When buying a mid-priced car, you will inevitably come across Toyota, Honda and Volkswagen brands that are highly rated by us. Which of these brands offers the best value for money, which models are the most reliable, and which engines can be trusted the most? Let’s try to answer these questions based on the experience of Lithuanian drivers and compare these three brands of cars of the same class. Let’s add to this company another fast-growing brand – Hyundai.
We will not rely on surveys, but on the evaluations of the owners of these cars, which you can find on the Autoasas.lt reviews website. Since the average age of cars registered in Lithuania is 9-10 years, and the average age of used cars that have changed owners is 14 years, we will take cars of similar age. We will compare similar models of these four brands, and see how the evaluation of each model looks compared to its competitors, that is, to all cars of a similar year in the same class. There are usually about 20 such similar competing cars. The evaluations are presented in a five-point system and according to the following criteria:
– Reliability
– Engine evaluation
– Interior quality
– Management features
Compact cars
Toyota Auris, (E150) 2006 – 2013 Total ratings: 14
Honda Civic, (FK/FN) 2005 – 2011 Total ratings: 24
Volkswagen Golf, (Mk6) 2008 – 2012 Total ratings: 12
Hyundai i30, (FD) 2007 – 2011 Total ratings: 9
The reliability of Toyota, Honda and Volkswagen is rated very similarly – from 4.4 to 4.6 points. That’s about 10% better than the class average matched by the Hyundai i30 with a score of 4.1. Engines in all cars are rated very similarly. It is possible to single out Honda, which is rated the highest with 4.7 points, and Hyundai, which is rated the worst with 4.3 points. The quality of the interior at Toyota and Honda was rated identically – 4.1 points, which is slightly better than the class average. Volkswagen’s interior is rated the best – 4.3 points, while Hyundai’s is significantly worse than others – only 3.7 points. It is not surprising that the handling characteristics of the Honda car are the best rated – even 4.8 points. It is also interesting that Volkswagen is not far behind it – rated 4.7 points. Toyota’s rating corresponds to the class average – 4.4 points, while Hyundai is significantly worse than the class average – 4 points.
Verdict: Choosing between the Toyota Auris, Honda Civic and Volkswagen Golf seems to be purely a matter of taste. All three cars are very well rated, perhaps you can single out the Honda Civic as the best handling or the Toyota Auris as the most comfortable, but these differences are minimal. It should be noted that 17% of owners do not recommend Volkswagen, which is a bit more than expected. Hyundai i30 is noticeably inferior to the mentioned competitors – it is a car that corresponds very closely to the class average, in other words an average car. However, it is not recommended by only 11% of owners – this means that this car more or less meets the expectations of buyers.
Average cars
Toyota Avensis, (T270) 2009 – 2018 Total ratings: 20
Honda Accord, (CU/CW) 2008 – 2015 Total ratings: 10
Volkswagen Passat, (B6/B7) 2005 – 2015 Total ratings: 31
Hyundai i40, 2009 – 2016 Total ratings: 9
Honda’s reliability is rated the best by a significant margin – even 4.8 points. The Toyota in second place is rated much lower – 4.3 points, which is the average for this class. Meanwhile, Volkswagen’s reliability is only 3.6 points, and Hyundai’s only 3.2 points, which is even 24% worse than the class average. Engine evaluation identically reproduces reliability evaluations, only Toyota engines are evaluated with 4 points, which is slightly worse than the class average. The interior quality ratings are surprising, as the differences are very large. The interior is best rated for the Honda car – 4.5 points, Toyota – 4 points, Volkswagen and Hyundai are again far behind – only 3.5 and 3.4 points. In terms of handling characteristics, Honda once again wiped everyone’s noses – a score of 4.9 is almost ideal. Toyota’s handling corresponds to the class average – 4.2 points, a step worse than Volkswagen and Hyundai – 3.9 points and 3.8 points.
