European badges come back strongly, say owners in Auto Express’s 2022 Driver Power brand survey

Published at: 29th June 2022

QUALITY, PERFORMANCE AND STYLE are more important to owners than value for money according to the latest definitive Auto Express Driver Power car brands survey.

Hot on the heels of Driver Power’s rankings for individual models, which saw Far Eastern cars scoop seven of the top ten places, the battle of the brands sees five European and one American badge leave room for just four Japanese and Korean names.

More than 60,000 owners rated their cars in the Driver Power survey across a range of features, with value for money taking a back seat to most other qualities enjoyed by drivers.

It means a convincing win for Porsche, despite high purchase prices and running costs, with owners celebrating the pleasure of immaculate styling and finish, driving pleasure, details such as sat-nav and infotainment systems – and even practicality and boot space in larger models.

The theme of interior comfort and driving pleasure over value is maintained by Tesla reaching the number two slot, despite 44% of owners reporting faults and also admitting that they are underwhelmed by their cars’ styling.

But Kia will be celebrating again, after its much-loved XCeed topped Driver Power’s ‘best cars to own’ chart, with third place overall in the brand survey. Auto Express notes that Kia achieves top ten scores across the board and salutes the maker for “creating a range of mainstream products that owners find almost as satisfying as aficionados of luxury enthusiast brands“.

Driver Power is Britain’s definitive window onto the car ownership experience and is especially valued by manufacturers as an independent view on what they’re doing right and where improvements can be made.

Steve Fowler, Editor-in-Chief of Auto Express, said: “There is a lot to celebrate for European marques in our brand level survey after Far Eastern brands recently stole the show for individual model ratings, proving that the car market in Britain is truly global.

“The results show that driving pleasure and overall usability still beats saving a few pounds when it comes to living with a car, despite an increase in the cost of living. It’s also fascinating to see that there seems to be no correlation between even a relatively high proportion of minor issues and ownership satisfaction. It appears that many owners don’t let faults spoil their enjoyment.”

All the details of the Driver Power Brands survey 2022 are revealed by Auto Express at [story link]

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Auto Express Driver Power Brands survey 2022 winners

  1. Porsche
  2. Tesla
  3. Kia
  4. Peugeot
  5. Honda
  6. Jaguar
  7. Mazda
  8. Volvo
  9. MINI
  10. Toyota