2015 Kia K900.
Not happy with that new car purchase? Maybe you should have bought a 2015 Kia K900.
That's because Kia's luxury car achieved the highest marks in a survey of owners for U.S.-based AutoPacific's 19th annual Vehicle Satisfaction Awards (VSAs).
And while the K900 scored the top satisfaction marks, General Motors won the most categories with five. Kia was second, with four, and Nissan topped three segments. Honda, Toyota, Fiat Chrysler Automobile, Volkswagen and Ford each claimed two categories while Volvo, Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai each won one.
"2015 represents a year of diversity," said George Peterson, president of AutoPacific, in a statement. "Competition is fierce and no one auto maker dominates the results."
The VSAs, announced Tuesday, support the findings of J.D. Power's Initial Quality Study – released June 17 – which also showed marked improvement by Kia and its sister auto maker, Hyundai. That study measures problems experienced by vehicle owners during the first 90 days of ownership.
"Kia and Hyundai are continually improving owner satisfaction in key areas like reliability and quality, yet are also hitting the mark with safety, braking, handling, styling and seat comfort, not to mention a very satisfying warranty program," said Peterson.
The VSAs are based on 66,000 survey responses from owners of new 2015 model year vehicles.
Respondents rate 50 attributes for importance in the purchase decision and satisfaction after purchase. In all, 274 models from 33 brands were considered.
The 2014 overall winner was the Mercedes-Benz S-Class.
THE 2015 VSA WINNERS
- Most satisfying vehicle overall: Kia K900
- Highest satisfaction, premium brand: Tesla
- Highest satisfaction, popular brand: GMC
- Luxury Car: Kia K900
- Aspirational luxury cCar: Volvo S60
- Luxury mid-size car: Lexus ES
- Large car: Kia Cadenza
- Mid-size car: Hyundai Sonata
- Premium compact car: Lexus CT 200h
- Compact car: Kia Soul (tie), Volkswagen Jetta, Volkswagen Beetle
- Economy car: Honda Fit
- Sports car: Chevrolet Corvette
- Sporty car: Dodge Challenger
- Heavy-duty pickup: Ford F-Series Super Duty
- Light-duty pickup: Ford F-150
- Compact pickup: Kia Sportage
- Luxury SUV: Infiniti QX80
- Large SUV: Chevrolet Tahoe
- Mid-size SUV: Jeep Grand Cherokee
- Premium luxury crossover SUV: BMW X5 (tie), Mercedes-Benz ML
- Mid-size crossover SUV: Honda CR-V
- Compact crossover SUV: Kia Sportage
- Minivan: Nissan Quest
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