French cars come bottom in UK satisfaction survey
LONDON (Reuters Life!) - French cars appear to have lost some of their "va va voom", according to a British customer satisfaction survey dominated by Japanese makes.
Six of the 10 worst cars in a Which? poll were French, with drivers complaining of poor reliability, cheap interiors and clunky gearboxes.
Bottom of the heap was the Renault Espace, followed by the Renault Laguna, described by one owner as an "unreliable bag of spanners".
Seven of the top 10 cars were Japanese, although the best car was the German-built Porsche Boxster.
"It's no surprise to see several Japanese cars in the top ten as they are often reliable, economical and good value," said "Which? Car" magazine's editor Richard Headland.
Renault said the company had been working hard to improve quality and reliability and owners of its newer cars were overwhelmingly satisfied with them.
"Renault has acknowledged the quality issues which affected some of its older models, particularly minor electrical faults with the previous Laguna," it said in a statement. "However, vehicle quality is one of Renault's key three objectives in its Renault Commitment 2009 program."
The survey was based on 90,000 owners questioned in January and February 2008. They were asked if they were satisfied with their car and whether they would recommend it to a friend.
Here are the top and bottom 10 tables, with the year of manufacture and the customer satisfaction percentage score in brackets:
TOP 10
1) Porsche Boxster, 2004 on, (98 percent)
2) Range Rover Sport, 2005 on, (98)
3) Toyota Yaris Verso, 2000-2005, (97)
4) Honda S2000, 1999 on, (97)
5) Mazda MX-5, 2005 on, (97)
6) Mazda MX-5, 1998-2005, (95)
7) Audi TT, 2006 on, (94)
8) Lexus RX, 2003 on, (94)
9) Daihatsu Sirion, 2005 on, (94)
10) Honda Jazz, 2001 on, (94)
BOTTOM 10
210) Chrysler Voyager, 1997-2001, (69)
211) Peugeot 206, 1998 on, (69)
212) Peugeot 307, 2001 on, (68)
213) Volkswagen Sharan, 1995 on, (68)
214) Citroen Xsara, 1997-2004, (68)
215) Renault Scenic, 1997-2003, (67)
216) Fiat Punto, 1999-2005, (65)
217) Mercedes A-Class, 1998-2004, (65)
218) Renault Laguna, 2001-2007, (64)
219) Renault Espace, 2003 on, (61)
(Reporting by Peter Griffiths; editing by Steve Addison)
