The Cars Americans Think Are the Best But Are They?

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Washington DC March 31, 2011; The AIADA newsletter reporterd that Forbes asks: Which cars do Americans think are the best? "The perception of the quality of the mainstream is certainly a cut below the luxury brands," says Eric Lyman, the director of residual values for the automotive analysis firm ALG.

"People expect that a luxury good has higher quality – that’s why it's considered a luxury good." Volkswagen is the only non-luxury nameplate to make Forbes’ list of the car brands consumers like best.

Taking top honors: Porsche. The Rest To arrive at its list, Forbes selected the top eight luxury brands and the top eight non-luxury brands on a recent quality perception survey from ALG, and the same from a J.D. Power and Associates study that rates customer satisfaction with dealer performance during the first three years of ownership.

They also selected the top eight brands in J.D. Power's latest APEAL study, which surveyed purchasers and lessees as to how they rated their 2010 model-year cars after the first 90 days of ownership. The brands that placed the highest on two of the three reports qualified for the list.