Auto Trends

Taking to the streets in your new compact or luxury sedan is one thing, but what about off the streets in a new pickup or mid-sized SUV. Which work vehicles and family haulers have taken center stage for consumers so far for 2008? Alan Dean and Vince Bucciachio from BrandIntel.com offer their insight through their 2008 Consumer Voice Awards.

For the Large Pickup Truck Segment, the Overall Bread-Winner is the — Nissan Titan

Consumer Comments: Most consumers are commenting, “The Titan’s 5.6 liter, 317 horsepower, V8 engine provides ample and responsive power.” But with size comes more gas, so there is also a fair amount of complaints that the Titan uses too much gas (12 mpg city/17 highway). But so do most of the other large pickups in this class, so they are far from being alone.

The one aspect that they could stand to listen to consumers and experts about is offering a diesel engine. But even with this handicap, the Titan is by far and away the most highly praised truck for 2008.

Share of Consumer Discussion — 15%

Sentiment — Very High

Consumers Like — The Engine and Performance

Consumers Dislike — The Low Fuel Economy

Most Significant Rival is the — Dodge Ram

The Dodge Ram has been on top of many consumers list for years now. They comment on its, “Bold and aggressive exterior”. But what has also captured their attention is its improvements in “torque, horsepower, and better fuel economy”. It is hard to believe that the words more horsepower and better fuel economy could be used in the same sentence, but in the case of the 5.7 liter Hemi Dodge, they can. The Hemi V-8 gets an improved 345 horsepower, which is significantly over the Titan, while maintaining a 15 mpg city/19 mpg highway.

While the Dodge Ram is by no means a “new” release (the Titan was released in 2004), it has “made the most significant ground in 2008” according to most consumers who still stand behind their Dodge’s.

The overall most popular and liked vehicles among consumers in the Large Pickup Truck segment:

9^th Place— Lincoln Mark LT 1% popularity, low sentiment

8^th Place— Cadillac Escalade EXT 1% popularity, low sentiment

7^th Place— Toyota Tundra 20% popularity, low sentiment

6^th Place— Ford F-Series 42% popularity, medium sentiment

5^th Place— Chevrolet Avalanche 1% popularity, high sentiment

4^th Place— GMC Sierra 5% popularity, very high sentiment

3^rd Place— Chevrolet Silverado 8% popularity, high sentiment

2^nd Place— Dodge Ram 9% popularity, high sentiment

1^st Place— Nissan Titan 15% popularity, high sentiment

For the Mid-Size SUV Segment, the Overall Bread-Winner is the — Mercury Mariner

Consumer Comments: Consumer who have driven the new Mercury Mariner rave about its, “comfortable, high-quality and luxurious interior”. They also have a very high opinion of the external updates that the Mariner received for 2008, in particular its “expanded ‘waterfall’ grille and larger Mercury badge”.

To Mercury’s credit, consumers online were not found to really have any significant dislikes about the Mariner worth mentioning. This is one of the rare SUV’s that have made it through a release without at least some negative criticism.

Share of Consumer Discussion — 9%

Sentiment — Very High

Consumers Like — Exterior Styling, Comfort, Interior Styling, Performance, and Overall Quality

Consumers Dislike — Nothing to Speak of

Most Significant Rival is the — Toyota RAV4

Consumer Comments: The engine of the RAV4 is really what has stood out for consumers so far this year. The 3.5 liter V-6 has proven itself with both the enthusiasts and daily drivers alike. While it produces 269 horsepower, 246 lb-ft of torque, and can launch from 0-60 in just 7.2 seconds, the RAV4’s V-6 gets close to the same fuel economy as a much less powerful four-cylinder. It is capable of 19 mpg city/27 mpg highway and all consumers certainly could appreciate that.

The RAV4 was not as lucky as the Mariner in that it did appear to have a significant drawback for the consumer, and that was its, “quality of interior materials which both felt and looked cheap”.

The overall most popular and liked vehicles among consumers in the Large Pickup Truck segment:

10^th Place— KIA Sorento 1% popularity, very high sentiment

9^th Place— Suzuki XL-7 1% popularity, very high sentiment

8^th Place— Mitsubishi Outlander 1% popularity, very high sentiment

7^th Place— Nissan Xterra 2% popularity, high sentiment

6^th Place— Hyundai Santa Fe 2% popularity, high sentiment

5^th Place— Honda Element 3% popularity, medium sentiment

4^th Place— Mazda Tribute 3% popularity, high sentiment

3^rd Place— Jeep Wrangler 5% popularity, very high sentiment

2^nd Place— Toyota RAV4 7% popularity, medium-high sentiment

1^st Place— Mercury Mariner 9% popularity, very high sentiment

As summer approaches it is once again time to get your bling-on with a brand new luxury sedan. But with so many to choose from, how are you supposed to know which ones are functional, and which are just that… bling. Alan Dean and Vince Bucciachio from BrandIntel.com offer their insight through their 2008 Consumer Voice Awards.

