What makes a good car?

Does your car always start? Will it get you where you are going? Can you expect it to last longer than will your payments?

Just a couple decades ago, a positive answer to those three questions pretty much summed up the issue of new-car quality. A “good” car, in the minds of consumers, was essentially one that was reliable.

Today, dependability is pretty much taken for granted. Consumers expect any new car to be reliable and long-lasting. So, while quality remains among the most crucial factors car shoppers consider, the definition of what quality means has dramatically shifted. It no longer necessarily has to do with rack and pinions and a car’s powertrain. Instead, manufacturers are learning to emphasize quality in places that are important in the eyes of the customer.

With performance and reliability being equal in the automotive market these days, it pays for new car shoppers to look for a car that pays attention to what matters most to them, down to the smallest details.

For example, when introducing Nissan’s lineup of 2010 sedans to the automotive press, Mark Perry, the company’s director of product planning and advanced technology strategy, repeatedly used the phrase “perceived quality” when describing the company’s products.

When it comes to selling a car, any improvements the manufacturer makes to a given model can go to waste if the customer doesn’t notice them, Perry explained. Taking nothing away from engineering advancements that enhance a model’s durability and performance, it’s the smaller changes that are more likely to affect a customer’s decision to buy. Increasingly, the litmus test for a key new feature will be, Can you see it?

Of course, price is always an issue. Even tiny price differences matter to shoppers at the lower end of the spectrum. The potential buyer of a $35,000 Nissan 370Z is less likely to make a decision based on a $50 price differential than a purchaser of a $10,000 Versa. But each small increment is a big step for a buyer of limited means.

Perry points out that while certain features may only cost a few dollars per vehicle, automakers often build several hundred thousand units annually for each model. Spending an extra $20 per car to upgrade a detail on a manufacturing volume of 300,000 cars carries a total cost of $6 million, which is no small expenditure.

Each manufacturer makes thousands of go, no-go decisions for every trim level of every model in their line. The challenge for Perry’s department is to determine whether even the smallest per-unit extra cost will result in enough sales to justify the expense. He gives as one example the decision whether or not to include a panel that covers the inside of a car’s trunk lid. Leaving the lid bare seems cheap to many people, because there is exposed wiring and hardware. Those buying costlier cars expect such items to be hidden.

When it came to the Nissan Sentra, one of the company’s lowest priced cars, the lid decision was difficult. In the end, Nissan left the trunk-lid liner off the lowest priced version of the Sentra, where customers are sensitive to even the smallest increases in price. But the lid is neatly covered in costlier versions of the car. With such finicky planning, Nissan was able to reduce the cost of the 2010 model by $130, bringing the base price down to $16,600.

Other small decisions that must be made include whether to put a vanity mirror on the driver’s side sun visor, a lock on the glove box door, a lock on folding seatbacks, a key cylinder on the passenger’s handle (unnecessary when remote door locks are part of the package) and a key cylinder on the trunk lid, among many others.

Perry notes that it can be a difficult decision whether to cover exposed hardware, such as nuts, bolts and screws. Some of these items may be out of view entirely until a passenger slides a seat all the way forward or back. Thus, many customers may never see whether an item is covered or not. But each covering adds a tiny bit to the cost of the car.