wrxbugeye

The Warranty Direct Manufacturer Index places Subaru second from bottom behind such previously rock solid builds as Fiat and Alfa.
What has happened so quickly to our JD Power number 1 of a few years ago?

Here is the list:

1. Mazda
2. Ford
3. Honda
4. Toyota
5. Vauxhall
6. Hyundai
7. Peugeot
8. Nissan
9. Fiat
10. Volvo
11. Mercedes
12. Citroen
13. Volkswagen
14. Mitsubishi
15. Renault
16. BMW
17. Rover
18. Audi
19. Saab
20. Alfa Romeo
21. Land Rover
22. Subaru
23. Jeep

revitt

I saw that list and it was done on cost of repair not number of faults, or at least appeared to be.

I also believe that the JD power servey now takes fuel consuption and pollution into account.

Diesel

Its all those horror stories of det and spat out pistons here being taken into account... Still it's not a Jeep!

messiah

is this the survey that had clarkson in stitches when he heard where subaru was on the list?

EddScott

Well, as a potential new Subaru owner, that fills me with confidence!

Chris L

Have a look at this thread from a few days ago. That listing is based on the average cost of repair.

It doesn't relate to reliability. I think Scoobs came 5th in terms of reliability, which given the relative number of high performance models that are sold (as a percentage of all Subaru car sales in the UK) is pretty good.

Having done more than 80000 miles in two Scoobs, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that they have been the most reliable cars I've ever owned.

Chris

chiark

Hey, I saw a picture of a scooby in a lake the other day! It's brilliant!!!!

wrxbugeye

Chris L,

The headline on AOL Motoring (where the list is) reads as follows:
"What is the UK`s most reliable car" followed by "Discover which is the most dependable make".
The conclusions are not very good for future sales or residuals.

I also have had two impreza turbos (and 80,000 miles) and have been very pleased with the reliabilty. My previous car (MY1998), however, did need a new short engine due to piston slap. This was carried out under warranty with no quibble and minimum of hassle.

Could it be that all these new engines are reflected in the survey?

Chris L

Well it does say in the original posting on Warrenty Direct's site that the Impreza figures were due to a number of engine / gear box related faults. So I guess these would account for the high costs - which would push it out of proportion in releation to the other manufacturers.

I think selective journalism does come into account here and I would look back over more than one years results to form a conclusion. The point of my post was that the list does NOT relate to reliability, simply the average cost of a claim - slighty different things.

Chris

greasemonkey

The headline in several newspapers last year said that Saddam Hussein could launch weapons of mass destruction on Britain within 45 minutes of deciding to do so. We now know that he never could, and that the actual intelligence never claimed otherwise. Moral: Don't unquestioningly believe headlines, whether they're in the paper or, especially, on AOL.

As has already been said, the list you are quoting from categorises Warranty Direct's claims based on the average cost per claim , not on the number of claims, which, BTW, Subaru scores very well in.

As Chris says, a few expensive engine rebuilds will push the figures up. There's no question that the Impreza engine is highly stressed, but we also know that it is capable of handling considerably more power than standard without complaint provided such modifications are applied correctly. In its latest form it is also thoroughly developed.

One big unknown factor here is how many of the claims that feed these figures are genuine, and no doubt a considerable number will actually be fraudulent. In the last week alone we've had one owner gleefully telling us that he's had two overboost-induced engine blowups on his STi rectified under warranty, simply by removing the full decat that caused the problem and turning up at the dealer denying all knowledge of what might have happened.

So, you can probably ascribe anything between £5K and 10K (two partial engines plus fitting costs) or so of the total claim figure to that guy alone. How many more like him does it take to skew the figures unfairly? Judging by the number of people here asking about modifications that can be removed transparently in case of problems, quite a few.

I would imagine that genuinely standard/PPP cars are generally reliable, and that the main effect of these figures being published will be IM devoting more and more resources to pinpointing fraudulent warranty claims. You need to look at the bigger picture; to suggest that these figures alone present the Impreza, and Subaru as a marque, as generally unreliable, is clearly wide of the mark.

[Edited by greasemonkey - 9/25/2003 5:50:25 PM]

Gidney&Knowlesy

What do they know anyhow?

MGJohn

Thus, apparently my Rover is considerably ( what a great word..)more reliable than yows Scubaroo - told you years ago that that J and D stuff is a load of wossnames. Be much more credible if they did a survey on those very same cars after say 7 or even 10 years ...