Nothing satisfies like a Japanese car

DRIVERS of Japanese-branded cars are the happiest motorists in Western Australia according to a new JD Power survey.

The study, commissioned by the WA motoring body RAC, measured the satisfaction levels of owners of vehicles up to three years of age from 10 different brands.

It applied a customer satisfaction index that marked cars out of a possible top score of 1000 points, with marks given in areas including reliability, vehicle appeal, service satisfaction, ownership costs and loyalty.

Japanese companies filled the first six places in the survey, with Mazda topping the chart with a score of 799, in front of Honda with 793.

Toyota came in third with 775, closely followed by Subaru with 773 and Nissan with 770.

The average score of brand satisfaction came in at 768.

Below-average brands included Mitsubishi with 766, Ford with 761, Holden with 755, Hyundai with 745 and last-placed Kia with 736.

The study only included 10 makes because the RAC said the sample size for all other brands was too small for it to come up with an accurate result.

Mazda and Honda topped the list when it came to reliability, while Honda and Nissan were rated as having the most affordable ownership costs.

Owners of Toyotas were more loyal than any other, with 94 per cent saying they would probably or definitely buy a Toyota when they decided to buy a new car.

RAC executive manager of member advocacy David Moir said the report gave the organisation’s members an objective measure of vehicle ownership that could come in handy when it came to choosing a new car.

“It also shows car manufacturers the areas they need to improve in to improve sales,” Mr Moir said.

“The survey is good news for Japanese car manufacturers with them occupying the top six spots. It is interesting that the Australian brands Ford and Holden finish down the list in the customer satisfaction index,” he said.