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Tesla, Porsche and Genesis top Consumer Reports owner satisfaction survey

Tesla swept Consumer Reports' latest Ownership Satisfaction Survey results, notching the top spot among brands evaluated. Its Model S also netted the No. 1 spot among the top 10 most-satisfying cars. Porsche and Genesis, Hyundai's new luxury spinoff, rounded out the top three brands. The bottom of the rankings was anchored by Acura, while Mercedes-Benz notched the least-satisfying car in the survey with the GLA, proving that the results weren't equally kind to all luxury brands. Jake Fisher, director of automotive testing for Consumer Reports, told USA Today those brands suffered by introducing cheaper vehicles. The scores, on a 100-point scale, reflect whether owners say the vehicles from model years 2015 through 2018 met their expectations and whether they would buy the same car again. They measure ratings in six categories: driving experience, comfort, value, styling, audio and climate systems (what, no cupholders?). Effectively, it gauges how much people liked the car they bought. Reliability is not considered. The Honda Ridgeline outscored competitors in the compact pickup segment by a wide margin, while the Ford F-350 was among the top 10-ranked vehicles in the survey, the first time in at least five years that a pickup made it into the top 10, Consumer Reports said. In the brand survey, Chrysler rose four places to No. 4 on strong customer satisfaction with the Pacifica minivan, while Hyundai tumbled 11 spots to No. 24 and Lexus fell eight places to 18th. Rounding out the top 10 most satisfying cars were the Porsche 911, Chevrolet Corvette, Lincoln Continental, Mazda MX-5 Miata, Toyota Prius, Tesla Model X SUV, Honda Odyssey minivan and Dodge Challenger. Not surprisingly, most of those cars, and indeed most of the high-ranking brands, are those with strong brand loyalty, fan-like followings and/or those that strike a strong emotional chord with buyers. The full brand rankings are below. Tesla (90) Porsche (85) Genesis (81) Chrysler (78) Audi (76) Mazda (76) Subaru (76) Toyota (76) Honda (75) Lincoln (75) Mini (73) Ram (73) Kia (72) Chevrolet (72) BMW (72) GMC (72) Ford (70) Lexus (70) Volvo (69) Dodge (68) Jeep (68) Mercedes-Benz (67) Volkswagen (67) Hyundai (67) Buick (66) Cadillac (64) Infiniti (60) Mitsubishi (58) Nissan (58) Acura (58) Related Video: Green Genesis Porsche Tesla Ownership satisfaction

These were our favorite cars of 2022

Favorite cars is different than best cars. The idea of "best" can speak to value and overall competitiveness in a given vehicle segment. There's lots of objectivity involved and to do a "best" list right, one really must be very thorough and as scientific as possible. This is not that list. This is about our favorites, so objectivity be damned. If we liked a Challenger Hellcat because it made loud noises or a Honda Odyssey because it made for a particularly special family vacation, fair game. These were the cars that most spoke to our collection of editors and the ones that stayed in our minds and hung in our hearts long after they left our driveway. — Senior Editor James Riswick 2022 GMC Hummer EV Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder: I didn't particularly expect to like the new Hummer. I wasn't a fan of the Hummer H2 or H3, so I wasn't automatically enthusiastic about this electric reboot. Fast EVs aren't hard to come by — and, in fact, may be too easy to come by — so its performance specs weren't enough to win me over. Despite videos to the contrary, pickups aren't my favorite vehicular format. And its excessive size and weight turned me off ... until I finally got behind the wheel.  This thing is wildly entertaining to drive. Watts to Freedom launch control is a neat party trick, sure, but the novelty wears off quickly. The novelty of Crab Walk, however, has staying power. The rear-wheel steering makes this behemoth feel much smaller than it is — the maneuverability is incredible, and useful. The air suspension provides tons of clearance, including a ridiculously high-riding Extract mode. I can't wait for lesser versions of the Hummer to make their way to market. Give me less power (for less money), but keep the off-road tricks onboard, and I'll be a happy camper. Senior Editor, Consumer, Jeremy Korzeniewski: If I could afford to put one of these in my driveway, I would. Sadly, I can't, so I won't (What's that, Janet? I got the lyric wrong?). Still, I love the dumb thing. Thankfully, I have another choice down below. 2022 Porsche 911 GT3 Associate Editor Byron Hurd: Yeah, duh, Porsches are good. But there's good, and then there's GT3. This is the feeling every performance-oriented RWD tuner is trying to replicate. This is hard, precise, surgical and immensely satisfying. To begin to explore this car on a public road is by itself an admission that you believe yourself to be above the rules as they apply to normal drivers.

More details on Lanzante's F1-engined Porsche 930 restomod

Not long after last year's Porsche Rennsport Reunion, we posted on Lanzante Engineering's restomod project with the original Porsche 911 Turbo. McLaren Formula One used TAG-branded Porsche engines for four years in the 1980s to win two constructor's and three driver's championships. McLaren sold 11 of those engines to Lanzante — nine of which have been raced, one with a win to its credit — and Lanzante is installing them into the original chassis of some 930s. PistonHeads stopped by the shop to find out more. By the end of its service in the MP4/3, the TAG-Porsche TTE P01 motor rang up 1,060 horsepower in qualifying and 960 hp in the race, revving to a 12,600-rpm redline. Porsche engine legend Hans Mezger had led the development, coaxing those numbers from just 1.5-liters of V6 aided by two large KKK turbos at a max of four bar. All that was fine for a time when F1 ran with unlimited testing and unlimited parts, but a modern owner doesn't want to pay five techs to live in his garage and keep his car running. Lanzante asked Cosworth to make the engine more drivable and reliable. Cosworth installed a new crankcase, adjusted the air-fuel mixture, and installed smaller turbos for quicker power delivery, decreasing max boost by 25 percent to three bar (43 psi). The redline has come down to 9,000 rpm, for final output figures of 503 hp and 310 pound-feet of torque. According to PistonHeads, power climbs a "steady incline to redline," and more than half the rev band delivers maximum torque. The 503-hp rating doesn't sound like much today, when a Mustang gets more than 700 hp. Yet the first 930 Turbos got 296 hp and 243 lb-ft from a 3.0-liter flat-six with one big KKK turbo. The most powerful 930 Flatnose worked up 330 hp and 347 lb-ft from a 3.3-liter flat-six. Lanzante's taken out a ton of weight, though. The TAG engine is already 220 pounds lighter than the 930's 3.3-liter; a new carbon fiber hood and engine cover, and aluminum door skins shed more pounds. The total package weighs roughly 2,430 pounds, which is more than 500 pounds lighter than the original Porsche Turbo. That includes the extra pieces needed to make an F1 engine power a passenger car. Lanzante had to swap in a 930 Flatnose front bumper, which replaces the fog lights for oil coolers. The team put radiators at the front of the car as part of a brand new water cooling system. The climate control is entirely electric, because F1 cars didn't come with HVAC.