Consumer Reports’ Owner Satisfaction Survey reveals people are slightly less happy with the Model X than S, but not by much

Consumer Reports’ recently released 2016 Owner Satisfaction survey was, as usual, a big win for Tesla.  The electric automaker came in as the top brand once again, as they have every year they have been included in the survey.

The Model S also earned the top spot in the car-by-car ratings, with 94% satisfaction.  This is down from the 99% and 98% the car earned in its early years, which is understandable as the car reaches a wider audience beyond the most faithful early adopters.  The Model X wasn’t too far behind, with 88% satisfaction. See a partial table below the jump.

It is interesting that the X is several spots behind the Model S, likely due to reliability issues pointed out by Consumer Reports earlier this year.  There have been many reports of owners whose Model Xs spent significant time in the shop fixing initial quality issues, many due to the revolutionary Falcon Wing doors.  But as stated in our article, Tesla claims to have reduced Model X reliability issues by 92% since the earliest models, which should lead to less time in the shop and more satisfaction among owners.

There is also the possibility that, since the Model X targets a different market than the S – perhaps a slightly less techy, early-adopter crowd who are less prone to forgive early quality issues – that its score would naturally be a little lower than the Model S’.

Nonetheless, the Model X is only 6% and 6 spots behind the Model S, and only 1 point behind its direct competitor the Audi Q7, which suggests that reliability issues, while surely annoying to those owners who are experiencing them, are perhaps not as widespread or impactful as media headlines about the car would suggest.

The Model X’s popularity isn’t too surprising though, considering it is a car fit for a king after all.