In the annual J.D. Power and Associates Automotive Performance, Execution, and Layout Study, results indicated Americans are less satisfied with their new vehicles than they were in 2007 due to increased focus on fuel economy.

The co-director of the study, David Sargent, said in a statement, "Even though more consumers are now achieving the gas mileage they expect compared with previous years, the increased cost of filling their vehicles still leads to a greater level of dissatisfaction with fuel economy than in the past."

This change in sentiment did not, however, change the fact that the brands most pleasing to customers did not get high marks for fuel efficiency including Porsche, Jaguar, and BMW in the top three positions. The vehicles at the bottom of the "pleasing" scale included Jeep, Subaru, and Suzuki respectively.

Customers did indicate satisfaction with high tech features like audio, entertainment, and navigation systems so long as those feature "works well and is intuitive," said Sargent.

Honda took more segment awards than any other automaker with the Fit, Ridgeline, and Odyssey as the most favored vehicles. Overall, however, the owner gratification score for Honda declined 12 points over 2007.

Buick was awarded the biggest improvement in satisfaction with a 20 point jump will Toyota's Scion saw the greatest decrease with a 36 point fall.