Study Shows Auto Consumers Want it all When Choosing Next Car

Study Shows Auto Consumers Want it all When Choosing Next Car: Better Performance and Greater Gas Mileage

CarGurus Online Survey of Automotive Consumers Reveals Conflicting Goals. Top Reasons for Buying their Next Car Include ‘Better Performance’ and ‘Greater Gas Mileage.’

New Technology (GPS, Bluetooth, etc.) Receives Surprisingly Few Votes.

CarGurus.com, a leading online automotive community, today announced the results of a survey of more than 250 online automotive consumers. Between January 1 and February 15, 2007, visitors to www.cargurus.com were asked to choose from a list of ten reasons for buying their next car. According to this survey, the most popular reasons for buying their next car include:

1. Better Gas Mileage: Tied for first place was the desire for better gas mileage. This is not completely surprising, given the recent increases in gasoline prices. However, this finding does appear to run counter to the other factor tied for first place — the desire for better performance (acceleration and handling). Typically, higher performance cars have worse gas mileage. It appears that online auto consumers want to have it all — better performance and better gas mileage.

2. Better Performance: Also tied for first place was the desire for better performance (acceleration and handling). The majority of visitors to www.cargurus.com are from the United States, and Americans do love cars with fast acceleration, tight cornering and responsive braking. This apparent conflict in goals might be surmountable, given the advent of hybrid technology. Some manufacturers have developed hybrid muscle cars like the Lexus GS 450h, which has strong acceleration and surprisingly good gas mileage. The Lexus GS 450h accelerates from 0-60 in 5.5 seconds, but gets more than 28 miles to the gallon.

Other Findings: New technology not a factor in buying: One surprising finding was that new technology (GPS, mapping, Bluetooth phone support, etc.) did not receive many votes. Only 8% of responses cited new technology as a reason to buy a new car.

“When it comes to buying their next car, it appears that online auto consumers are not willing to sacrifice,” said Langley Steinert, Founder and CEO of CarGurus. “They want the performance they have come to expect in their cars but also improved gas mileage. Auto manufacturers have addressed some of this apparent conflict with new power technologies like hybrids. Time will tell if hybrids are enough to address this conflict of interest. We have a vocal community at CarGurus, and they have spoken on what features they want in their next cars.”