Ford Ka is worst car, say drivers

The Ford Ka has been named the UK's most disappointing car in the huge annual car owner satisfaction survey conducted by JD Power and What Car?.
The first generation Ka, unveiled in 1996, reached iconic status - even though it too finished at the bottom of last year's survey. That was almost excusable, though, because it was over 14 years old and competing with much newer models.
However, this disappointing result relates to the new Ka, launched in 2008. It's the first time the car has appeared in the survey, which was completed by 16,840 owners. The majority of complaints related to poor build quality.
But Ford was spared the overall worst manufacturer result, which went to Vauxhall. The company has never fared well in JD Power surveys, but this is the first time it has sunk to the bottom of the pile, with every one of its models scoring below the industry average. Poor dealer service was cited, too.
The Japanese manufacturers took top honours once again, with Lexus winning the best manufacturer category. Incredibly, this is the 11th year in a row that the company has come out on top. In fact, Lexus has won every year since it became eligible for participation.
Top overall car is the Lexus IS junior executive, which takes over from last year's winner, the Lexus RX SUV. Owners gave the IS excellent scores for quality, reliability and dealer service
The annual JD Power survey - produced in partnership with auto mag What Car? - is widely regarded as the most thorough and authoritative car customer satisfaction survey there is. It is split into four sections: vehicle quality and reliability, vehicle appeal, service satisfaction and ownership costs.
The average age of the 16,840 vehicles surveyed is two years (cars must be between one and three years old to qualify) and the average mileage is 16,000.
The average respondent age is 51, with a 60/40 split male to female. Owners are approached at random to participate, and a particular car model must have at least 50 surveys completed for it to be eligible.
The top ten cars of 2011 are:
1. Lexus IS
2. Honda Accord
3. Lexus RX
4. Honda CR-V
5. Toyota Prius
6. Toyota RAV4
7. BMW 5 Series (tied)
7. Mercedes-Benz E-Class (tied)
7. Volvo S40 (tied)
10. Honda Jazz