Tesla Model S tops Consumer Reports Customer Satisfaction Survey with 99 score, the ‘highest satisfaction score we’ve seen in years’

Lots of people love their cars. But as we’ve consistently seen in our yearly owner-satisfaction ratings, the vehicles that inspire the strongest loyalty are ones that are fun to drive, deliver great fuel economy, are fashionably green, or envelop you in a high-tech, luxurious driving environment. So perhaps it shouldn’t be a surprise that the Tesla Model S all-electric luxury sports sedan, which provides all of those attributes in one car, topped our latest ratings with the highest satisfaction score we’ve seen in years: 99 out of 100.

While the $89,650 Model S isn’t for everyone, we did draw about 600 survey responses from owners of  2012 and 2013 models. Moreover, its owner-satisfaction score matches the near-perfect 99 overall test score that the Tesla earned in our test program, which made it our highest-rated vehicle. It stands out for its innovative design, outstanding performance, surprising practicality, long 200-mile-plus driving range for an electric car, and low driving costs.

Other models that topped their categories in our latest owner-satisfaction ratings are the Porsche Boxstersports car (which was second overall), Audi A6 luxury sedan, Mazda6 midsized sedan, Subaru Forester SUV, V8 Dodge Charger large sedan, and diesel-powered Volkswagen Golf TDI compact car.

Our annual owner-satisfaction survey, conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center, asks Consumer Reports magazine and Web subscribers a key, revealing question, “Considering all factors (price, performance, reliability, comfort, enjoyment, etc.), would you get this car if you had it to do all over again?” A model’s score is based on the percentage of respondents who answered “definitely yes.” This year, we received responses on about 350,000 vehicles and more than 285 models and variants spanning the 2011 through 2014 model years.