Used-Car Owner Satisfaction: Time Might Not Make the Heart Grow Fonder

Most people love their cars at first, but what about after that new-car smell wears off? Once you’ve lived with a car for three years—let alone five—the features and qualities that gave you goose bumps in the showroom can often turn into cold chills down the road.

This is what we found out when we asked our subscribers whether they would get the same car all over again and to consider attributes such as commuting, local driving, long-distance trips, cargo space, and driving with children.

Three Constants

We have found, time and again, that no matter the vehicles’ age, the vehicles that inspire the strongest loyalty are—almost universally—ones that are reliable; performed well in Consumer Reports' testing; are fun to drive; deliver great fuel economy; are fashionably green; or dress you in a high-tech, luxurious driving environment. And ones that performed poorly in some, or all, of those areas sit at the bottom.

The Tesla Model S all-electric luxury sports sedan, which provides all of those attributes in one car, continues to top our ratings with the highest satisfaction score. Even at three years old, it scored a 97 out of 100.

Another strong performer is the Toyota Prius, which is among the most-satisfying three- and five-year-old models.

For example, in the midsized car category, the Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, and Subaru Legacy satisfy their owners no matter the age. At the same time, the Chevrolet Malibu, Chrysler 200, and Nissan Altima disappoint.

The same trend can be seen among minivans, small and midsized SUVs, and even three- and five-year-old wagons.

There are models that defy this overall trend, but they tend to be outliers. The Jeep Wrangler, Toyota 4Runner, and FJ Cruiser didn’t fare well in our testing, but these specialty vehicles are loved by their owners.

Fuel-efficient models dominate many of the categories, but the “green” promise isn’t satisfying on its own. Both the three- and five-year-old Lexus CT 200h, for example, sit, at the bottom of the Hybrids/EVs category, despite their impressive fuel economy. But the Lexus was a mediocre performer in Consumer Reports' road tests.

Hunger for Fun

Year-over-year owners have shown that, similar to fuel economy, performance and driving enjoyment are satisfying features. You’ll see the same names among the top-performers in the 3- and 5-year categories: Chevrolet Corvette, Ford Mustang, Mazda Miata, and Porsche 911.

Yet it’s clear manufacturers can easily mess this formula up. The Mini Cooper ranks among the bottom one-third of three-year-old sporty cars, but falls to last place at five years.

Our annual owner-satisfaction survey, conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center, asks Consumer Reports magazine and Web subscribers a key, revealing question, “Considering all factors (price, performance, reliability, comfort, enjoyment, etc.), would you get this car if you had it to do all over again?”

A model’s score is based on the percentage of respondents who answered “definitely yes” to that question.

This year, we received responses on about 600,000, spanning the 2006 through 2015 model years.

Use the pull-down menu to view satisfaction by subcategories.

Use the pull-down menu to view satisfaction by sub-categories.

More from Consumer Reports:
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Consumer Reports Guide to Car Reliability
Best cars for making it to 200,000 miles

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