CATEGORIES: Value • Engine & gearbox • Exterior • Interior & comfort • Practicality & space • Ride & handling • Safety features • MPG & running costs • Reliability & build quality • Infotainment, connectivity & electrics
IT’S fascinating to break down the performances of our Driver Power survey stars by category. It provides a compelling insight into the strengths and weaknesses of individual models, as ranked and reported on by people who have actually paid for their cars and lived with their choices.
Even the very best performers can have a weakness or Achilles’ heel, and, as the perfect car has yet to be built, at the very least there will always be compromises – ones which Driver Power is designed to expose. To give that process structure, we divide the survey up into 10 individual categories, and owners rate their vehicles against a raft of attributes within each one. Rankings for those detailed attributes are weighed up to produce category scores, and it’s from those results that the overall final Driver Power survey rankings are produced.
When looking at category scores, it’s vital to remember that a top rating doesn’t imply a car is the best at a particular job, rather that its performance provides the greatest satisfaction to its owners – who typically won’t expect their SUV to handle like a sports car, for example!
CATEGORY: Value
COVERING Value for money – it’s as simple as that
1. Dacia Duster Mk2
98.98%
WHEN it comes to straightforward value for money, the survey shows there’s nothing to match the appeal of the Dacia Duster. It’s two whole percentage points ahead of this year’s value runner-up, which is a huge margin in Driver Power ranking terms.
It’s the Duster’s second consecutive
