Are you planning on buying a car in the near future? If so, you may want to take some time to do research on the vehicles you are considering. Consumer Reports conducted their annual Car-Brand Perception Survey from December 6, 2013 to December 15, 2013, to determine the best and worst cars, according to the public’s opinions.
The survey was conducted via phone, and selected 1,578 individuals at random, who owned at least one vehicle. The individuals, who participated in the survey, were not given a list of car brands to choose from. However, they were asked to choose which brands that they felt exceeded expectations in seven different categories: quality, safety, performance, value, fuel efficiency, design/style and technology/innovation.
They were then asked to give the name of which brand that they considered the leader for each of those categories. The results were tallied to determine the best and worst brands. Not surprising, Toyota, Ford, Honda and Chevrolet were the top four brands that the public chose. However, what may surprise you is that Tesla has been noted as the “brand to watch” in 2014 because of its increasing public approval over the past few years.
Below is the complete list of the best and worst vehicles as determined by the survey:
Best Scores 1. Toyota- 145 2. Ford- 120 3. Honda- 109 4. Chevrolet- 105 5. Tesla Motors- 88 6. Subaru- 87 7. Mercedes-Benz- 82 8. Volvo- 80 9. Cadillac- 78 10. BMW- 73
Worst Scores 1. Land Rover- 4 2. Maserati- 8 3. Jaguar- 9 4. Rolls-Royce- 11 5. Scion- 17 6. Ram- 17 7. Mini- 21 8. Mitsubishi- 21 9. Infiniti- 22 10. Jeep- 23
Because this survey was based solely on perception, many of the individual’s answers could hold some bias. The scores do not reflect the actual qualities of any of the brand’s vehicles. According to Consumer Reports , “The scores were unconnected to Consumer Reports’ reliability survey scores or road and track test results. They were also not related to government- or private-conducted crash tests.” Consumer Reports addresses the importance of an individual’s perception when they released their report.
“The key word here is ‘perception,’ as influenced by word-of-mouth, marketing, and hands-on experience. Often, perception can be a trailing indicator, reflecting years of good or bad performance in a category, and it can also be swayed by headlines, such as Subaru and Tesla garnering awards, or brands being caught in widespread recalls, such as Honda, Jeep, and Toyota.”
If you are a subscriber to ConsumerReports.org you will have access to the car model pages that includes road tests, pricing, owner satisfaction, owner costs, reliability, and safety information that will help you to make an informed decision before purchasing your new vehicle.
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