Study surveys 25,000 owners, reveals most highly recommended vehicles
Not everyone gets car buying advice from the Autoblog Podcast (Ford can't build that many Fusions), so where do car shoppers turn for recommendations? Many potential buyers ask around among friends and acquaintances, especially those who recently purchased vehicles. AutoPacific asked 25,000 new car owners whether they would recommend their vehicle to other buyers. According to the firm's study, it takes more than just the blissful glow of new car ownership for someone to suggest that their car is the one to buy. "It takes another level of confidence to recommend it," says AutoPacific president George Peterson. Infiniti G37 owners are a satisfied lot, with 95% of new owners suggesting the vehicle to others, giving it the top rating in AutoPacific's test. Brand-wise, Porsche's rabid fans aren't just a myth -- 91% of Porsche owners are cultishly devoted and preach the gospel of Zuffenhausen. Toyota/Lexus and Ford/Lincoln please their owners enough to snag the most cumulative awards, and we've posted the full list and press release after the jump.
[Source: AutoPacific | Image Source: jbcurio via Flickr Creative Commons]
| PASSENGER CARS: |
|
| Premium Luxury Car Executive Luxury Car Aspirational Luxury Car Large Car Luxury Mid-Size Car Premium Mid-Size Car Mid-Size Car Image Compact Car Mainstream Compact Car Economy Car Premium Sports Car Sports Car Sporty Car |
Lexus LS Jaguar XF Infiniti G37 (most recommended ? 95%) Toyota Avalon Lexus ES Toyota Camry Volkswagen Jetta Toyota Prius Subaru Impreza Honda Fit Chevrolet Corvette Nissan 350Z Ford Mustang |
| LIGHT TRUCKS: |
|
| Large Light-Duty Pickup Large Heavy-Duty Pickup Compact Pickup Luxury Sport Utility Large Sport Utility Premium Mid-Size Sport Utility Mid-Size Sport Utility Compact SUV/Off-Road Vehicle Luxury Crossover SUV Large Crossover SUV Premium Mid-Size Crossover SUV Mainstream Mid-Size Crossover SUV Compact Crossover SUV Minivan |
Ford F-150 Ford F-Super Duty Toyota Tacoma Lincoln Navigator GMC Yukon XL Toyota 4Runner Dodge Nitro Jeep Wrangler Land Rover LR2 Ford Flex Ford Edge Honda CR-V Honda Element Toyota Sienna |
AutoPacific's Research Reveals the Most Highly Recommended Vehicles
May 12, 2009
TUSTIN, Calif. (May 12, 2009) - Who do you go to for advice when buying a new car? What about owners themselves? AutoPacific has just analyzed recommendation intentions from 25,000 new-car owners, and the results offer interesting insights.AutoPacific, which has provided automotive analysis to carmakers since 1986, bases its findings on a just-completed comprehensive survey of more than 25,000 consumers who purchased or leased new cars or light trucks in the period from September to December 2008.
"Typically, car buyers are very pleased when they first drive their new car off the dealer lot. But just as a vehicle's worth depreciates over time, some car owners' level of confidence depreciates," says George Peterson, president of AutoPacific. "We have quantified their level of confidence to see which new car owners will recommend their model most and this is information which will help new car shoppers make informed, confident buying decisions. While many owners can be happy with their new cars, it takes another level of confidence to recommend it."
Porsche leads as the top brand in a close race, with the highest owner recommendation of 91%. "Porsche owners' feelings for their cars run deep, some might call it devotion," says Peterson. "Clearly that is still the case as the Porsche line-up all scored well in this survey."
The vehicle - car or truck - registering highest overall satisfaction in 2009 is the Infiniti G37, which was recommended by 95% of new owners. The truck with the highest overall satisfaction score is the Ford F-150 recommended by 89% of its owners. In a tie, the SUVs with the highest overall satisfaction score are the GMC Yukon XL and Honda CR-V recommended by 93% of their owners.
At the manufacturer level, multiple top-ranked award winners include: Toyota with eight top rankings (Toyota 6, Lexus 2), Ford with six (Ford 5, Lincoln 1), Honda with three and both General Motors and Chrysler with two (Chevy 1, GMC 1) (Dodge 1, Jeep 1).
