Chevy Volt Tops Owner Satisfaction Survey

The Chevrolet Volt has its detractors but it also has its fans and, more significantly, many of those fans are Volt owners who drive the plug-in hybrids day in and day out.

The Volt has topped this year's Consumer Reports owner-satisfaction study with a whopping 93 percent of Volt owners saying they "definitely" buy one again.

Tied for second-place were the V8-powered Dodge Challenger and the legendary Porsche 911, each getting a thumbs-up from 91 percent of their owners.

However, Consumer Reports noted that the Volt had only been selling for a few months when the survey was conducted, so it remains to be seen how the Volt owners feel after they put more miles on the clock.

Then there's the federal investigation of the flammability of the Volt's battery.  Depending on that turns out, it could dim the car's popularity.

Then there's the "newer is better" mantra. With its usual caution, CR noted that "early adopters of a new technology tend to be among the most enthusiastic buyers."

High tech, high performance

This year's ratings are not surprising.  Sporty cars and technically-advanced cars -- sometimes the same thing but not always -- usually top the list.

After all, your Toyota Sienna van might be just fine, but are you really going to get all enthused about it?  

A 911 or something similar, on the other hand, will make just about anyone spend at least a few minutes a day in his garage just looking at the thing.  You don't even have to drive it to get that nice warm feeling.

Same with high-tech cars.  Driving the latest and greatest fuel-sipper makes that trip to Trader Joe's feel really enobling.  

Or, as Rik Paul, Consumer Reports' automotive editor, put it: "These models reflect a larger trend we've seen in recent years: Sporty cars and fuel efficient cars with alternative drivetrains tend to generate more enthusiasm and loyalty than most other types of vehicles."  

Consumer Reports said 12 of the 27 models that topped its owner--satisfaction ratings -- meaning at least 80 percent of respondents said they'd definitely buy the vehicle again -- were sporty cars or convertibles; nine were hybrids or diesels.

Consumer Reports' owner-satisfaction survey includes responses from more than 314,000 subscribers on 2009-12 model year vehicles. It is based on the results from the magazine's annual auto survey conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center.