For the eighth straight year, U.S. engineers chose the Ford Taurus as “the car they would buy today” in a survey conducted by the country’s largest engineering magazine.
The Taurus’ success, along with the success of American-made compacts, reflected a growing trend for Americans to trust the quality of the cars built in their own country, the survey showed.
Readers of Design News, a trade journal for mechanical and electrical engineers with a circulation of 160,000, ranked the Taurus first out of 105 models. Taurus, selected by 7 percent of the respondents, was followed by GM’s Saturn, Toyota Camry, Dodge Caravan and Ford Explorer. Notably, the once-popular Honda Accord dropped out of the magazine’s top five-the first time it has done so in the 14-year history of the survey, which appears in the magazine’s Oct. 4 Automotive issue.
The survey revealed that American-made cars in general continue to regain the confidence of the country’s technical community. Asked to name countries that produce the highest-quality cars, respondents ranked the U.S. third, behind Germany and Japan. The U.S. automakers’ score improved over last year, when it tied for third with Sweden. This is the 13th straight year that U.S. automakers have improved their score since the survey began in 1980, when they were ranked fourth behind Sweden, the magazine says.
The magazine’s editors say the survey’s findings are consistent with other studies of automotive product quality, such as those done by J.D. Power and Associates and Consumer Reports. Both have shown a resurgence in American product quality in recent years.
“Our survey confirms what’s already happening in the marketplace,” says Lawrence D. Maloney, chief editor of Design News. Maloney says that the magazine survey showed that American automakers have improved in three key categories: product concepts, engineering quality and value.
The survey’s biggest surprise was the one-two finish by U.S. carmakers in the category less than $11,000, traditionally dominated by the Japanese. Asked what cars offered the best buy for less than $11,000, respondents overwhelmingly picked Saturn. Saturn, chosen on 33 percent of the surveys, was followed by the Ford Escort, Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla and Toyota Tercel. The worst buys for less than $11,000 were considered to be Hyundai and Yugo.
In assessing safety, the engineers showed a decided preference for bulk. Forty percent of the survey’s respondents said they based their choice of “safest car” on size, weight, mass and strength. That closely parallels the views of the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety, which has released a study showing that the death rate per 100,000 vehicles is more than twice as high for cars with wheelbases less than 95 inches as it is for those with wheelbases more than 114 inches.
Despite the belief that “bulk is safe,” respondents chose antilock brakes as the most important option, followed closely by air bags. Those features topped such features as power windows, power door locks and exotic stereos. Their choice as the safest nameplate was the Volvo.
In powertrains, an area where engineers should be particularly knowledgeable, the V-6 engine dominated because of its fuel efficiency and performance. Sixty percent of the respondents preferred the V-6, and 20 percent preferred the V-8. Only 12 percent said they would choose a 4-cylinder engine.
Surprisingly, engineers showed no particular preference for multivalve engines. Multivalve engines generally use four valves per cylinder-two for fuel intake, two for exhaust. The multivalve configuration typically offers more horsepower than conventional push-rod engines. But engineers were split evenly between the push-rod and the multivalve, mainly because push-rod engines offer identical torque production with less complexity.
In assessing the overall engineering quality of American-made vehicles, 42 percent on the respondents gave the nod to General Motors’ seven divisions. Among the Big Three, the biggest improvement was posted by Chrysler, mainly because of the introduction of its LH platform (Chrysler Concorde, Dodge Intrepid and Eagle Vision). Asked what U.S. manufacturer builds the best-engineered cars, 20.9 percent chose Chrysler, up from only 8.4 percent in 1992. Ford’s four divisions received 34.5 percent of the votes.
GM’s performance in engineering quality, however, contrasted sharply with its perceived business acumen. Responding to a question about “best business smarts,” 51 percent selected Ford, 29 percent chose Chrysler and 17 percent tabbed GM.
