The Most Reliable Cars In SA?

Market research company Ipsos South Africa announced the results of their Product Quality Awards 2015 this week. Over 30 000 owners of new vehicles sold from January to December 2014 were surveyed. Purchase and service experiences are measured 10-35 days after delivery, while product quality interviews take place 90 days from purchase.

In terms of product quality, the industry average number of problems per 100 vehicles (PP100) has remained around the 30 to 40 mark since 2011, which is a huge improvement over the average 154 problems per 100 vehicles recorded in 2005. Manufacturers are given gold, silver or bronze awards based on their performance. Although platinum awards are given for consistent excellence.

Perhaps it comes as no surprise that Toyota fared particularly well in the latest study, especially in the light commercial vehicle (LCV) category. Toyota received platinum status in the Best Overall LCV Brand category with a PP100 score of 33. In the Best Volume Passenger Car Brand category they earned a gold rating, with a PP100 score of 31. Mercedes-Benz attained a PP100 score of 23 in the category of Best Local Plant Manufacturing Passenger Cars. The German automaker also received top honours in the Best Luxury Passenger Car Brand segment, with a PP100 score of 26.

The Volkswagen Polo Vivo Hatch was the highest-ranked Entry Vehicle with a PP100 score of 30. With a PP100 score of 25 each, the Kia Rio Hatch, Honda Jazz and Toyota Yaris Hatch led the Small Hatch category. The Top Hatch Gold Award winner was the Toyota Auris (PP100 score of 19), with the Chevrolet Sonic Sedan (24) and Nissan’s Almera (26) pipping their competitors to the post for Gold in the Small Sedan category. The Lexus ES (10) was the best Medium Sedan, the Audi A3/S3 Sedan (22), Nissan Sentra and Toyota Corolla (both on 23) were top of the Top Sedan log and the Mercedes-Benz E-Class (17) won the Top Executive Vehicle. Mercedes-Benz also scooped the Sports Coupé class with the C-Class Coupé (13).

The Toyota Avanza (24) was the best MPV, with the Volkswagen Tiguan (13) rated as the best Small Recreational Vehicle and the Audi Q7 (13) as the best Large Recreational Vehicle. Take a look at the charts below, with the high flyers and lower scorers in each of the categories – there are a number of surprises.