Kia Ranked 5th in the Industry in 2018 JD Power Dependability Study

[BahamaTodd]

The JD Power Dependability Study ranks 3 year old vehicles. This is not to be confused with the Initial Quality study which Kia has placed well in for the last few years, and ranks vehicles within the first 90 days after being sold.

IMO, this is a much more important ranking. Not only has Kia proven that they can put together a vehicle, but it maintains its quality through the first few years ow ownership.

Kia is 5th overall, and 2nd in mass market brands behind Buick.

2018 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study: Most Owners Still in Love with Their Three-Year-Old Vehicles

 

[BahamaTodd]

Kia was ranked 11th last year.

 

[mldavis2]

That is an interesting survey, but it should be noted that more complex cars with more toys will have more things to go wrong, so comparing brands is less than instructive. It is also interesting to note that industry averages are going down. Chrysler has improved a lot. I'm surprised to see Subaru down around average. Kia is in good company but these are 3-year old 2015 cars, and all brands are adding a lot of complex electronics as standard equipment. The next couple of years will be interesting. The Stinger is both complex, a new platform, and likely to be highly modded by many drivers which may not bode well.

 

[Clearly Canadian]

Which metric would the hatch rattle affect? Both?

 

[BahamaTodd]

Which metric would the hatch rattle affect? Both?

If it appears before the first 90 days, it affects the Initial Quality study. After 90 days, its the dependability study. If they can't fix it before and after 90 days, both are affected.

 

[Merkur720]

I would also guess the "average miles driven per year" is SIGNIFICANTLY lower for a Buick/Porsche model than more diverse Lexus, Infiniti, and Kia. Add to the facts that Kia isn't a "luxury only" brand, this is very impressive.

 

[Kia Stinger]

The JD Power Dependability Study ranks 3 year old vehicles. This is not to be confused with the Initial Quality study which Kia has placed well in for the last few years, and ranks vehicles within the first 90 days after being sold.

IMO, this is a much more important ranking. Not only has Kia proven that they can put together a vehicle, but it maintains its quality through the first few years ow ownership.

Kia is 5th overall, and 2nd in mass market brands behind Buick.

2018 U.S. Vehicle Dependability Study: Most Owners Still in Love with Their Three-Year-Old Vehicles

This is really great! Wow, look at Cadillac! What the hell happened there?! Kia's have some real high tech options that cars from the brands we typically consider "reliable" - like Honda and Toyota. So this is really big news. Especially consider how as more high tech options come to Kia vehicles, Kia moves up six spots on the list. I'm very impressed...

 

[BahamaTodd]

I know the current Escalade has a lot of issues. Its one of Cadillac's big sellers and it came out in 2015. That's probably the culprit.

 

[Kia Stinger]

I know the current Escalade has a lot of issues. Its one of Cadillac's big sellers and it came out in 2015. That's probably the culprit.

I had no idea... The Lincoln Navigator is going to kick it's butt...

 

[mldavis2]

Well, I don't know. Most of those big UV buyers are not gearheads. Many are professional people, salesmen, etc. who make a lot of money but no automotive brains. And as one engineer told me years ago, there is no hell that engineering can create and anticipate in testing that a clueless driver can inflict on an otherwise fine vehicle.

 

[Gdank]

Interesting how things are in different countries. UK :-

Main difference is really BMW/Audi positions!

 

[Kia Stinger]

Interesting how things are in different countries. UK :-

Main difference is really BMW/Audi positions!

View attachment 3201

Wow. What's going on over there?!

 

[westcoastGT]

Wow. What's going on over there?!

Can you imagine how the German dealers are trying to spin this ..................the last conversation I had with my German dealer was me telling him that "Kia's are making better cars than BMW ", and he responded saying ," well ya maybe but you and I both know you will never buy one " ..............really ? its great to see the under dog doing so well and being part of the team !

 

[Kia Stinger]

Can you imagine how the German dealers are trying to spin this ..................the last conversation I had with my German dealer was me telling him that "Kia's are making better cars than BMW ", and he responded saying ," well ya maybe but you and I both know you will never buy one " ..............really ? its great to see the under dog doing so well and being part of the team !

I always root for the underdog...

 

[Rufus]

Ya mean like this, @Kia Stinger?

 

[Kia Stinger]

View attachment 3202
Ya mean like this, @Kia Stinger?

Sure! Why not?!

 

[robz32]

Wow!!....I knew that the quality of BMW, MB and Audi had decreased in the last 14 years, but I did not know it was that bad.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[mldavis2]

Wow!!....I knew that the quality of BMW, MB and Audi had decreased in the last 14 years, but I did not know it was that bad.

I suspect it's because MB and BMW are making some cheap knock-off cars with their logo. I know the little MB is full of problems and has a high repair rate, and BMW is building smaller, cheaper cars, and maybe too many different products trying to keep up with the UV market. I don't follow Audi at all, so can't comment on their stable.

Obviously brand identity is not high on my priority list.

 

[KikoTheAkita]

I thought it would be interesting to look at the correlation between the JD Power Initial Quality rating and the Dependability rating, so I threw the data into an Excel spreadsheet. Here's the result. The correlation is positive, but fairly weak from a statistical standpoint (r-squared = 0.3).

 

[BahamaTodd]

Everyone keep in mind this is rating problems per 100 vehicles. Meaning the difference between best and worse is one problem vs two or three problems per vehicle. Cars overall are very reliable.