2011 Driver Power Survey Results

1st Skoda Superb

2nd Skoda Yeti (Sorry Brimma)

4th Skoda Octavia

23rd Skoda Fabia

Best Manufacturer - Skoda

The Jag XF was 3rd, if you were wondering.

here's the linky's

manufacturer: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/driver_power/265624/winning_manufacturer.html

Car: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/driver_power/265612/class_winners.html

Catagory Winners: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/driver_power/265612/class_winners.html

Furby 2nd Best Small Car

Superb 1st Best Family Car

Octavia 2nd Best Family Car

Yeti 1st Best Offroader

Including:

Performance: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/driver_power/265576/best_for_performance.html

Octy 4th, Superb 6th, yeti 16th, fabia 66th

Reliability: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/driver_power/265579/best_for_reliability.html

Yeti 4th, Fabia 5th, Octy 15th, Superb 17th

Comfort: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/driver_power/265582/best_for_comfort.html

Yeti 9th, Superb 10th, Octy 29th, Fabia 31st

Handling: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/driver_power/265585/best_for_handling.html

Yeti 4th !!!!, Superb 22nd, Octy 24th, Fabia 62nd !!

Braking: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/driver_power/265588/best_for_braking.html

Superb 2nd, Octy 9th, Yeti 11th !!, Furby 50th

Running Costs: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/driver_power/265591/best_for_running_costs.html

Superb 4th, Octy 6th, Furby 18th, Yeti 25th

Build Quality: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/driver_power/265594/best_for_build_quality.html

Yeti 1st, Superb 7th, Octy 14th, Furby 37th

Ease of Driving? : http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/driver_power/265600/best_for_ease_of_driving.html

Yeti 2nd, Superb 3rd, Octy 11th, Furby 17th

Practicality: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/driver_power/265603/best_for_practicality.html

Superb 3rd, Octy 5th, Yeti 9th, Furby 27th

Ride Quality: http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/driver_power/265606/best_for_ride_quality.html

Superb 7th, Yeti 14th, Octy 21st, Furby 37th

Edited 13 April, 201115 yr by prolfe

And Brimma and others wonder why we Yeti owners feel so happy!!

Not sure how the yeti beats the Octy in the handling. Perhaps the yeti owners assumed it was off-road handling. 

Not sure how the yeti beats the Octy in the handling. Perhaps the yeti owners assumed it was off-road handling. 

Have a read of the Castle Combe thread. I think their were a few people surprised at how well the 2 present handled.

Surely this survey proves nothing other than the fact Skoda are very good at brilliant expectation management.

If your paying £xxxx less for a Skoda than <insert competing car here>, then you will inevitably have lower expectations than you would have of a more expensive car. As such its a lot easier to be happy with your car.

And what about the (well anywhere between £29,000 and £67,000) Jag XF that came third?

What are the expectations of a car that expensive?

Have a read of the Castle Combe thread. I think their were a few people surprised at how well the 2 present handled.

Surprised that a road going 4x4 can go round a track so well. Sure, i would be. It's simply not going to handle better than the Octy though.

Edited 14 April, 201115 yr by prolfe

23,000 owners over 100 car models, so 230 opinions of each model, less than one days production of any car. Seems like a small sample to take a reference from. Also note the models that are missing, e.g. where is the Roomster?

As mentioned above the expectations an RX8 owner has of the cars handling and practicality cannot be compared with an Octy owner and how many of the 230 Octy owners drove an RX8 to do a comparison and vice versa?

Interesting survey and good to know Skoda owners like their cars but there are lies, damn lies and statistics.

Surely this survey proves nothing other than the fact Skoda are very good at brilliant expectation management.

If your paying £xxxx less for a Skoda than <insert competing car here>, then you will inevitably have lower expectations than you would have of a more expensive car. As such its a lot easier to be happy with your car.

Let's consider the experience of putting $car in for an oil service. I will always be polite and courteous unless something the staff do annoys me. Irrespective of whether the car is $low_rent_shopping_wagon or $execu_barge at 15 times the list price, I expect:-

1) To be treated politely by service reception.

2) To have work carried out to a professional standard (levels correct, correct parts used, no mucky marks on car afterwards).

3) To be contacted by the mechanic or service manager before any significant additional works requiring parts are carried out. (if I need a new bulb, go ahead, but tell me before ordering new front discs and pads)

So to me, if make1 achieves higher scores in that area than make2 does, it's a comment on the franchisees' staff, and/or how the owners act towards the staff. If make2 owners are typically a shower of arrogant barstewards, I'd expect that reflect negatively on the way the staff react to them.

Edited 14 April, 201115 yr by KenONeill

And what about the (well anywhere between £29,000 and £67,000) Jag XF that came third?

What are the expectations of a car that expensive?

Well, lets take Performance as an example. The Octavia comes 4th in the table. Yet the Golf and A3, which (as far as i know) share its chassis and engines, come 24th and 21st.

Get 3 cars of a similar spec together, and i doubt theres any difference in performance. As such the only logical difference is that peoples expectations on the performance on a Skoda are lower, and therefore easier to achieve.

I'd certainly expect a lot better handling, performance, build quality, etc from a XF than a Superb, even though a base spec XF will cost similar to a top spec Superb.

Let's consider the experience of putting $car in for an oil service. I will always be polite and courteous unless something the staff do annoys me. Irrespective of whether the car is $low_rent_shopping_wagon or $execu_barge at 15 times the list price, I expect:-

1) To be treated politely by service reception.

2) To have work carried out to a professional standard (levels correct, correct parts used, no mucky marks on car afterwards).

3) To be contacted by the mechanic or service manager before any significant additional works requiring parts are carried out. (if I need a new bulb, go ahead, but tell me before ordering new front discs and pads)

So to me, if make1 achieves higher scores in that area than make2 does, it's a comment on the franchisees' staff, and/or how the owners act towards the staff. If make2 owners are typically a shower of arrogant barstewards, I'd expect that reflect negatively on the way the staff react to them.

I completely agree, but that ever dealership should provide the same basic level of serivce. But when going into a BMW or Merc garage, i'd expect a lot more than say Hyundai, as i'll be paying double the amount per hour for the same experience.

Well, lets take Performance as an example. The Octavia comes 4th in the table. Yet the Golf and A3, which (as far as i know) share its chassis and engines, come 24th and 21st.

Get 3 cars of a similar spec together, and i doubt theres any difference in performance. As such the only logical difference is that peoples expectations on the performance on a Skoda are lower, and therefore easier to achieve.

Or that expectations of the "aledgedly sporty" Audi and Vw are unrealistically high?

Surprised that a road going 4x4 can go round a track so well. Sure, i would be. It's simply not going to handle better than the Octy though.

Can only go on the experiences of those in the Yeti section who have experience of both and who say that the Yeti is better.