Advertisement

Least satisfying vehicle rankings seek to highlight the worst cars of the year



Consumer Reports polls its members on all sorts of topics related to how they buy and use products ranging from mobile phones to humidifiers for indoor plants. Cars are regularly one of CR’s most interesting topics, and its recent study on the least satisfying vehicles to own offers insights into the cars people wish they hadn’t purchased.

CR polled thousands of members with questions about what they liked and disliked about the vehicle they’d owned for a few years. When asked if they would definitely repurchase the same car, the following vehicles came back as the least likely to be purchased a second time:

When Autoblog tested the VW Atlas Cross Sport in March 2022, we liked the styling and the price was right, but it lagged rivals in driving excitement and interior quality. A number of recalls don’t help the Cross Sport’s cause much, either, as some models have more than a dozen actions by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Even the 2023 model already has four recalls. The annoyance of recalls and the hassle of just-average reliability ratings could have played into the Cross Sport’s place as the least satisfying vehicle.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Chevrolet Corvette earned the top spot as CR's most satisfying car. The Porsche 911, Rivian R1T, Ford Maverick Hybrid, and Hyundai Ioniq 5 round out the top-five most satisfying vehicles to own. Given the rabid following the 911 has built over the years and the insane performance Chevy derived from the latest Corvette, it’s not surprising to see them in the top spots.

Related video: