Honda, MINI, Scion Tops with Consumers

Washington DC October 10, 2005; The AIADA newsletter reported that the Total Value Study of 69,000 new vehicle owners conducted by Strategic Vision declares International nameplates hold the highest levels of satisfaction, according to the Detroit News.

Honda had four winners -- the Acura RL luxury sedan, the Honda Accord coupe, Honda Element small SUV and Odyssey minivan. It won the top overall score, reflecting the high resale value of its models, fuel economy and technical innovations.

BMW’s Mini Cooper was the highest-scoring vehicle, and Toyota’s Scion brand racked up the best score for a single nameplate, beating out former winner Lexus.

Owners of the Toyota Prius and Honda Civic gas-electric hybrids gave their cars the highest scores for fuel-efficiency.

But the third-, fourth- and fifth-place winners were diesel-powered cars: the Mercedes E320 CDI, and the VW Jetta TDI and Golf TDI. They all earned more points than larger hybrids, such as the Ford Escape and Honda Accord hybrids.

Among Detroit automakers, General Motors Corp. scored the highest, with winners in four out of 24 model segments surveyed. They included the Chevrolet Malibu Maxx in the midsize, multiple-function car market, and the GMC Sierra 2500/3500 in the heavy-duty pickup segment.

GM also earned high marks for fuel-efficiency, coming in second place after Hyundai Motor Co. among owners of cars with four-cylinder engines. Among owners of vehicles powered by larger engines, it also came in second place, after BMW AG.

"What they've got to do is talk more about their fuel-efficiency. They've developed a lot of technology that hasn't gotten attention," said Daniel Gorrell, a partner at Strategic Vision.

Ford Motor Co. had one winning entry, the Ford F-150 full-size pickup.