Why does anyone buy this ****?


Let me tell you some of the reasons the 500 gets marked down by the JD Powaaaaaaaaaaaaaah survey.


Seat adjustment issues - Fair enough I suppose, it does have an Italian driving position. This isn't a problem for 99.9% of people though.
Poor rear passenger room - It's small, but I've never heard of anyone's 500 shrinking so surely you'd be aware of this when you buy it?
Inefficient demister - I'm sorry, what? The one on the rear screen works nice and quick and demisting the front screen takes sod all time if you use the air con like most intelligent people do.
Stubborn fuel cap - ............ Fiat locking fuel caps have been like this since forever.


The 500 has a score or rank of 97? What this means isn't explained at all. The VW Up is 1 but apparently suffers from windows that can fog up easily, poor radio reception, rear seat adjustment, pop acceleration and high servicing costs.


All seems a bit of bollockery if you ask me.


Later in the magazine they go on to compare the Mito to other cars like the A1, Fiesta and Mini despite the fact that the Mito has the twinair engine whilst the A1 has a 1.4 turbo and then they go on to criticise the Mito for being slow and noisy. Of course it's going to be f**king noisy if you compare an 875cc turbo 2 cylinder to a 1.4 4 pot turbo. The Fiesta has the 3 cylinder ecoboost with 125 BHP and the Mini is the 1.5 with 136 BHP.


It's almost like they wanted to dislike the Mito and chose to ignore the fact that you could have had a 135bhp Mito for the same price as the others and that this would have put it up there with the other cars.


Why do people buy this poorly written and poorly thought out rag?

I have had a read of the website for reviews on the xc60 we are ordering. it seems OK for that and the target price they do is very helpful.

I agree. Must magazines of any genre seem to be heavily influenced by advertisers.
However what car and Autocar seem almost corrupt in the reviews. How can anyone trust them?

JD Power is just a joke, they mark cars down for the most ridiculous things, if they stuck to cold hard facts about how reliable cars are instead of how hard the satnav is to use then I would take notice, the Citroen C4 does very badly but our DS4 (a C4 in a posh frock!) has been faultless in the year we have had it, more so than the Mazda it replaced and our friends various Audi's, BMW's, Toyotas etc that have all had issues in the same 12 months, some of them serious issues on newer cars (our DS4 is an 11 plate).

IJK said:

I agree. Must magazines of any genre seem to be heavily influenced by advertisers.
However what car and Autocar seem almost corrupt in the reviews. How can anyone trust them?

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Have to say corrupt is the right word.......

306maxi said:

Have to say corrupt is the right word.......

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Auto express reviews are interesting, sometimes you can read the whole review carefully and then look at the result and be baffled...so the vw won? Despite being slower, worse to drive, either poorly equipped or expensive or both. Sometimes I swear they give the conclusion to someone who wasn't present at the road test and rates the cars in order of the size of the bung manufacturer has offered.

Pretty sure JD Power is taken from info provided by owners taking new cars in for servicing and warranty work, they also use info from the technicians and mechanics servicing/repairing said cars.

It's an online survey, so relies on peoples opinions of their cars which are incredibly subjective.

If your happy with your car and it works for you why would you care what anyone else thinks about it?

Gavv8 said:

If your happy with your car and it works for you why would you care what anyone else thinks about it?

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Just feel a bit sad that people are mislead that's all. Suspect there's a lot of money that changes hands for Fiats to be rated so low and VAG cars generally rated so highly.

Gavv8 said:

If your happy with your car and it works for you why would you care what anyone else thinks about it?

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They seem incredibly subjective from what I've read on them. A car can be marked down for things like being slow or a small boot. Which in a road test yes that's valid, however if you've been to the showroom and bought the car then complain about that after the fact you've got no one to blame but yourself. Must be galling for the manufacturer seeing people trashing a car that is otherwise good because they're an idiot and bought a car that does not fit their needs.

Well I see plenty of 500's every day and maybe the odd one or two up/citigo so people seem pretty happy with them.

Exactly. I have a Panda and a 500 and think they're some of the most reliable cars I've ever owned and the 4x4 and 500 are great city cars

StevenRB45 said:

They seem incredibly subjective from what I've read on them. A car can be marked down for things like being slow or a small boot. Which in a road test yes that's valid, however if you've been to the showroom and bought the car then complain about that after the fact you've got no one to blame but yourself. Must be galling for the manufacturer seeing people trashing a car that is otherwise good because they're an idiot and bought a car that does not fit their needs.

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I suspect the manufacturer couldn't give a toss what you think about it once you've handed over the cash or signed on the finance line.

Sadly a lot of buyers do care what these magazines say, girl at work decided not to go for a test drive in a Mito purely based on the What?!?!?!?! Car?!?!?!?!? group test this month.

306maxi said:

Exactly. I have a Panda and a 500 and think they're some of the most reliable cars I've ever owned and the 4x4 and 500 are great city cars

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And on top of that the 500 is still seen as a cool car to own and be seen in, doubt you could say the same about the VW.

Gavv8 said:

I suspect the manufacturer couldn't give a toss what you think about it once you've handed over the cash or signed on the finance line.

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Right, but future business from new customers? If you are looking at buying a car and check out the "reliability" index and see a car languishing in the bottom how many people will read further and find out that score was reached due to small back seats and interior rattles.

306maxi said:

Sadly a lot of buyers do care what these magazines say, girl at work decided not to go for a test drive in a Mito purely based on the What?!?!?!?! Car?!?!?!?!? group test this month.

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That is a shame because the Mito really is a very pretty little car and with that twinair motor its probably a great laugh to drive as well, the VW just looks.....well...........square.

Yeah, it's one of the few cars in the class which is actually nice looking. Of course it should be pointed out that it's not as practical as others, but it's not positioned as a practical choice.....

The day I'd take a motoring journalists review into account before purchasing a vehicle would be a cold day in hell.