Quality survey

[HomerS1]

Hi,
the J D Power survey measures the 'dependability' of cars in the UK and abroad. Interestingly the bottom three are Land Rover, Audi and BMW in that order. Maybe these results could be listed when testing tow cars. We drive a newish Hyundai which comes out a creditable sixth. Kia was top. I've put this topic under General as my main point is to do with caravans. Is there an equivalent survey for caravans and if not, why not?

 

[otherclive]

There is one for caravans. I think the C&CC have just sought input for vans, trailers and tents purchased since 2014. It can be acccessed from the clubs website. However compared to cars and JD Power the number of inputs and statistical relevance may be more variable.
And of course PC also have their own Ownership Survey which can be found on this site.

 

[Craigyoung]

Hi,
the J D Power survey measures the 'dependability' of cars in the UK and abroad. Interestingly the bottom three are Land Rover, Audi and BMW in that order. Maybe these results could be listed when testing tow cars. We drive a newish Hyundai which comes out a creditable sixth. Kia was top. I've put this topic under General as my main point is to do with caravans. Is there an equivalent survey for caravans and if not, why not?

Short and sweet , Swift won

 

[Raywood]

The magazine and a sponsor, now the C&CC insurance section have done the survey for I think four years now. Adria and Sprite were the top two until last year when Venus came second and Adria third. Eldiss have been consistently a clear bottom with the others more or less interchangeable in the middle.
I do wonder though if expectations are related to price, given Sprite and Venus both budget caravans came top despite them being built on the same lines as their more expensive stablemates. It may also explain why the bottom cars in the surveys are also more upmarket makes with owners being far harder on them, as they expect more for the money.
You do however get more gadgets the more you pay so there is more to go wrong which might also be a problem with the surveys.

 

[otherclive]

The magazine and a sponsor, now the C&CC insurance section have done the survey for I think four years now. Adria and Sprite were the top two until last year when Venus came second and Adria third. Eldiss have been consistently a clear bottom with the others more or less interchangeable in the middle.
I do wonder though if expectations are related to price, given Sprite and Venus both budget caravans came top despite them being built on the same lines as their more expensive stablemates. It may also explain why the bottom cars in the surveys are also more upmarket makes with owners being far harder on them, as they expect more for the money.
You do however get more gadgets the more you pay so there is more to go wrong which might also be a problem with the surveys.

I don't really subscribe to this concept that people who buy the less expensive caravans and cars have lower expectations. As a professional engineer I have worked in areas that require extremely high stands of design, production, operation and maintenance. Whilst I don't expect my Sprite to equate to a submarine I do expect it to be built properly, be fit for purpose and to work. I expect that what my car, or caravan maker supplies should work as intended. If it doesn't I will take it up with the supplier. Of course buying budget does mean that some features provided in the more expensive models aren't in mine. But that is my choice. One reason why those with more expensive and complex models might complain is that there are more things to go wrong. However, damp seems no respecter of price, but fortunately to date my Sprite has not been affected.

My most unreliable cars have been Volvo 245, Discovery 2 and Volvo XC70 Gen3. And I'm talking basic unrealiabity not just glitches in some electrics, ECB or software. Most reliable Skoda Estelle, Citroen BX, Nissan Note, Mondeo, and Kia Sorento. All avowedly budget models.

 

[Martin24]

I think the only surprise in your reliability survey Clive is the Citroen BX. I would have expected it to be in the other list.

For me the best stand out for reliability (tow cars) have been Vauxhall Omega Estate, (only just sold on by the friend that bought it from me 16 yrs ago), Ssangyong Rexton, Isuzu D-Max, 110 Defender, Mitsubishi Pajero.

The least reliable Discovery II and Renault Espace.

Non tow car that deserves a mention was my MK2 Fiesta 1.1 that had never let me down in 96,000 miles. Sold on at 139,000 miles and gave the next owner untroubled motoring until he traded up for something newer three years later.

 

[otherclive]

I think the only surprise in your reliability survey Clive is the Citroen BX. I would have expected it to be in the other list.

For me the best stand out for reliability (tow cars) have been Vauxhall Omega Estate, (only just sold on by the friend that bought it from me 16 yrs ago), Ssangyong Rexton, Isuzu D-Max, 110 Defender, Mitsubishi Pajero.

The least reliable Discovery II and Renault Espace.

Non tow car that deserves a mention was my MK2 Fiesta 1.1 that had never let me down in 96,000 miles. Sold on at 139,000 miles and gave the next owner untroubled motoring until he traded up for something newer three years later.

Martin the BX was a little treasure. Body build quality was iffy and it rattled a lot. But otherwise it was very good. Sold it to our neighbour and they had it for 6 months but a lack of oil did for it. I see you had a Pajero. I sold a 1995 SWB auto that I had modified for off road trips. I sold it two years ago with everything still working. The guy bought it for off roading but decided to change its 33 inch MT tyres and put smaller road orientated tyres on it and now uses it for daily workbjourneys. He told me it’s main advantage is to keep the miles off of his D3. Although the Pajero wasn’t a budget car when first built. Mine was a grey import.

 

[Martin24]

Mine was an import too. 1994 LWB. It was a little rare as it was the Rallyart one. Fantastic vehicle, not seen it about lately, I'll have to check the DVLA status on it. Towed really well and was sad to see it go.

 

[Raywood]

I don't really subscribe to this concept that people who buy the less expensive caravans and cars have lower expectations. As a professional engineer I have worked in areas that require extremely high stands of design, production, operation and maintenance. Whilst I don't expect my Sprite to equate to a submarine I do expect it to be built properly, be fit for purpose and to work. I expect that what my car, or caravan maker supplies should work as intended. If it doesn't I will take it up with the supplier. Of course buying budget does mean that some features provided in the more expensive models aren't in mine. But that is my choice. One reason why those with more expensive and complex models might complain is that there are more things to go wrong. However, damp seems no respecter of price, but fortunately to date my Sprite has not been affected.

My most unreliable cars have been Volvo 245, Discovery 2 and Volvo XC70 Gen3. And I'm talking basic unrealiabity not just glitches in some electrics, ECB or software. Most reliable Skoda Estelle, Citroen BX, Nissan Note, Mondeo, and Kia Sorento. All avowedly budget models.[/quote]

Clive, I appreciate your views on this but the survey results do seem to support my theory. Two years back the survey had Buccaneer shown separately from Eldiss and Buccaneer came out with a worse score than Eldiss. The only thing that does not fall into line is that Swift and Sterling models get differing scores despite being essentially the same caravans which makes no sense to me.
Yes you do have the right to expect the caravan to be built properly but different peoples ideas of what is a satisfactory standard vary and price might be a factor in this.
A factor which I cannot check with caravans is do you get different results with different surveys. This is certainly true of cars with Honda and Toyota topping other surveys so it may depend on your audience.

 

[LizziePope]

Hi all and apologies for being late to the party on this thread.

As some have said, Practical Caravan has a long-established Owner Satisfaction Survey, which looks at new and used caravans for sale in the UK, and their supplying dealers. If you'd like to get involved in this year's survey, please click here.