The 2016 J.D. Power & Associates APEAL Study finds that owners of the Toyota RAV4 are the most satisfied compact crossover owners. The RAV4 and Honda CR-V are both excellent vehicles and run neck and neck in the sales race in the U.S. market. Oddly, the Honda CR-V didn’t even finish second or third. Those two slots went to the Ford Escape and Mazda CX-5.
The J.D. Power & Associates U.S. Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) study is interesting because it goes into such detail. It asks folks that have had their new vehicle for 90 days very specific questions regarding their satisfaction with 90 parameters of their vehicle. The study has been conducted now for over 20 years and is used by automakers to help them refine their vehicles to suit the tastes of the customers in that vehicle’s segment.
Toyota and Lexus vehicles appeared in the top three of seven categories.
Honda's only vehicle to break into the top three in any segment was the Odyssey, finishing third in the minivan section behind a Kia and Toyota. Despite that disparity, Toyota and Honda were separated by just one point in the Nameplate rankings by J.D. Power & Associates.