It's getting harder and harder to find a car that's worth hating.
For 20 years, the J.D. Power APEAL study has scored brands and vehicles on a scale of 1,000 to determine how gratifying they are to own and drive.
Renee Stephens, V.P. of U.S. automotive quality, says two decades ago, it wasn't unusual for some brands and cars to score in the mid 500's.
In 2015, most brands scored in the high 700's to mid 800's.
And Stephens says the gap is narrowing between luxury and non-luxury brands, as well as the gap between the highest scoring and lowest scoring.
That gap has declined by 21% since 1995.
This year, the highest score went to Porsche, which scored 874 out of a possible 1,000, and the lowest went to smart: 683.
Most brands were clustered in the middle, with a number of Japanese brands falling below the industry average (Mitsubishi, Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Subaru, Scion, and Mazda) and some Detroit, Korean, and European brands above the industry average (Kia, Ford, Buick, Ram, GMC, Volkswagen, Hyundai.)
