J. D. Power Vehicle Quality Survey
04-06-2017, 11:32 AM
#1
Super Member
Thread Starter
J. D. Power Vehicle Quality Survey
Just taking an informal poll. How many have received this yet? How many plan to complete it?
I know it won't help us now, but might aid in future designs/features.
I know it won't help us now, but might aid in future designs/features.
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04-07-2017, 03:35 PM
#8
Senior Member
I've often thought about these things, and I don't know how much "faith" I actually put into them.
For one, luxury cars almost always look terrible on these things. I think that is partly because luxury owners absolutely demand that cars be perfect in all ways. While I don't think that's a bad thing, I think that the guy who buys a Chevy Cruze, is a lot more willing to overlook little things like squeaking doors, a bulb that burned out in the second week, and the fact that he gets treated like dirt at the dealership is just the way that it is.
None of those things apply to luxury car owners. We're mad as hell when the door squeaks (I have that right now). We're mad as hell when a bulb goes out 2 weeks in. And we DEMAND that our dealers bend over backwards for us. I do the same.
Our first MB was a 2006 E320 CDI. I believe that everything everywhere said stay away from this car by at least 10 miles. We DID have an issue with it the day that we drove it off of the lot, that no one knew about. They actually called in the head of engineering MBUSA to fix the issue, and ironically got it fixed before he got there, based on a weird set of circumstances that corrected the issue. All that to say, while the car was NOT perfect when we took position, MY dealer was constantly working on the issue to resolve it, and ultimately did. That whole process took 6 months, BUT they got it resolved. Beyond this ONE thing, that was probably the BEST car that my wife and I have EVER owned, and I still kick her for wanting to get rid of it (and she does too). Because of a lingering long term issue, most luxury car owners would have slaughtered this car on a survey for this issue.
We replaced that with a VW Touareg, another luxury SUV (depending on your take on things), and we had ZERO issues with that car. ZERO. And, in fact, I really hated to see the vehicle go, because it's been a GREAT car! BUT, our dealer absolutely sucks, and sucks HARD. They have screwed more things up when we take in for service than I care to remember, and I'm actually glad that nothing was ever majorly wrong with it, because I don't quite frankly think that I wanted them working on it anyway. I would have given VW a "do-better" on a JD Power survey, just because the dealer sucked.
My point in all of this is that the "demands" of the customer, in my opinion, cloud the results on these type of surveys. YMMV, of course...
For one, luxury cars almost always look terrible on these things. I think that is partly because luxury owners absolutely demand that cars be perfect in all ways. While I don't think that's a bad thing, I think that the guy who buys a Chevy Cruze, is a lot more willing to overlook little things like squeaking doors, a bulb that burned out in the second week, and the fact that he gets treated like dirt at the dealership is just the way that it is.
None of those things apply to luxury car owners. We're mad as hell when the door squeaks (I have that right now). We're mad as hell when a bulb goes out 2 weeks in. And we DEMAND that our dealers bend over backwards for us. I do the same.
Our first MB was a 2006 E320 CDI. I believe that everything everywhere said stay away from this car by at least 10 miles. We DID have an issue with it the day that we drove it off of the lot, that no one knew about. They actually called in the head of engineering MBUSA to fix the issue, and ironically got it fixed before he got there, based on a weird set of circumstances that corrected the issue. All that to say, while the car was NOT perfect when we took position, MY dealer was constantly working on the issue to resolve it, and ultimately did. That whole process took 6 months, BUT they got it resolved. Beyond this ONE thing, that was probably the BEST car that my wife and I have EVER owned, and I still kick her for wanting to get rid of it (and she does too). Because of a lingering long term issue, most luxury car owners would have slaughtered this car on a survey for this issue.
We replaced that with a VW Touareg, another luxury SUV (depending on your take on things), and we had ZERO issues with that car. ZERO. And, in fact, I really hated to see the vehicle go, because it's been a GREAT car! BUT, our dealer absolutely sucks, and sucks HARD. They have screwed more things up when we take in for service than I care to remember, and I'm actually glad that nothing was ever majorly wrong with it, because I don't quite frankly think that I wanted them working on it anyway. I would have given VW a "do-better" on a JD Power survey, just because the dealer sucked.
My point in all of this is that the "demands" of the customer, in my opinion, cloud the results on these type of surveys. YMMV, of course...
04-07-2017, 04:47 PM
#9
Super Member
Thread Starter
This survey is NOT just about quality control. It asks about existing features you like/don't like, as well as features you'd like to see in future vehicles. It's very comprehensive. Most people who spend the time frequenting auto forums would consider themselves car aficionados. We complain amongst ourselves about features we wish we had, and others that make no sense having. This is very therapeutic, but it doesn't accomplish anything. This is a chance to voice your opinions to the automaker. Surely if MB gets thousands of people saying they want a specific feature on upcoming models it'll have some impact on the decision making process.
