The latest J.D. Power and Associates 'Vehicle Dependability Study' results
were released this week. For the 12th straight year Lexus took top honors.
They were followed by Mercury, Buick, Cadillac and Toyota to round out the
top 5 brands. I have to say that Mercury's number 2 ranking surprised me.

Ron M.

On Sat, 12 Aug 2006 01:01:47 UTC, "Ron M." <nobody (AT) nowhere (DOT) net> wrote:

I'm surprised that 3 of the top 5 are from the US, that Toyota is
number 5 and that Honda's not in the tip 5 at all.

I actually feel bad for Ford and GM. Their problem is that it took
them literally 30 years to develop a reputation of building turds on
wheels, and unfortunately, it will take them nearly as long building
reliable cars to shake that bad reputation.

I am beginning to trust J.D. Powers less and less.
I can't believe that Mercury, Buick, Cadillac ranks that high.
"Ron M." <nobody (AT) nowhere (DOT) net> wrote

Funny that you should say that, because I just sent a friend of mine an
e-mail message last night stating that I simply could not believe that
Mercury, Buick and Cadillac all three ranked higher than Toyota, Acura,
Honda and Infiniti in the latest Vehicle Dependability Study by J.D. Power
and Associates. Now I CAN believe that they ranked higher than BMW and
Mercedes-Benz. Definitely no surprises there for me.

Ron M.

"Ron M." <nobody (AT) nowhere (DOT) net> wrote

It does sound fishy that GM makes would outclass Honda. Then again, lots of
Honda cars are made in the U.S. today, so maybe the good ol' American work
ethic has infected Honda too. I wonder how big the sample size is in JD
Powers' survey and how they select the respondents. It would NOT surprise me
if GM learned how to game this system. Easier to figure that out than to
learn how to not produce "turds on wheels."

I've heard that J.D. Power is really just a marketing company known for
constructing surveys and polls that make their clients look good. Notice
how often you hear them mentioned in commercials?

"Mack" <ICH0R0426 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

ditto that Mark.

I would love to purchase an American (GM,Ford) auto, but I'll be looking at
Lexus because of dependability.

I agree with others-JD Power is not a reliable indicator of anything.
Whoever pays them will get a decent rating.
"Mark Klebanoff" <maxikins (AT) os2bbs (DOT) com> wrote

On Sat, 12 Aug 2006 01:01:47 UTC, "Ron M." <nobody (AT) nowhere (DOT) net> wrote:

I'm surprised that 3 of the top 5 are from the US, that Toyota is
number 5 and that Honda's not in the tip 5 at all.

I actually feel bad for Ford and GM. Their problem is that it took
them literally 30 years to develop a reputation of building turds on
wheels, and unfortunately, it will take them nearly as long building
reliable cars to shake that bad reputation.