Another day, another trophy case full of quality awards to hand out, and this time the presenter is Strategic Vision, which had 29,000 vehicle owners rate their rides in various areas that encompass a product's positive characteristics, reliability, the dealership experience and the owner's emotional response. You can read the down and dirty of the rating process here.
The domestics have a lot to be happy about here considering GM secured a win in five segments, giving it more TQAs than any other manufacturer. Ford only had one segment win, but it was the Fusion in the hotly contested Medium Car category, which counts for something. The Dodge Charger and Magnum both brought an award home for Chrysler, as well. The highest rated vehicle in any segment was the BMW 7-Series and, whaddya know, the Honda Ridgeline can add another notch to its bedpost for winning the Full-Size Pickup segment.
Check out a list of all the TQA winners here.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Michael G @ Jun 20th 2006 10:43AM
The Ridgeline does not count as a full size pick up!
Michael Karesh @ Jun 20th 2006 10:45AM
The process of assigning weights makes Strategic Vision's calculation of an overall score more sound than many out there. But the fact of the matter is, the more stuff you include in a score--and this score includes a ton of stuff--the less clear it is what is actually being measured.
The CNN Money site had a pretty good critique of this and other studies a month or so ago. I think it was covered on Autoblog. Anyone have the thread? It was covered on Autoblog here:
http://www.autoblog.com/2006/05/30/automotive-accolades-and-what-they-really-mean/
One ammendment to one of my comments: I've since learned that J.D. Power's response rate on a recent study was 23 percent. Not bad considering that none of these people signed up to receive a survey, but low enough to cast the randomness of the participants into question.
With my own research I'm going back to the basics: how often does the car break.
http://www.truedelta.com/reliability.php
Michael Karesh @ Jun 20th 2006 10:46AM
Looks like I went and answered my own question then forgot to remove the question. Sorry for the mess.
PJ @ Jun 20th 2006 11:33AM
The 7-Series was rated highest overall? Very interesting, considering how often it's bashed in the car mags. Seems owners are getting along with iDrive okay, after all (I personally can't stand how much it requires you to watch the screen while driving).
I wasn't surprised to see the Magnum/Charger, HHR, and Fusion on the list--all heavily-hyped cars that are likely to get the owner all excited (and, in the Magnum/Charger's case, damn fine automobiles too).
The one that did shock me was the Saturn VUE. The VUE? Really? I'm guessing the positive responses must have come from long-time Saturn owners blown away by the massively improved interior for 2006, or maybe the Honda V6. In my experience, it's not a bad SUV, but it's hardly best-in-class for ride and handling (especially not the horrid steering), seat comfort, or perceived interior quality.
Rob @ Jun 20th 2006 12:05PM
Yeah, the Ridgeline can barely pull a small boat. It has issues when the roads get hilly and youre in tow. Its kinda like GM revived the El Camino and put 4 doors on it. The styling is bad enough to make me think that too.
Elliott @ Jun 20th 2006 12:33PM
I really expectd to see the Mazda 3 as best small car. Second place is good though.
Also, not only did the Fusion win its segment, but the Milan tied for second and the Mazda 6 came in fourth. Seems that platform is a real winner, and it's a good thing since Ford has 7 or more vehicles riding on it.
I suspect the '07 Camry will place about the segment average, unlike the '06.
Bob @ Jun 20th 2006 2:09PM
"Its kinda like GM revived the El Camino and put 4 doors on it. The styling is bad enough to make me think that too."
The El Camino had a more powerful engine and a bigger bed. Even though it was probably more of a truck than the Ridgeline, it didn't pretend to be a truck.
The fact that the Ridgeline doesn't come in 2wd shows its fwd car roots. The platform it's built on would have to be fwd in order to be 2wd. A truck that carries any bit of weight in the back must have power to the rear wheels.