AutoPacific's research objectively measures owner recommendations with newly purchased or leased passenger cars or light trucks by ranking new owners' responses to the question "Would you recommend your new vehicle to a friend or relative? Scores are based on the responses, ranging from "Yes, definitely," "Yes, with reservations," or "No."
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
CB 8:46AM (5/20/2009)
These polls are worthless (except at maybe weeding at truly crappy cars).
The vast majority of people polled don't own more than one car in a segment and can't compare their car to a competitor. How can someone say it is better to own one car without owning a competitor?
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Mitch 8:54AM (5/20/2009)
They are saying they are happy with THEIR car.Most folks have owned,test driven and asked friends and done online research before buying.Yhey are just reporting on the car they own and drive everday.If I asked you if your wife or Mom was a good cook,wouldn't you have some good feedback to share,same principle!!!! Go Ford,Lincoln and Mercury.On the way to #1 in the WORLD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
TigerMil 8:59AM (5/20/2009)
re Porsche owner's satisfaction, may be, but I would never recommend one to a young couple with two two children, LOL!
There is indeed no substitute, but then there is pragmatism.
IF indeed Porsche owners are recommending their cars 91% of the time, they are doing so without regard to the needs of the people they're talking to. Or the people they're talking to don't need anything pragmatic and are looking for a toy.
A Porsche is one of the better toys around....
eleni 9:03AM (5/20/2009)
I agree. It is very hard to 'compare' unless you actually own the entire fleet of cars that are being polled. On the other hand it is a starting point for discussion which in itself will bring forward ideas for people to then think about when purchasing a new car.
Toy Yoda 9:03AM (5/20/2009)
That's not a valid complaint. Read the post more carefully. The survey measured what percent of owners of a car would recommend their purchase to another. It wasn't asking owners about their preference. So if you don't like your car, you probably won't recommend to your friend, you don't have to own multiple cars to know you don't like your own car.
A more valid complaint would be that none of the cars on this list are boutique cars. Since this is a survey of percent recommendation based on ownership, variance on measurement depends on the square root of the population size. In other words, a small sampling size means extreme measures on either end. So if super expensive car owned by 2 people were surveyed, you should see either 0, 50, 100 for percentages.
It's funny how BMW doesn't make this list. Did they even interview BMW owners? I wouldn't recommend BMW to anyone, and I own one as my primary ride. I wonder if that's a coincidence...
Rick 10:33AM (5/20/2009)
@Mitch- What are are not realizing if 10 VW owners are surveyed and 4,000 Toyota owners are surveyed, the % would sway easily towards Toyota. So this survey would only make sense if we knew how many owners per car/manufacturer were participating.
What they need to do is set a control number, say 500 owners from every car make and model and then tally the results. So every Toyota has the same numbers of participants as every Mitsubishi and Porsche, etc.
tekd 11:56AM (5/20/2009)
The owners themselves don't have to own other cars, the question is simply whether they'd recommend their own car to a friend. And if you ask a bunch of people you get a percentage who would recommend their own car to a friend for each model.
So it's mostly a question of "do you like your car enough that you'd recommend it without worrying that your friend will end up disliking it or having problems and make you feel like a tool for recommending it to them?"
Anyways, I'm not surprised at the cars on the list since most people I know who own those vehicles readily recommend them. Whereas the one owner of a Mitsubishi I know wouldn't recommend their car to you in a million years since it's cost so much to fix that they're finally giving up and buying a new car (not 100% Mitsubishi's fault since it was obvious that it would need a ton of work when they bought it for way too much money [used]).
I wouldn't take it too seriously whether one car edged out another car by a few points though, since the sample size isn't really large enough to mean very much. But as long as a car got a lot of recommendations it's probably not too awful. But 91% vs 92% when you only sampled 100 owners of each model is meaningless. On the other hand, is only 28 out of 100 people recommended a car that's a serious problem.
Joe 8:48AM (5/20/2009)
I can't trust anything that says that people recommend the Dodge Nitro more than any other midsize SUV.
The only thing worse than that piece of crap is an actual piece of crap.
