In the week when it seemed the curtain finally came down on MG Rover, there was more bad news for the British car brand as it came close to bottom in the latest JD Power customer satisfaction survey.
Only four major car-makers finished lower than Rover in the survey of 32 car marques.
Rover got 755 points out of 1,000 for customer satisfaction - well below the average of 786 in the table based on responses from more than 20,000 car owners. Top of the table was Lexus with 848 points, followed by Skoda (847), Honda (843) and Toyota (835).
The Mini, formerly a Rover brand but now owned by BMW, came sixth with 821 points.
The companies below Rover at the foot of the table were Land Rover (755 points), Peugeot (746), Fiat (745) and Alfa Romeo (734).
MG Rover also fared badly in the table of 124 individual models. Its MGF, which later became the TF, was in 123rd place with 70.6 points out of 100, with only the Kia Sportage (70.2 points) below it.
Another Rover, the 25, was also in the bottom 10 - in equal 115th place with 73.6 points.
The Honda Jazz (88.1 points) finished top for the second successive year. Second was the Lexus IS 200/300 (85.5 points) and third the Toyota Yaris (85.1 points). Three other Honda models were in the top 20 of the survey, compiled in conjunction with What Car? magazine.
Ten Japanese models ranked in the top 20, but this was four fewer than last year.
"This year's results show that the competition is getting tighter," says Dave Sargent, executive director of European operations at JD Power. "While Lexus still leads, other brands are improving quickly, and many of the best performances this year are achieved by models from brands such as Honda, Toyota, Skoda, Mini and Kia."
The customer satisfaction tables were based on evaluations of more than 23,000 owners of cars registered in 2002 and 2003. Satisfaction ratings included quality and reliability, vehicle appeal, dealer service satisfaction and ownership costs.
MARKS FOR THE MARQUES
- out of 1,000
Lexus 848
Skoda 847
Honda 843
Toyota 835
BMW 829
Mini 821
Mazda 817
Volvo 817
Audi 810
Saab 808
Jaguar 807
Daihatsu 803
Subaru 803
Nissan 801
Hyundai 795
Volkswagen 791
Ford 789
Mitsubishi 781
Suzuki 780
Opel 778
Mercedes 773
Seat 773
Daewoo 768
Renault 768
Kia 767
Citroen 766
Chrysler 763
MG Rover 756
Land Rover 755
Peugeot 746
Fiat 745
Alfa Romeo 734
Top 10 cars
- marks out pf 100
1 Honda Jazz 88.1
2 Lexus IS 200/300 85.5
3 Toyota Yaris 85.1
4 Skoda Fabia 84.7
4 Skoda Octavia 84.7
6 BMW 5-series 84.3
7 Kia Sorento 84.0
8 Honda Accord 83.9
8 Toyota Corolla 83.9
10 Porsche Boxster 83.8
- and Bottom 10
115 Seat Arosa 73.6
115 Rover 25/ZR 73.6
115 Fiat Multipla 73.6
118 Suzuki Jimny 72.8
119 Alfa Romeo 147 72.5
120 Nissan Terrano 71.1
120 Mercedes M-class 71.1
120 Fiat Stilo 71.1
123 MGF/TF 70.6
124 Kia Sportage 70.2