Acura Tops J. D. Power’s Satisfaction List Again

The Acura luxury car division of Japan’s Honda Motor Co. has topped the J. D. Power & Associates list of cars most satisfying to their owners for the fourth year in a row, the marketing company said Friday.

The Agoura Hills-based research organization said its overall customer-satisfaction index rose about 3% to 122 points this year from last year.

The survey checks consumer attitudes about a variety of aspects of their vehicles and the dealerships they used. Power surveyed about 100,000 people who have owned 1989-model cars for the past 12 to 14 months.

Earlier this week, Power released its Initial Quality Survey, which looks into the number of problems reported by consumers during the first three months of ownership.

Index points are accumulated through consumers’ responses to a variety of questions about cars and dealerships.

Power declines to list cars whose points fall below the industry average.

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

‘89 ’88 Index Rank Model rank Pts. 1 Acura 1 154 2 Mercedes-Benz 2 148 3 Toyota 4 144 4 Cadillac 5 142 5 Honda 3 140 6 Nissan 6 135 7 Buick 10 130 tie Subaru 7 130 9 Porsche 15 129 10 BMW 8 127 tie Mazda 8 127 tie Audi 12 127 13 Volvo 12 126 14 Plymouth 11 124 tie Mercury 15 124 tie Mitsubishi 21 124 tie Volkswagen 26 124 18 Lincoln 17 122

* INDUSTRY AVERAGE: 122

Source: J. D. Power & Associates