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Willem B 8:54AM (5/20/2009)
lol.
that just made my day!
Keith 8:57AM (5/20/2009)
Same...I read "Dodge Nitro" and just threw this poll out completely.
Alex 8:59AM (5/20/2009)
i dunno, at least with an actual piece of crap, you know what you are getting.
Mitch 9:04AM (5/20/2009)
There is not much competition based on the way they rank them,Durango,Nitro-They don't include Explorer,Mountaineer,Envoy ETC....... I totally agree with you though!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JUNK
oZ 9:05AM (5/20/2009)
While the Nitro's definitely not my thing, I see a lot of them on the road. When you test drove one, what did you not like about it?
John 9:11AM (5/20/2009)
I would bet most of the Nitro hatred comes from the herd mentality and mindless big 3 bashing on sites like Autoblog. Not from actual ownership/experience with the vehicle. Most of the haters here are not even old enough to have ever owned a new car.
Joe 9:43AM (5/20/2009)
Mine would actually stem from knowing two people who bought the hunk of plastic, and my experiences riding in, and driving the vehicles.
They drive like mushy Dodge Neons, have terrible ergonimics in the interior (not unlike most other Chrysler vehicles), serve no actual utility as a small or mid-sized SUV, have terribly uncomfortable seats...should I go on?
As far as "big three bashing," I drive a 2006 Mustang GT coupe. My wife, until recently, drove a Mazda 3 (built when Ford owned much of Mazda)...unfortunately, now she drives a Mercedes C280. I love me some Fords, and I genuinely like much of what GM has put out in the last three or four years. Hell, I'll even go as far as to say that I like the Impala SS. There, I said it.
With that said, I think Chryslers vehicles, for the most part, and this includes some Jeeps and most Dodge trucks, are far inferior to Ford and GM, and for that matter, most of the Asian manufacturers.
John 9:53AM (5/20/2009)
"Mine would actually stem from knowing two people who bought the hunk of plastic, and my experiences riding in, and driving the vehicles."
Good, however, you are the exception to the rule. If someone has a legitimate beef with something it's worth hearing. But far too often you read these forums and see the mindless bashing, herd mentality, and little to no fact.
AutoPacific is a reputable organization and their opinion certainly matters to the industry. When I read comments on these forms that someone doesn't like a recommendation so they should throw out this whole list is just stupidity on their part.
Joe 9:59AM (5/20/2009)
I agree with you, John.
As I said, I drive a Mustang GT with a...***gasp***...live rear axle. How could I possibly get around corners with an ox-cart suspension?
99% of the people who bash on the GT's rear suspension have never driven one, and will never drive one. I know that my GT's suspension won't do everything, and isn't designed to. Once you know the limitations of a part or component, you learn how to drive around those limitations. I know that in certain instances my back end is going to skip over odd road variations while the car is pulling in third gear. It's a simple equation of gobs of torque and the inability of the suspension to react quickly enough to maintain complete contact with the road. Does it hamper the fun of driving my car? No. Does it make me a little more careful during my morning commute? Yes.
corey r 8:57AM (5/20/2009)
I own a 2008 Chevy Silverado, bought new. My dad owns a 2007 Ford F-150, also bought new. Both are optioned about the same. I would highly recommend his Ford to my Chevy. We've had the occasion to switch out trucks for week long periods sometimes. His truck being 1 year older than mine is still a much more solid truck. I can see where this poll could hold relevance.
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rar 9:10AM (5/20/2009)
I would guess the people polled about the Super-Duty trucks, did not have the Navistar engine.
k.w.a 9:04AM (5/20/2009)
I'm guessing these polls shouldn't be taken too seriously since its just by owner recommendation. It flatters the auto companies since they know they have loyalists and unofficial advertisers but that's about it.
My friend in his '96 Grand Am clunker tells me to "Buy American" all the time, and my other friend who hopes to one day own a Del Sol tells me how better a 93 honda would be compared to my '06 Volvo S40. And then my other friend with an '01 CLK that has so many reliability issues its in the shop more than on the road tells me how superior her Mercedes is to any other car on the road. Clearly, owner satisfaction and recommendations should be taken with a grain of salt
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