Auburn Hills, Mich. : Automotive research group AutoPacific announced has announced that FCA brands have won six awards in its 24th annual Vehicle Satisfaction Awards (VSA), including two each for Alfa Romeo and Ram.
Dodge Challenger again outmuscled the competition, winning the VSA for Sports/Sporty Car for the fourth year in a row.
Based on results from AutoPacific’s New Vehicle Satisfaction Survey, which measures owner satisfaction via 27 individual vehicle attributes, the Vehicle Satisfaction Awards recognize the most satisfying cars, SUVs, and light trucks on the market.
For 2020, AutoPacific’s most satisfying vehicles include the Alfa Romeo Giulia (Standard Luxury Car) and Stelvio (Standard Luxury Crossover SUV), Chrysler 300 (Large Car), Dodge Challenger (Sports/Sporty Car), and Ram 1500 (Full-Size Pickup).
The Ram brand earns the prestigious title of Highest Satisfaction Popular Brand.
“AutoPacific VSAs give consumers true, unbiased insight into which vehicles are providing their owners with the most satisfying experience,” AutoPacific President George Peterson said.
An industry benchmark for measuring how satisfied owners are with their new vehicles, AutoPacific’s VSAs are based on survey responses from more than 73,000 new-vehicle owners.
Ram Truck
The Ram 1500, for the second straight year, captures the FullSize Pickup VSA from AutoPacific. The benchmark for light-duty full-size trucks, the Ram 1500 received high marks in the New Vehicle Satisfaction Survey for interior styling and storage, driver’s seat ingress/egress, and innovative storage solutions.
For 2021, the Ram 1500 has no intention of slowing down — literally — with the introduction of the 702-horsepower Ram 1500 TRX, the quickest, fastest and most powerful mass-produced truck in the world.
Building not only on the strength of the Ram 1500 but also it’s the entire lineup of trucks and vans, Ram Truck earns the distinction of AutoPacific’s Highest Satisfaction Popular Brand, reflecting the portfolio’s top-rated performance in the following attributes: exterior and interior design, driver’s seat visibility, front-seat comfort, passenger roominess, safety features, fun to drive, braking, handling, ride, power and acceleration.
Alfa Romeo Giuliaand Stelvio
For the 2020 model year, both the Alfa Romeo Giulia and Stelvio received significant interior and technology updates, including enhanced driver touchpoints, a new 8.8-inch touchscreen display, and available level II autonomous driving functions. Per AutoPacific’s survey, owners recognized the improvements, elevating Alfa Romeo’s core models to best-in-class satisfaction scores for Standard Luxury Car (Giulia) and Standard Luxury Crossover SUV (Stelvio).
The Giulia earned top marks for its safety features, infotainment, pricing, front-seat comfort, and increased Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) content, while the Stelvio received high ratings for its pricing, driver’s seat ingress/egress, and exterior size and design.
Dodge Challenger
For the fourth year in a row, the Dodge Challenger has won the AutoPacific VSA for the Sports/Sporty Car segment, this year securing high scores in 17 of 27 satisfaction attributes. Most notable among these attributes were Challenger’s power, acceleration, and braking, fun-to-drive character, passenger roominess, and exterior design.
Earlier this year, Dodge launched its newest drag-racing machine — the 807-horsepower 2020 Challenger SRT Super Stock, the quickest and most powerful muscle car. For the 2021 model year, Dodge brings added performance to the Challenger’s naturally-aspirated 6.4-liter “392” HEMI® lineup with the Widebody Challenger R/T Scat Pack Shaker and T/A 392.
Chrysler 300
Loaded with segment-exclusive features and advanced technology, including a standard TorqueFlite eight-speed automatic transmission, available all-wheel drive with front-axle disconnect, and the award-winning Uconnect 4C system with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and largest-in-class 8.4-inch touchscreen, the Chrysler 300 overshadowed all competitors to win this year’s Large Car VSA.
According to AutoPacific, the 300 received top marks for cargo access and capacity, cargo area lighting, driver’s seat ingress/egress, exterior design, interior quietness, cruising range, and wheel size and style.
For 2021, the Chrysler 300 boasts additional standard content, including ParkSense front and rear park assist system, Blind-spot Monitoring, and Rear Cross Path detection for Touring L and 300S.
A new Popular Equipment Package is available, featuring a dual-pane panoramic sunroof, Uconnect 4C Navigation, five-year SiriusXM Traffic, and SiriusXM Travel Link service, and nine-speaker surround sound system.