top 10.

1.         Koenigsegg Agera One
2.         Porsche 918 Spyder
3.         McLaren P1
4.         Ferrari 458 Speciale
5.         Mercedes Benz SLS AMG Black Series
6.         Nissan GT-R Nismo
7.         Noble M600
8.         Pagani Huayra
9.         Bentley Continental GT V8S
10.       Honda NSX (2014)

Now there’s a line-up as exotic as anything that will take the field in Brazil in the next few weeks – and in some cases, less expensive.

Drive safely.