Buyers of low-priced vehicles in the U.K. are happier with their cars than drivers leaving dealerships after spending more money on a prestige car, a new survey finds.
Driver Power, which bills itself as Britain’s biggest survey of motorists, says it found the Skoda Superb is the car that makes its owners happiest, with a 93.4% satisfaction score. The Volkswagen subsidiary’s Yeti takes second place with a 93.3% score.
Lexus was the only prestige brand in the top five of the survey, published in Auto Express magazine. It came in third with 93.1%. The Toyota RAV4 tied this with 93.1%, just ahead of the low-cost C’eed from Kia in fifth place with 93.0%.
The bottom two places in the list of 75 cars are taken by the Volkswagen Up! with 85.5% and Audi A1 with 86.5%. The Citroen C4 Cactus (86.6%). Ford Mondeo (86.8%) and Citroen C1 (87.0%) round out the bottom five.
The Jaguar XF takes the unwanted crown for the most faults in the survey, with 30.9% of owners saying their car has had an issue in the first 12 months of ownership. The Jaguar XE followed with 26.7%, while Land Rover’s Discovery Sport had 25.3%.
The overall rating percentage is an average of scores across 31 judging categories including comfort, handling, running costs and reliability. The drivers surveyed generally were happy with their new cars with an average score of 89.5%.
Auto Express Editor-in-Chief Steve Fowler says some people still have a negative opinion of brands such as Skoda and Kia, but the survey results prove this is outdated.
“Skoda drivers are almost evangelical about their cars, the dealers and the whole ownership experience,” Fowler says in a statement. “It may seem odd that models from Skoda’s parent company VW and Audi scored so much lower in the survey, but when customers pay for a quality experience and don’t get it, they’re bound to feel let down.”
Fowler says although satisfaction scores are high, owners across the board said they would vote for better fuel economy, improvements to the built-in satellite navigation and more cargo space.
