TriShield

Which cars would owners buy again?



Our readers love sporty cars, hybrids, and ones that are out of the mainstream. That's the message from our most recent Annual Auto Survey, conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center.

This year, the Dodge Challenger, a throwback, V8-powered muscle car, beat out the longstanding Toyota Prius hybrid as the most satisfying car among our readers. Ninety-two percent of Challenger owners said they would definitely buy another one given the same opportunity. That doesn't mean hybrids have fallen far from grace, however. The second most satisfying car, with 91 percent of respondents saying they would definitely buy another, was the Ford Fusion Hybrid. More sports cars and hybrids round out the top group: the Chevrolet Corvette, Porsche 911, Toyota Prius, and all-wheel drive Acura TL.

Several other fuel-efficient small cars also earned outstanding satisfaction Ratings from their owners: The Volkswagen Jetta TDI (turbodiesel) sedan placed tenth in our rankings, the TDI wagon 13th, Honda Fit 21st, and the Mini Cooper hatchback 22nd.

U.S. automakers made significant gains in satisfying customers this year. Nine percent of the American cars on our total list make the top group, much more than last year. Europe led with 23 percent of its models in the top group. Twelve percent of Asian models made it to the top, including the Honda Odyssey minivan and Honda Ridgeline pickup. No minivans or pickups made our list last year.

To make our top satisfaction list, at least 80 percent of a model's owners must answer "definitely yes" to the question: "Considering all factors (price, performance, reliability, com-fort, enjoyment, etc.), would you get this car if you had it to do all over again?"

This year's Ratings are based on more than 380,000 responses from Consumer Reports and ConsumerReports.org subscribers on vehicles from the 2007 through 2010 model-years. At the other end of the spectrum, only 10 models received the lowest satisfaction Rating, indicating that less than half their owners would definitely buy the same car again. All were older designs from Detroit-based automakers. The lowest scoring car was the four-cylinder Chrysler Sebring sedan, with only 37 percent of its owners saying they'd buy another. The Dodge Nitro and Pontiac Torrent FWD round out the bottom of the list. Of the bottom 10, three were from Chrysler and the rest from GM.

Most cars, especially newly introduced and redesigned models get higher ratings when they are first purchased. The number of new designs at the top of our list bears that out.

But many of the most satisfying cars this year have been perennial favorites, including the Corvette, Porsche 911, and Prius. The Challenger was new for this survey. While not very quick, the Fusion Hybrid offers a good blend of fuel economy and overall performance.

LS1LT1

iTrader: (16)

Nice

WSsick

iTrader: (13)

pretty cool. guess people love their land yacht mopars glad to see some sportscars up there. prius owners are just full of themselves and love to tell you how much they are saving the environment they wont tell you how that lack of power is horribly annoying an they wish they had more. at least theres the amazing looking fusion now for hybrid owners.

Blakbird24

iTrader: (24)

Seeing as those things cater to a pretty focused audience, I would expect the owners to be pretty happy with them. What else has dodge produced in the last ten years at that price with that level of coolness?

I rest my case.

ThisBlood147

Yea, the majority of customers don't buy the Challenger for its performance attributes. It's big and comfy (lots of interior room), has a very smooth ride, and it looks fantastic. And if you want you can even get a throaty V8 under the hood. I'd own one in a heartbeat, if only to cruise around in. I just wouldn't try to race it.

TriShield

MT got some pretty good numbers out of the SRT8, it's not what I would call a slow car.