Quality, Function & Passion

People are happier when things don’t break. But they are also happy when they know they’ve made a choice they’ll long feel good about

By Gary S. Vasilash

In making observations in relation to the findings of the JD Power 2026 US Automotive Performance, Execution and Layout (APEAL) Study, Frank Hanley, senior director of auto benchmarking said something that ought to make all OEMs sit up and take notice:

“Quality alone isn’t enough.”

Now it must be noted that quality is absolutely important. But other aspects of a given vehicle that can make or break the perception it evokes in the owner.

And this goes to a point that Hanley made in June, when the JD Power 2026 US Initial Quality Study (IQS) was released. He noted: “The biggest gains in quality come from features that are easy to use—simple controls, less-intrusive driver assistance and software that works the way customers expect.”

That is, quality isn’t just a matter of fit and finish, of vehicles that work reliably, but of the intangibles that are made manifest.

“How Do I Do That?”

While that last bit may sound a bit strange, consider:

I recently had the opportunity to drive a new vehicle with a new infotainment system. This new system was widely anticipated as the previous one was rather vintage and not very well received in general.

But the new one, at first blush, seemed to have it all:

Big screen. Crisp graphics. Understandable icons. It looks fresh and functional.

But then I attempted to tune the radio. I tapped away at the screen. Not a good experience. I could only see the call signs (i.e., the numbers associated with a station) one at a time, not what was before or after it (which would help make the process somewhat quicker).

More Than Just Drivers

Most OEMs like to talk about how their vehicles are “driver-centric.” And according to the US Census Bureau more than two thirds of vehicles bringing people to and from work have one person in the vehicle so that makes sense. It seems.

But it turns out that most vehicle trips are made for social, recreational, and shopping purposes and in those cases, there is generally another person in the vehicle.

Who has been a passenger in a vehicle riding shotgun and hasn’t wanted to adjust the radio volume?

In the vehicle in question, no knob and not an obvious way for the front passenger to make an adjustment. (There are steering wheel controls for that.)

“Features that are easy to use.” Yes, that key consideration

While the vehicle in question may manifest quality in the fit and finish and the use of materials, because there is a lack of “features that are easy to use,” even though that may not be obvious and is initially intangible (I imagine several people who are at a dealership, sitting in the nice interior, don’t realize what isn’t there, like a knob), it subtracts from the quality of the overall user experience.

And in the APEAL study JD Power found, “Challenges with infotainment systems, vehicle setup and technology features continue to dampen owner satisfaction, suggesting that many new models are not delivering the visceral excitement owners expect.”

I suspect that is a nice way of saying they feel a visceral something else that wouldn’t be polite to say.

More Than Velocity

“The APEAL Study asks owners to consider 37 attributes, ranging from the sense of comfort they feel when climbing into the driver’s seat to their exhilaration when they step on the accelerator.”

Given the “step on the accelerator” characteristic, it isn’t surprising that at the top of the Premium category there’s Porsche. It is surprising that MINI is at the top because while it is peppy, “exhilaration” is not a word I’d associate with even stomping on the accelerator, although I do think that MINI does a fine job of the layout of its interiors and have a design theme consistency that other OEMs would be wise to copy since all to many have interiors that seem like something borrowed from here, there and anywhere. So clearly MINI is overachieving on things other than 0 to 60.

But looking at the entire list of those which have received top spots from those surveys brings up some notable absences, especially for brands that do well as regards sales.

Winners

As for the Overall Model for the 2026 JD Power 2026 APEAL Study—a singular thing by its very title—there is a tie, which means there are two.

But these two are, in effect, siblings: the BMW 7 Series and the BMW X6. Clearly, the folks in Munich have a handle on things.

BMW also has the top spots in Small Premium Car (2 Series), Upper Midsize Premium Car (5 Series), Large Premium Car (7 Series), Small Premium SUV (X2).

And it is worth noting that MINI is within the BMW Group, so MINI’s top of the chart for Mass Market APEAL provides more credit to the German brand. And the MINI Countryman took the Small SUV category.

And on the subject of groups, Hyundai Motor Group, which encompasses Hyundai and Kia, did well. Compact Car went to the Kia K4 and the Midsize Car went to the Kia K5. (Some of you may remember when “Car” was synonymous with Detroit. No more.) And the Kia Carnival took the top spot for minivans. (Remember when “Minivan” was synonymous with a particular brand from Detroit?)

While the Hyundai Palisade in number-one in the Upper Midsize SUV category—which should come as no surprise to anyone who has been in a Palisade of late (or ever, for that matter)—what is something of a surprise is that the Hyundai Santa Cruz, which is going out of production, ranked highest in APEAL in the Midsize Pickup category.

Quality & Quality

But getting back to the BMW Group, the aforementioned “quality” is something that the two brands—BMW and MINI—have in their own respective ways.

Let’s face it: BMW is a luxury brand, so it should come as little surprise that its products are so well represented.

But Mercedes has one APEAL category winner (C-Class). Porsche has the 911 leading the Premium Sporty Car category. JLR has the Jagaur F-Pace at the top of Compact Premium SUV and the Land Rover Defender in Midsize Premium SUV. Cadillac has the Escalade in the Large Premium SUV category.

No Lexus. No Lincoln. No Audi. No Genesis. No Acura. No Infiniti.

Yes, the competition in that space is tough, but when BMW brand takes five categories as well as having the highest-ranking overall models, it is clear they are doing plenty right.

And as for the performance of MINI, perhaps this goes to the point that even though it is in the Mass Market category, it really isn’t a mass brand: through the first half of 2026 there were just 13,717 MINIs sold in the US.

And one might also conclude that the MINI owners surveyed by JD Power are just deeply passionate about their choice in a way that more mass-market vehicle owners aren’t, so that may have skewed things a bit.

But maybe that’s the key ingredient that is missing in many vehicles on offer today: passion.

If you get the quality right, then you need something more, something that makes the vehicle stand out—but not necessarily to the world at large, but to the owner. Make it something the owner, even if she or he doesn’t boast about it out loud, feels really, really good about.

According to the latest figures from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the average age of cars on the road in 2025 was 14.5 years. It was 11.9 years for light trucks. This means 12.8 years overall.

Making something people will do more than unthinkingly tolerate isn’t easy.

But odds are there is a good return on making that investment, both for the vehicle bought today as well as for what is likely to be bought the next time.