Not sure airbags have made folks more dangerous drivers. I do know the vast majority of people don't know how abs works & will lift their foot off the brake when it starts pulsing. :crazy:
My Ford stync is one reason Ford did not come out well in the consumerist reports testing. Folks expect the things in their cars to work I guess. I think MINIs odd ergonomics also play a role in their low scores. What is neat & quirky to many is oh so odd to the main steam. MINI is even changing this as to not shock the main steam buyer. Moved the window switches to the doors in the countryguy & look at the dash in the F'n56. Brings this question to mind. Did these car buyers not look at these cars & test drive them? :confused5:
Rating cars the same way you rate toasters is a stupid idea, but that's consumerist reports way.
I wouldn't use them soley to buy a car--they don't really give a rat's behind about performance--but their reliability data for everyday drivers is nothing to dismiss.
It may not be the most accurate measure, but just because it's not perfect doesn't mean there isn't some merit to it....Their reliability ratings are about as unbiased as you can get. They do put too much weight on relatively minor complaints, but there is some degree of merit to their data. Does anyone on here seriously believe MINI is going to be as reliable as Lexus?
This is rock bottom we're talking about here, not one of those areas where 5 cars are seperated by 1 meaningless percentage point....
Hopefully they'll improve. But then again, BMW's don't rate that high either.
No, obviously. But CR's methodology remains seriously flawed due to the nature of the pool of owners they draw from (it works both ways, too... for years Cadillac scored unusually high numbers when they polled Cadillac owners, because they 'forgave' problems they would complain about in a less 'prestigious' car). And as I said, attributing an unfamiliar operating system with vehicle failure is flat-out wrong. J.D. Power does a much better job in this area with their "Owner Satisfaction" survey (clearer definition/tabulation of faults, broader survey pool).
In the CR survey, vehicles with extremely good reliability scores are downgraded for issues unrelated to faults. It's rather like a Porsche 911 being called 'unreliable' because the backseat was discovered to too small for anyone other than short double-amputees.
...and yes, my MINI has seen the dealership more than any car I've owned (with the possible exception of my VW Scirocco). I'd be far less 'forgiving' if all the problems hadn't been handled under warranty and extended-warranty.
On the JD Power chart, IF you throw out Lexus and Land Rover as outliers (which for statistical purposes is valid), you have a best to worth range of 94 problems per 100 cars for Porsche (.94 problems per car) to 190 problems per 100 vehicles for Dodge (1.9 problems per car).
MINI comes in below the industry average of 1.26 problems per car (Mazda, Chevrolet, Ford, Cadillac grouping) at 1.5 problems per vehicle (that's in the Audi, Volvo, Chrysler group).
So... the best vehicle has essentially one problem per vehicle. The worst has two problems per car. MINI has 1.5 problems. These numbers are a FAR CRY from what they were just ten years ago, and essentially indicate there are very few problems with new cars sold in the USA across the board... including MINI.
Not per car. The number of incidences per car remain the same. Using your argument, Lexus (at 74 per 100) would be FAR worse than MINI... because they sell so many more cars. OMG!
Yes, MINIs are more difficult than Toyotas... but just slightly. They are also more fun to drive by a long shot. Parts are more expensive than Toyota, but not much more than OEM VW parts (if at all).
After years of owning VWs amd BMWs, I was spoiled by the Ford I bought (Contour SVT). Fast, fun, reliable, and the parts were half what VW parts were. When I bought my MINI, I knew it would be sort of a cross between my VW/BMW experiences and my Ford experience.
I was right, and I've been pleased with my purchase. It's been more reliable than the other German engineered cars I've owned, FAR more reliable than the British cars of my distant past, and not quite as reliable as my Contour.
