what determines a car's build quality?

[mss242]

Is it the factory, design, or some of both? I am curious because I just got a Pontiac Vibe (Which seems to have an awful lot of toyota parts in it), and I would like to expect toyota reliability instead of GM reliability.

 

[Lyfer]

reliability.

 

[Haircut]

Originally posted by: Lyfer
reliability.

reliability is a measure of a car's build quality, it does not determine it.

 

[Ornery]

"Import" Automobile Poseurs

• 9. You make fun of Buick "build quality" and you own a Honda. (See J.D. Power inital quality surveys for the last few years)

 

[RU482]

perception has a lot to do with it. One person's idea of quality can be totally different from another's. Thus the reason some cars/brands get totally knocked for quality while they are perfectly fine for some/most people

 

[mss242]

Originally posted by: Ornery
"Import" Automobile Poseurs

• 9. You make fun of Buick "build quality" and you own a Honda. (See J.D. Power inital quality surveys for the last few years)

Yeah, that didn't help answer the question. Also, don't you think that buick's build quality rating might be slightly skewed by the way people drive buicks? I don't think I've ever met a new buick owner who didn't drive like an old lady. That might affect the number of problems per 100 cars.

 

[mss242]

Originally posted by: redly1
perception has a lot to do with it. One person's idea of quality can be totally different from another's. Thus the reason some cars/brands get totally knocked for quality while they are perfectly fine for some/most people

I agree, and I am not worried about what people think about my pontiac vibe (which is a fine car so far). However, I think in general Toyota is a very reliable brand. Is that due to Toyota's engineering or manufacturing prowess?

 

[Ornery]

I'll bet that JD Power rating is skewed in ALL KINDS of ways that nobody wanted to think about until American cars started moving up on their list.

 

[Siddhartha]

Product quality is completely a management decision. Detroit, Germany, Japan, etc could build a car that could last 300 k miles or 20 years with no problems. If they wanted to Ford could stop selling cars with crappy transmissions and GM could sell a car with a decent quality paint job. But the management of those companies decided that it is better for the bottom line to sell crappy cars.

 

[Encryptic]

I guess it could depend on these factors:

- Quality control

- Engineering

- Design

::shrug::

 

[heartsurgeon]

everything starts with the design....

can't have quality with a crappy design

they you have to execute (build) the design
part of building is the quality control issues

 

[Vette73]

A lot of the quality of a car is also determined by the owner. How you take care of it, do you have 10 kids climbing in and out all the time. Most cars, in the same price range, will be very close. How YOU take care of it is another story.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: Ornery
"Import" Automobile Poseurs

• 9. You make fun of Buick "build quality" and you own a Honda. (See J.D. Power inital quality surveys for the last few years)

They forgot to include Subaru in #7 GM currently owns 20% of FHI.

Originally posted by: Dr Smooth
Product quality is completely a management decision. Detroit, Germany, Japan, etc could build a car that could last 300 k miles or 20 years with no problems. If they wanted to Ford could stop selling cars with crappy transmissions and GM could sell a car with a decent quality paint job. But the management of those companies decided that it is better for the bottom line to sell crappy cars.

Bingo. Look at a commercial jetplane for example. A 777 has almost one million parts and can, with nothing but regular maintenence, operate continuously for 30+ years. A regular passenger car has only around 5,000 parts and would die in 6 months if you treated it like that. Semi-trucks rack on miles in the millions. Cars are lucky to make it past 150,000.
Bottom line: there is no "high quality" car.
My fav example of how the auto industry works. In the lates '60s, Ford came up with a revolutionary car. It had stylish and sporty looks, a relatively powerful fuel-injected 4-cylinder, 4-wheel disc ABS, airbags, and a fuel cell. It was to be the safest and most fuel-efficient car that Ford had ever built. But, at the last second, management scrapped it all and sold the Ford Pinto.