World Car Awards : 2019

Awards are subjective. Even those knowledgeable in any field of human endeavour can and do often disagree. However, people love them so here are the 2019 World Car Awards:


World Urban Car: Suzuki Jimny.

This award surprised me but if interior space isn't an issue, then this will be a funky town car to own and scoot around in.





World Luxury Car: Audi A7.

Audi are known for doing nice

My Favourite National/Regional Car Marques

We all have preferred brands. It may be based on reputation, personal preference or even some sort of bias. Whatever our reasons, companies jealously protect and strive to enhance the reputation of their products. The car make counts! So where do marques stand in relation to my august opinion?



The Qashqai has been phenomenally successful in Europe


Japan: Nissan. I like what Nissan are doing.

JD Power APEAL Survey 2014

Dodge Dart was the most appealing Compact Car

The APEAL survey shows how happy people are with their car, scoring in 77 categories. I like this kind of insight more than reliability ones, which never seem to differentiate between minor and major faults. It also is about what a car company wants, happy customers who more likely to come back when they want to buy again.

The top 12 marques are

JD Power Reliabilty Survey USA: 2012

I'm not a huge fan of reliability surveys. Some failures are minor, others major. Some not really an issue, others really frustrating or annoying. These surveys don't seem to differentiate. Also, really poor reliability does go against a brand, but generally people don't get put off. Customer satisfaction is much broader than this sort of survey. Are they useless? No, otherwise I wouldn't bother

Customer Satisfaction Survey UK: 2012

I prefer customer satisfaction surveys as they cover a broader field than just a reliability one. If customers feel satisfied with the car they bought, they will more likely return to the brand next time.

The J.D. Power & Associates/What Car? 2012 UK Vehicle Ownership Satisfaction Study according to the jdpower.com website "is based on owner evaluations of their vehicle and dealer across 67

JD Power Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study

You may be thinking that a survey on Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) would be done by people with nothing else to do with their time. Apparently, "vehicle models achieving high APEAL scores have been shown to benefit from faster sales, less need for cash incentives and higher profit margins on each vehicle sold".
So there, it does matter. How did various brands fare?

Luxury brands,

Nissan Qashqai Scores Highly in J.D. Power Satisfaction Survey

Nissan's compact Crossover the Nissan Qashqai (Dualis) has been rated 11th overall in the JD Power/What Car? 2009 UK Vehicle Ownership Satisfaction Study of 101 models, its first appearance in the survey.
With a rating of over 81% the Sunderland-built Nissan Qashqai rated 3rd in the SUV category and also higher than all of its traditional C-segment competitors including the Honda Civic,

Japan - Cars Rated

Starting with Japan, the largest car maker in the world. They have many successful car companies. Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi, Mazda, Suzuki and others are known everywhere.

2007 Production: 9.9 million cars and 11.6 m vehicles in total.

General perception: Reliability, well made, good value, average handling, fuel efficient and safe (read dull) styling.

I say: All the above is correct.

South Korea – Cars Rated

The Hyundai/Kia Company dominates but there are a few other brands manufacturing there.

2007 Production: 3.7 million cars and 4.1 m vehicles in total.

General perception: Cheap prices, value for money but not quite up to the standard of Japanese and European cars. Dull designs and poor drive appeal.

I say: The prices are rising, as is the quality. They still are good value. Saying you drive a

France – Cars Rated

Two companies and three brands along with a Japanese car plant make up the French car industry.

2007 Production: 2.6 million cars and 3.0 m vehicles in total.

General perception: Flair, diving pleasure, interesting and unique styling along with cheap interiors and dubious build quality.

I say: The perception is spot on although they are improving quality and reliability. However, there is a

Ugly Cars (In My Eyes Anyway)

They say beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, meaning each individual sees beauty differently. What constitutes ugly is the same. When I look at a car, I immediately get a positive or negative impression. I find German cars tend to be ugly as the design brief seems to put too much emphasis on a practical aspect which over rides aesthetics. So here are some examples of German automotive

Cars That Did Something Special (And One That Didn't)

Cars sometimes come along and do something special for one reason or another. I have selected a few of my picks of what some of those cars were.

Model T Ford.

Why I selected this car is that it was the first mass production car that brought personal transport to the masses. I don't see the car as anything special in itself but for bringing motoring to the people it has to be here. It's like