Most Loved Car = You Guessed It

Originally published on Planetsave.

Consumer Reports conducts massive surveys of car owners every year to find out how much they love their cars and how much they don’t. Interestingly, in recent years, the top spot on the charts has been dominated by electric cars. In 2011 and 2012, the Chevy Volt made its owners the happiest. In 2013, it was (almost predictably) the Tesla Model S. In 2014, I think you can name the winner.

Yep, it was again the Tesla Model S. Why would the Model S be a shoe-in for the top spot? Well, it has insane acceleration (even before the D came along), home charging that allows you to never visit a gas station (unless you need to use the restroom), over-the-air updates that improve your car while you sleep, enough seating for up to 7, a humungous touchscreen, a super slick look, and a price tag that… oh, well, let’s forget the price tag.

Furthermore, Elon Musk and Tesla have repeatedly gone out of their way to address customer complaints, or even potential issues they identified without any customer feedback, and have transmitted a sincerity and intention to genuinely help society that is nowadays so rare in the world of business.

As Chris DeMorro of GAS2 simply but elegantly adds: “What is the true mark of a successful car? Some people might say sales, and others might mention legacy or branding as markers of success. Arguably the most important metric of any car’s success is whether or not someone would buy it again, and for the second year in a row the Tesla Model S topped Consumer Report’s customer satisfaction ratings.”

The Tesla Model S came in with a customer satisfaction rating of 98%, a full 3% above the #2 Corvette C7 Stingray. Watch the Consumer Reports video above for more winners, as well as some bottom-of-the-barrel losers.

Related, but via a completely separate process, Consumer Reports staff themselves gave the Model S a rating of 99/100, putting it in a tie for the highest rating in Consumer Reports history (alongside the Lexus LS460, which landed that rating in 2009).

Of course, the Model S is in a class of its own, but it was certainly helped along by the many benefits of electric cars.