Winning Manufacturer
As if knocking Lexus off top spot last year wasn’t enough of an achievement, Skoda has retained the gold medal in 2010!
Which firms have a line-up full of star performers in Driver Power? And which don’t? That’s what we reveal here, as we name and shame the best and worst manufacturers.
To find each maker’s overall score, we worked out the average rating for every model in the range. As we’re pooling cars from one maker together, sample sizes rise – so you will find brands and cars here which weren’t in the Top 100.
There are three big climbers in 2010. Hyundai benefits from the glowing reviews of its i30 to shoot 12 places up the chart, while SEAT has leapt by an incredible 11 positions. Another big climber is Daihatsu – it rises by 10 positions to fourth.
For every winner there has to be a loser, though – and this year’s biggest sliders are Kia and Land Rover. While both brands retain decent positions in the manufacturer table, they have dropped six places this year.
1. Skoda
As if knocking Lexus off top spot last year wasn’t enough of an achievement, Skoda has retained the gold medal in 2010. Its score is 0.55 percentage points down, but that’s still enough to secure the most prestigious manufacturer title around.
2. Lexus
Second place doesn’t fit well with the Lexus philosophy of perfection, yet it’s still a fantastic accolade. While only the IS features in the Top 100, an average of 88.11% shows the less common GS, RX and LS are all excellent performers, too.
3. Jaguar
Flying the flag for British design and manufacturing, Jaguar has climbed up on to the podium. Since this year’s Driver Power deadline passed, the firm has launched its brave new XJ – will that help it reach even higher next year?
What’s the Driver Power top 100? It’s the definitive car ranking – by drivers for drivers. Cars are rated by their owners, and each is then scored on how satisfying it has been to own.
How are results calculated? Our survey asks drivers to rate their car out of five in 10 key categories. An independent data processing company then crunches the numbers to provide the overall average scores.
Why doesn’t my car feature? Not all models can be included, due to the sheer number of cars on UK roads. Plus, to ensure our results are reliable, we need a robust sample size of drivers of each vehicle.
