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Toyota Prius Tops Consumer Satisfaction Survey

March 7, 2005
Asian vehicles continue their domination over domestic and European brands in the latest Consumer Reports owner satisfaction survey.

The Toyota Prius won near-unanimous praise with 94 per cent of respondents saying that they would definitely get one again. The Lexus LS430 scored almost as high with 92 per cent of owners and lessees affirming their loyalty.

Asian and European brands fill all but 1 of the 32 slots within CR's list of Most Satisfying vehicles. Asian manufacturers lead with 25 of their vehicles in the list, followed by European brands with six. The only domestic car in the list is the Chevrolet Corvette.

The owner satisfaction survey is part of the Consumer Reports annual survey, which asked its subscribers if they would buy the car or truck they own again, considering its price, performance, comfort, and reliability.

This year CR received more than 250,000 responses to this question for 2002 to 2004 models, which were used to determine owner-satisfaction ratings and lists of Most and Least Satisfying vehicles.

Among other survey findings:

• The second-generation Toyota Prius becomes the first hybrid to top the list, sending the Lexus LS430 luxury sedan down to second place. The sporty Honda S2000 was in third place.

• Satisfaction doesn't always track with reliability. The Mini Cooper and Mercedes-Benz SL are among the most satisfying, even though their reliability records are below average.

• Among the cars that were least satisfying, domestic vehicles accounted for 12 of the 20 in the lineup; Japanese nameplates accounted for 7. The Land Rover Freelander SUV was the sole European vehicle in the least-liked lineup.

Here are Consumer Reports' lists of Most Satisfying and Least Satisfying vehicles. Most Satisfying vehicles are those with scores of 80 percent or higher. Least Satisfying vehicles are those with scores of 50 percent or lower. Models are listed within categories in order of percentage of owners who said they would definitely get them again:

Even for the least satisfactory cars, a majority of owners were positive.

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