The first obvious point to mention upon looking at the results of BrandIntel’s research is that luxury sedan manufacturers in general are doing their job. The sentiments consumers had for this group of vehicles was fairly satisfactory for the most part. Another important point to come out of this is the return of the American made vehicle as a standard of quality.

For a long time now, the American consumer has been driven towards imports as the standard of quality and value for their money. Well, step aside BMW, Volvo, Audi, and Acura… we have a new king on the streets and it is American made!

Overall Bread-Winner — Cadillac CTS

Consumer Comments: “The newly redesigned Cadillac CTS can compete with many higher-end imports.” Consumers have been particularly impressed with the quality and performance of GM’s new 3.6 liter (DI) Direct Injection V-6 engine available now in North America.

The new 3.6 is capable of 304 horsepower, which easily rivals the Ford Mustang’s 4.6 liter (3-valve) V-8, which only puts out 300. The standard 3.6 liter Cadillac engine has 258 horsepower, which is plenty of low end grunt for the average consumer. The base engine also has an optional (AWD) All-Wheel-Drive transmission for their automatics.

Share of Consumer Discussion — 38%

Sentiment — 3.9

Consumers Like — Exterior Styling, Interior Styling, Quality, Value, and Performance

Consumers Dislike — Front Grille, Cadillac Image, and low Fuel Economy

Most Significant Rival — Lexus IS

Consumers believe that the Lexus IS offers a great build quality and is one of the most reliable vehicles in the luxury sedan segment. Consumers particularly love its “spacious trunk”. But on that same coin, consumers complained about its “ cramped rear seating”. As with most things in life, if you make something better, you are probably making something worse somewhere else.

Do you want trunk space or seating space? You can’t have it all unless you are talking about the 20 foot long Rolls Royce Phantom, which tilts the scales at 6,300 lbs and tilts your wallet even further beyond entry-level and directly into bankruptcy with its $350,000 price tag.

The overall most popular and liked vehicles among consumers in the Entry-Level Luxury car segment:

10^th Place— Chrysler 300 3% popularity, medium sentiment

9^th Place— Saab 9-3 5% popularity, high sentiment

8^th Place— Infinity G35 7% popularity, high sentiment

7^th Place— Mercedes C-Class 8% popularity, high sentiment

6^th Place— BMW 3-Series 10% popularity, high sentiment

5^th Place— Audi A4 10% popularity, high sentiment

4^th Place— Volvo S60 2% popularity, very high sentiment

3^rd Place— Acura TL 5% popularity, very high sentiment

2^nd Place— Lexus IS 6% popularity, very high sentiment

1^st Place— Cadillac CTS 38% popularity, very high sentiment

The experts are always quick to tell us what vehicles we should be purchasing, but what about consumer opinion? That has got to be factored in somewhere, and I’m not talking about a controlled survey. We want to know real world opinion on real world cars. How they react, control, maintain, perform, and most importantly, function.

We spoke with Alan Dean and Vince Bucciachio of BrandIntel.com about their 2008 Consumer Voice Awards last week. These are basically the awards that consumers like yourselves have unknowingly contributed through various web forums and discussions on the Internet.

BrandIntel.com, uses their technology to scan various forums on the Internet and note what the discussions are taking place and what consumers are saying about the various makes and models of vehicles on the market.

The winners of these awards are based on the calculation of each vehicles popularity, sentiment, likes and dislikes, and overall opinion from the consumers who own and drive these various vehicles everyday.

Let’s open the show with the Compact Car Segment Winner for 2008:

…And the winner for 2008 was unanimously the Mitsubishi Lancer.

Consumer Comments: “The newly, redesigned “shark nosed” 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer offers aggressive styling cues and a high-performance, fun-to-drive experience.” The Mitsubishi “brand image” however, was a key detractor for some consumers, but it wasn’t enough to drop the overall sentiment of the Lancer.

Consumer ratings:

Share of overall Consumer Discussion — 10% popularity

Consumer Likes — Exterior Styling, Performance, Value, Fun, and Unique Presence

Consumer Dislikes — Horsepower, Refinement, and Image

Most Significant Rival:

BMW 1-Series
The BMW 1-Series made its North American debut this year and the consumers have been talking about it non-stop on the forums.

Consumer comments: “The twin-turbocharged 135i coupe should have great performance potential.” On the negative, mainstream consumers are critical of its styling, saying, “The front fascia does not progress smoothly into the body of the vehicle.”

The overall most popular and liked vehicles among consumers in the compact car segment was:

10^th Place— Chevrolet Cobalt 2% popularity, medium sentiment

9^th Place— Nissan Versa 2% popularity, high sentiment

8^th Place— Honda Fit 2% popularity, high sentiment

7^th Place— Toyota Corolla 3% popularity, medium sentiment

6^th Place— Volkswagen GTI 3% popularity, high sentiment

5^th Place— Mazda Mazda3 4% popularity, high sentiment

4^th Place— Honda Civic 5% popularity, medium sentiment

3^rd Place— Scion XB 6% popularity, medium sentiment

2^nd Place— BMW 1-Series 9% popularity, medium sentiment

1^st Place— Mitsubishi Lancer 10% popularity, high sentiment