I can understand the Koreans dominating the top three positions...I've said, for some time now, that they almost all are quite well-built, with good materials. Ford, though, right below them in #5, and Lincoln at #7, are a little harder to figure out.... I've found some of their latest products somewhat loosely-built, except for the superb Continental.

 

The JD Power Initial Quality Study asks and so considers many more factors than just build quality. And because they are asking consumers and not professional car people, they may not be able to discern (or care about) the difference in build quality of cars such as Kia and Ford.

 

The JD IQS is always a bit more fluffier. iirc it's a survey of the first 90 days or something. JD VDS takes three years and the story is always different. Either way doesn't matter, new cars should all be very similar and worry free in the first days of ownership lol.

 

 

This is the first 90 days. Doesn't mean much as the VDS (Vehicle Dependability Study) looks at how reliable the vehicles fare over 3 years which is a better indicator of "quality" of a vehicle.

 

 

I could not find the list of specific questions asked but I did find a broad summary of what the Initial Quality Survey is and the list of Top 10 problems. We must all remember that this survey measures very short-term initial impressions against expectations (I would argue that 3 months into ownership of a new car, especially if it is much different from the car it replaced, that the owner is still getting used to the car and learning about how some of the features (like Bluetooth and navigation system) work).




Source

 

Jeep on par with Toyota seems legit.

 

JD Power's IQS ranking is an absolutely stupid scoring system that senselessly mixes "design quality" with "mechanical quality", two completely different qualities that should've been put into two completely separate studies.

Mechanical quality issues are things that don't work as designed, while design quality issues are things that work as designed but are disliked by the users. They are simply completely unrelated measurements that have no business in being averaged together into one score.

Lexus's IQS ranking has been on a steady downhill slide ever since they put the dreadful remote touch interface in place of a touch screen and stubbornly refusing to adopt infotainment software designed by actual software companies, while all the other automakers have moved on to much more driver-friendly implementations and software that doesn't look 15 years old.

Were it not for the their dreadful infotainment system dragging down their "design quality" scores and therefore the overall IQS scores, they would've easily ranked at the very top. Just take a look at the actual details of the scoring. Lexus absolutely dominates the mechanical quality scores. No other premium maker comes even close.
http://www.jdpower.com/cars/study/In...y-Make/4171ENG


Again, JD Power needs to split IQS into two studies, one for mechanical quality and one for design quality. And Lexus needs to wake the hell up and try to understand why just about everyone's complaining about their infotainment system, redo the control interface, and let real software companies do the software for them.

 

 

Agree with some above. Initial quality looks at the vehicle up to six months. The rattles and annoying stuff that gets fixed under warranty. Much more relevance on the dependability study looking at problem areas when the vehicle is three years old and nearing the warranty expiring. This is where Lexus is #1 for an incredible seven years in a row.

 

To be honest, I liken JD Power to Gartner. Unscientific, unreliable, not statistically valid. With JD I'm not sure if it's pay to play, maybe you know.

It is astounding how much people are willing to pay for one's opinion nowadays. I think the last $500 of amazon purchases were all paid for by someone else seeking my opinion (2018 alone), and now they've switched to Visa for compensation (hey this is a diverse forum someone out there probably knows how it works).

Like I've said, I'm now ok with doing something for as little as $50, but $100 is better. Still haven't done the Lexus RX-L for $75

 

If it's pay to pay at JDP does that mean Lexus has paid top dollar for 7 years for their ranking on the VDS??

 

I just took a survey last night (not JD Power, different one) and I had a lot of thoughts running through my head while I was taking it.

My answers this time were based on what I expect from a Lexus class of vehicle. Some things I scored high, others I scored more critically. But my standards for this class of car are very high.

Couple things were bugging me though that might related to Initial car quality.
Car classes are not equal.
People's demographics age/income alter their expectations. I know mine have changed a lot over the past 30 years and have changed income brackets.

If I were 25 today buying my first new entry level standard brand car, I might rate it an 8/10 overall. Totally legitimate based on my demographics and expectations of what I got for what I paid. And I wouldn't be wrong.
If I were 50 today buying my 3rd top of line luxury brand car, I might also rate it an 8/10 overall. And I'd be totally right based on my expectations.
Not even close to the same cars, initial quality, etc. But on the same chart with no distinction.

The other element bugging me. The trend towards 10/10 or it sucks mentality. There seems to be a lot of pressure lately to rate everything at max 10/10. Supposedly if you rate your Uber driver less than perfect, they may get in trouble, and you may stop getting rides. Huh?
So while I'm being thoughtful, honest, critical in my survey, I wonder how many people are just clicking 10/10 all the way down the chart. Is this a demographics age/income thing? I don't know, just makes me wonder.

I, like a lot of people, like to use a lot of reviews, surveys, etc. to research things. However, I'm always needing to filter for what I consider questionable reviews/reviewers and questionable statistics favorable and unfavorable. There's a lot of both out there. Initial quality is one I don't personally put much weight in. I like reliability better. Give people time to get over the initial love sickness and figure out if they still really like it.

fwiw: My overall impression is that Korea has been headed in the right direction for quite a while. I don't want to take anything away from them. I'm just not in love with Initial quality survey.