The three top passenger cars in South Africa with the least problems for every hundred vehicles are all from Mercedes-Benz.

Research house Synovate’s latest auto- motive quality awards show that the E-Class comes out on top at 33 problems per hundred (PP100) vehicles, which means two out of three cars have no problems, with the third having one problem.

Problems are measured in four categories, namely appearance, noise, dynamic functional aspects, and static functional aspects.

The research is based on telephonic inter- views, after 90 days of ownership, with at least 50 car owners interviewed for each model represented in the survey.

Although not all the brands participate in the survey, it covers more than 90% of the models retailed in South Africa.

The second place in the 2009 quality awards goes to the C-Class, and the third place to the A-Class.

This is followed by the BMW 1-Series, and the Mazda 2 in fifth place.

The gold award for the top local plant manufacturing passenger vehicles goes to Mercedes-Benz’ East London plant, and for light commercial vehicles the award goes to General Motors South Africa’s Opel and Isuzu plant, in Port Elizabeth.

In general, the trend has been for vehicle quality to improve, says Synovate auto- motive sector head Roger Gibbs.

He says product quality in new vehicles has improved to the extent that, out of 100 new vehicles sold, seven are com- pletely problem free, exempt from the slightest squeak or rattle.

The average problem count on passenger vehicles has decreased from 182 PP100 in 2001, to 2009’s 93 PP100.

This is the lowest score since the survey began in 1992.

Mercedes-Benz has been awarded gold for the best luxury passenger car brand overall, with Mazda and Toyota tied for the best volume passenger car brand.

The best overall light commercial vehicle brand is Opel, with Toyota and Isuzu tied for second place.

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