Less trouble in an Audi

Of all cars currently on the local market, the least troublesome to buy is the Audi A4, while the one most likely to have you calling the complaints department is the Citi Golf Chico. Ironically, both brands are distributed by Volkswagen.

This is according to research released on Friday by Synovate, with the backing of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Part of the survey, which is produced for the year to June 2004, includes a product quality measurement which records problems per 100 vehicles.

In the car sector, the Audi A4 was the winner with 56 complaints per 100 vehicles followed by the BMW 3 Series diesel and the Mercedes-Benz E-Class petrol and diesel.

Worst was the Fiat Palio Weekend with 340 problems, followed by the Citi Golf Chico (281) and the Fiat Uno Mia (271). The Fiats were available when the survey was done, but are no longer produced.

This would leave another Fiat, the Fiat Siena, as the fourth worst, but this also is no longer imported. Next in line is the Ford Ikon followed by the Alfa Romeo 147...

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Ah, another great South African car quality survey...

How the survey was actually conducted or the sampling techniques used, I can't say for sure... Generally speaking South Africans are a reticent bunch when it comes to filling out or completing CSI-type surveys.

Typically BMW and Audi have outstanding reputations in SA with BMW having only one notable "blight" on an otherwise exemplary record: the 320d red-dot turbo saga. At one stage I thought I lived on planet Audi with 90% of my circle of friends being Audi owners, predominantly A3 and A4 1.8Ts (that engine is just so awesome for high-altitude motoring) and only one of them has ever had a quality gripe with their car(s) - yup, some owned two... That issue was resolved by replacing all four ignition coils (a common failure for that engine in our conditions) and he's been a happy motorist ever since.
I put this down to all Audi's being imported and that they are manufactured to exacting standards in their respective European plants. So buying an Audi in SA is a generally safe prospect.

Not so for VW - specifically those that are made here - in my personal experience as a loyal VW customer. I have no desire to paint VWSA in a bad light - I feel the problem originates far beyond our shores - it's just that in my experience a locally made Golf/Polo/Citi Golf (re-engineered mk1) can be a hit-and-miss purchase when it comes to quality and general running order. I've owned two reliable VW's but have also had one utter dog. Hmmm, 2 outta 3 ain't that bad and I will buy another VW product rest assured.

All I can say is thank the Lord that I don't own a Land Rover. Reputation here in SA is still rock-bottom despite them turning, I believe, the corner toward far better integrity under the auspices of Ford.

We have an interesting market, whilst we're completely saturated when it comes to models - SA has just about every model the UK has and then some others too like Australian Ford Territorys - we're relatively small when it comes to total annual passenger car sales, which amounts to around 300 000 units per annum. So market surveys can be quite skewed due to a plethora of unique-to-SA market idiosyncrasies.

For now, whilst I'm prepared to accept survey results, I don't view them as gospel. But yes, Audi do have a superlative product in SA currently. Yannis, take a bow.

Thanks for explaining the results Martin.

I 'm a proud owner of a car that has been named the most reliable German car by three independent surveys: Consumer Reports in US, TUV report in Germany and this one.

Also kudos to 3 series and E class for getting second and third places.

Well the build quality on Audis is indeed impeccable. Audi have really made other manufacturers sit up and take note of how a luxury car should be built.

Interesting to see the E come in so highly.

Whats this Citi Golf Chico (281) ?

Probably some 10 year old VW like a past generation VW Polo or Golf.

10? Make that the first generation so you have to multiply that by 3... yes that's right.

Here's an interesting fact! South Africa is the only country in the world that still manifactures the first generation Golf at the same time as the Golf 5

And you'd be surprised at how many German cars there are... within weeks of BMW SA releasing the E90, they were as common as grass. especially white ones

So it's the Golf mk.1? I thought they would have fixed the reliability issues by now (30 years after).