Research house Ipsos has announced the winners in its newest Ipsos Passenger Car Product Quality Survey.

The survey is voluntary, with 17 vehicle brands participating, representing 77% of the new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles sold through retail channels in South Africa.

The survey looked at new-vehicle sales in 2015, interviewing owners on gripes about their vehicles, not only in terms of defects, but also perceived design flaws.

Combined, this data produced a vehicle quality survey (VQS) score. The lower the score, the better.

Awards were made in several categories.

The Nissan Micra was awarded gold in the entry-level segment, while the Toyota Yaris clinched the top spot in the small hatchback segment, and the Audi A1, Audi A3 Sportback and Toyota Auris shared first place in the top hatch segment.

The award for the best small sedan went to the Toyota Corolla Quest and Volkswagen Polo, with the Audi A4 and Audi A5 Sportback tied for gold in the medium sedan segment.

Gold in the top sedan segment went to the Audi A3, and in the top executive segment to the Mercedes-Benz E-Class. The Audi A5 took top honours in the sports coupe segment, and the Mercedes-Benz B-Class in the multipurpose vehicle segment.

Audi was named the best luxury passenger car brand overall, with best volume passenger car brand overall a tie between Nissan and Toyota.

The best local plant manufacturing passenger cars was General Motors South Africa’s Struandale facility, in Port Elizabeth.

Gold for the best small recreational vehicle went to the Audi Q5 and Volvo XC60. The best large recreational vehicle was the Volkswagen Touareg.

The Ipsos survey named the Nissan NP200 the best three-quarter-ton bakkie and the Toyota Hilux the best petrol single cab.

Gold for the best diesel single cab went to the Toyota Hilux and the Isuzu KB, with the Toyota Hilux the best diesel double cab bakkie.

The best light commercial vehicle brand was Toyota, with Toyota South Africa Motors’ Durban plant also the best local plant manufacturing light commercial vehicles.

Toyota also took gold as the best one-ton single-cab and best one-ton double-cab bakkie brand.