Customer surveys throw up some odd results, finds Ben Barry
Don’t know about you but I’m incredibly suspicious of reader-voted ‘best car’ awards. Seems that drivers of underdog cars are determined for them to succeed, which skews the results. Take the recent Driver Power 2007 survey in which Skoda’s Octavia came out top. Yes, it’s a good car, but surely not the most satisfying car out of, well, everything. More worryingly, the Rover 75 takes the 16th spot, BMW’s 3-series just beating it.
I once hired a Rover 75, only to find its electric seat fixed in position. I drove for 200 miles crouched over the wheel like a myopic pensioner – and the hire company said it was the fourth similar incident. Separating the new 3-series and 75 by one place is like seeing the Faroe Islands football squad narrowly losing to Brazil in the World Cup final.