Tesla #1 Again — Named Top Auto Brand In 2 Consumer Reports Surveys

Results from two new surveys from Consumer Reports (CR) came out this week. The first showed the most and least liked car brands. The second showed the most satisfying cars on the market. Tesla was the winner in both studies.

Most & Least Liked Car Brands

CR asked owners whether they would buy their same car again if they were given the chance to do so. Tesla has been winning this survey for years, and this year was no different — except that Tesla has 4 models on the market now.

The latest results were from CR’s 2020 Annual Auto Surveys, which analyzed 369,000 vehicles. It included data from 2018 to 2020 model year vehicles as well as a few 2021 model year vehicles.

Tesla scored the highest in the “Would Buy Again” category, which was based on the percentage of owners who responded “definitely yes” to the question of whether they would buy the same vehicle if they had to do it all over again. Tesla scored 88 and had 5 out of 5 for driving. It scored 4 out of 5 for both in-car electronics and comfort. Cabin storage scored 3 out of 5, while value was the lowest score with 1 out of 5. [Editor’s note: How the F did Tesla not get 5/5 for in-car electronics?]

The second-highest scoring brand was Lincoln, with a score of 79. It was followed by Ram at 76. Infiniti held the lowest score — 48 — and didn’t score any 5 out of 5s for any of the categories. The only brands that had anything higher than a 2 for value were Volkswagen, Mazda, and Subaru — all three of those ranked a 3 for value. [Editor’s note: I don’t understand this. Are respondents basically just saying cars are expensive? It seems to me that buyers would aim to buy the best “value” for the price, and that many would be happy with their choice. I can only presume that the question doesn’t really match the general meaning I assume when seeing a “value” rating.]

Most Satisfying Cars on the Market

In the second survey, CR members indicated the Tesla Model 3 is the most satisfying car on the market. This was followed by the Kia Telluride, Tesla Model S, and Tesla Model Y.  In this category, Tesla beat out 26 other brands that were mentioned in the survey’s responses.

CR also noted that Tesla has an intensely loyal following and took the top spot among auto brands for overall owner satisfaction.

Mazda, Lincoln, Toyota, and Jeep also had a few models in the most satisfying category. The least satisfying vehicles were the Mazda CX-3, Nissan Kicks, and Infiniti QX50. Jeep, Nissan, Ford, Toyota, and Chevrolet dotted the list of the least satisfying car brands.