Verdict: “Honda Accord is definitely the best car in all areas, it is rated especially well in the areas of reliability, engines and handling, it is recommended by every single person who wrote reviews. The Toyota Avensis is noticeably worse – its ratings are even slightly lower than the class average, and it is not recommended by even 20% of owners. The Volkswagen Passat is inferior even to the class average in all parameters, it is not recommended by almost a third of owners – that’s a lot. Well, and the Hyundai i40 – this car is definitely not a competitor to any of the discussed models. It is not recommended by more than half of the owners,” says Nerijus, who founded the Autoasas.lt website in 2008.
Compact crossovers
Toyota C-HR, (AX10/AX50) 2016 – 2023 Total ratings: 15
Honda HR-V, (RU) 2015 – 2022 Total ratings: 8
Hyundai Tucson, (TL) 2015 – 2021 Total ratings: 10
Let’s include the class leader Nissan Qashqai, (J11) 2013 – 2021 Total ratings: 20
In terms of reliability ratings, Hyundai is the best with 4.3 points, Toyota is next to it with 4.2 points, Nissan is rated even worse, and Honda is rated only 3.6 points. Interestingly, all these ratings are worse than the average of the competitors. Engines are rated best at Nissan – 4 points, slightly worse at Toyota and Hyundai – 3.8 points. Again, all of these ratings are lower than the average for competitors. It is interesting that Honda engines are rated extremely poorly – only 3 points. According to Lithuanian drivers, the interior quality is the best for Nissan – as many as 4.5 points, followed by Hyundai – 4.2 points, Toyota – 3.8 points. Honda is again far behind – just 3.1 points. Nissan’s handling is the best – rated as high as 4.6 points, Hyundai is not far behind – 4.4 points, and Toyota is slightly less – 4.2 points. The last one is Honda again, only this time it’s a not bad rating of 4.1 points.
Verdict: We have two leaders in this class, the Nissan Qashqai and the Hyundai Tucson, which don’t seem to have any major flaws. The Toyota C-HR is by all accounts a very average car. And the Honda HR-V is simply a bad car, as evidenced by the fact that even half of the owners of this car do not recommend it. The other three are not recommended by 20% of owners, which is also quite a large number. It seems that the owners of these cars have a pragmatic approach and are not very loyal to the chosen brands.
Medium SUVs
Toyota RAV4, (XA40) 2012 – 2018 Total ratings: 5
Honda CR-V, (RM) 2011 – 2016 Total ratings: 7
Volkswagen Tiguan, (5N) 2007 – 2017 Total ratings: 10
Hyundai Santa Fe, (DM/NC) 2012 – 2018 Total ratings: 4
Toyota’s reliability is impeccable – rated as high as 4.8 points, Honda and Hyundai’s indicator is also very good – 4.5 points. The reliability of Volkswagen is significantly worse – 4.1 points. As for the engines, the situation is changing – here Honda becomes the leader with 4 points. Meanwhile, others cannot boast of very good engines – Toyota’s rating is only 3.8 points, Volkswagen and Hyundai stand next to it – 3.7 points. By the way, all car engines are rated below the class average. In terms of interior quality, Honda is again the leader with 4.4 points, followed by all others – Toyota 3.8, Hyundai 3.7, Volkswagen 3.6. All cars are very similar in handling characteristics – Honda retains the title of best, followed by Hyundai, Toyota and Volkswagen.
Verdict: “The Honda CR-V is clearly the top rated car, with the Toyota RAV4, with its extremely high reliability rating, and the Hyundai Santa Fe, which seems to be the more all-rounder, a close second. And the Volkswagen Tiguan lags behind its closest competitors according to all criteria,” says Nerijus.
That’s enough car statistics for this time, stay tuned for the third part about Škoda, Opel, Mazda, Peugeot and Kia cars.
ToyotaAurisE150 HondaCivic VolkswagenGolfMk6 Hyundai30 ToyotaAvensis HondaAccord VolkswagenPassatB6 VolkswagenPassatB7 Hyundai40 ToyotaCHR HondaHRV HyundaiTucsonTL NissanQashqai ToyotaRAV4 HondaCRV VolkswagenTiguan5N HyundaiSantaFe
Tags: #10yearold Toyota Honda Volkswagen company
-
