Owner satisfaction

Which cars would owners buy again?

Our readers love sporty cars, hybrids, and ones that are out of the mainstream. That's the message from our most recent Annual Auto Survey, conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center.

This year, the Dodge Challenger, a throwback, V8-powered muscle car, beat out the longstanding Toyota Prius hybrid as the most satisfying car among our readers. Ninety-two percent of Challenger owners said they would definitely buy another one given the same opportunity. That doesn't mean hybrids have fallen far from grace, however. The second most satisfying car, with 91 percent of respondents saying they would definitely buy another, was the Ford Fusion Hybrid. More sports cars and hybrids round out the top group: the Chevrolet Corvette, Porsche 911, Toyota Prius, and all-wheel drive Acura TL.

Several other fuel-efficient small cars also earned outstanding satisfaction Ratings from their owners: The Volkswagen Jetta TDI (turbodiesel) sedan placed tenth in our rankings, the TDI wagon 13th, Honda Fit 21st, and the Mini Cooper hatchback 22nd.

U.S. automakers made significant gains in satisfying customers this year. Nine percent of the American cars on our total list make the top group, much more than last year. Europe led with 23 percent of its models in the top group. Twelve percent of Asian models made it to the top, including the Honda Odyssey minivan and Honda Ridgeline pickup. No minivans or pickups made our list last year.

To make our top satisfaction list, at least 80 percent of a model's owners must answer "definitely yes" to the question: "Considering all factors (price, performance, reliability, com-fort, enjoyment, etc.), would you get this car if you had it to do all over again?"

This year's Ratings are based on more than 380,000 responses from Consumer Reports and ConsumerReports.org subscribers on vehicles from the 2007 through 2010 model-years. At the other end of the spectrum, only 10 models received the lowest satisfaction Rating, indicating that less than half their owners would definitely buy the same car again. All were older designs from Detroit-based automakers. The lowest scoring car was the four-cylinder Chrysler Sebring sedan, with only 37 percent of its owners saying they'd buy another. The Dodge Nitro and Pontiac Torrent FWD round out the bottom of the list. Of the bottom 10, three were from Chrysler and the rest from GM.

Most cars, especially newly introduced and redesigned models get higher ratings when they are first purchased. The number of new designs at the top of our list bears that out.

But many of the most satisfying cars this year have been perennial favorites, including the Corvette, Porsche 911, and Prius. The Challenger was new for this survey. While not very quick, the Fusion Hybrid offers a good blend of fuel economy and overall performance.