Porsche, Jaguar, BMW Again Top Most-Appealing List

Volkswagen AG's Porsche is America's most appealing automotive brand for the eighth consecutive year, according to the annual Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) survey by J.D. Power and Associates.

Porsche scored 887 out of a possible 1,000 points this year. Second and third place were again won by Jaguar (877 points) and BMW (859 points), respectively.

The Power poll assesses the appeal of new vehicles during the first 90 days of ownership in terms of 80 attributes that cover everything from style and performance to value and dealership experience.

Rounding out this year's top 10 are Audi (848 points), Mercedes-Benz (844), Land Rover (833), Lexus (833), Cadillac (823), Infiniti (823) and Acura (816). The industry average was 788 points.

Anchoring the bottom of the list are Suzuki (745 points), Smart (752), Mitsubishi (752), Subaru (761), Scion (764), Jeep (764), Fiat (768), Nissan (769), Mazda (770) and Honda (771).

Power reports that 60% of this year's respondents replaced their vehicle with one of the same size, 27% downsized and 13% upsized. The average trade-in was 6 years old.

Average APEAL scores are climbing for smaller cars. Power says that's because those models now perform better and are equipped with many features formerly found only in larger vehicles. The firm notes that the average score for small cars this year equals the score for midsize cars in the 2008 survey.