Buying a good car is always important, but that’s especially true in an era of sky-high prices and soaring interest rates. Get it wrong and you’ll be paying top dollar for a car you despise.
Consumer Reports is helping to steer people in the right direction as they’ve come up with a list of the most and least satisfying vehicles, based on responses from owners.
Unsurprisingly, some of the most satisfying vehicles were sports cars. The Chevrolet Corvette took top honors with 94% of respondents saying they would buy the mid-engine model again.
Also: These Are America’s Most And Least Satisfying Car Brands
Following closely behind at 90% was the iconic Porsche 911. While it’s far from cheap, as prices start at $106,100, it appears it’s money well spent.
Things get a little complicated from there as 88% of owners would buy the Rivian R1T, Ford Maverick Hybrid, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Polestar 2, and Toyota 86 / Subaru BRZ again. They were closely followed by the Kia Telluride and Toyota RAV4 Prime at 87%. Rounding out the top spots were the Mazda MX-5 Miata and Dodge Challenger, which both had 86% of owners saying they’d buy them again.
As for the least satisfying, that dubious honor went to the Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport as only 38% of owners would buy the crossover again. The publication doesn’t say why people are so against the model, but the Atlas Cross Sport starts at $34,460 and Volkswagen’s website notes it’s recommended by none other than Consumer Reports.
However, it’s not hard to see why some people might be turned off as the standard Atlas starts at $35,150 and features seating for seven. The Atlas Sport Cross, on the other hand, only has five seats and features a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder with a mere 235 hp (175 kW / 238 PS). A 3.6-liter V6 is also available, but it starts at $41,675.
Premium brands took the next three spots as only 39% of owners would buy the Mercedes GLB again. It was closely followed by the Infiniti QX50 (40%) and Mercedes GLA (45%). All three models start around $40,000 and it’s possible owners might have felt they weren’t getting enough for their money.
Rounding out the least satisfying models were the Jeep Compass (46%), Kia Seltos (48%), Volkswagen Taos (48%), Nissan Kicks (49%), Nissan Altima (51%), and Kia Forte (51%).
