JDPower: Lexus leads in initial quality -- but what does that mean?

June 23, 2:04 PMDC Car ExaminerBrady Holt

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  The Lexus GS was the top-scoring midsize premium car in the J. D.
  Power survey, helping the Lexus brand to its overall win.

Lexus owners had the fewest complaints about their first 90 days after buying or leasing their cars, according J. D. Power and Associates' annual Initial Quality Study. 

New Lexuses averaged 84 complaints per 100 vehicles, beating the survey's average of 104 and making it one of just five automakers that averaged under one complaint per vehicle. 

BMW's Mini line of sporty subcompact cars finished last in the survey, averaging 165 complaints per 100 vehicles. 

However, J. D. Power's use of the term "quality" implies that this is a reliability study -- it's not. Few cars will suffer mechanical problems in their first three months, certainly not an average of one every car. The surveys list 228 possible problems, ranging from actual defects to complaints about some aspects of a car's design.

These distinctions put some cars' performances in this survey at odds with reliability-only studies conducted by Consumer Reports or TrueDelta, but you are likely to see these results appear prominently in advertisements. Just be sure to know what you're seeing -- initial owner satisfaction, not reliability.

Also, when J. D. Power breaks down its rankings by brand performance (see full chart), bear in mind that a low-scoring brand may have some strong-performing products, and vice versa.

See the individual winners broken down by market class below:

Subcompact car: Toyota Yaris
Compact car: Hyundai Elantra sedan
Compact sporty car: Scion tC
Compact premium sporty car: Nissan Z
Entry premium car: Lexus IS
Midsize car: Nissan Altima
Midsize premium car: Lexus GS
Midsize sporty car: Ford Mustang
Large car: Mercury Sable
Large premium car: Lexus LS
Small MAV (multi-activity vehicle): Chrysler PT Cruiser wagon
Midsize MAV: Chevrolet TrailBlazer
Midsize premium MAV: Lexus GX
Large MAV: GMC Yukon
Large premium MAV: Lexus LX570
Large pickup: Ford F-150, Toyota Tundra (TIE)
Midsize pickup: Honda Ridgeline
Minivan: Toyota Sienna