A Comprehensive Look At What TTAC Readers Drive, In Three Charts

In December, we conducted an informal survey of what TTAC readers are driving via a Question of the Day format. I’m happy to say that the results of that questionnaire are finally available, and we have our best look yet at what kind of cars TTAC readers are driving.

With the help of a B&B member who wishes to remain anonymous, the responses were compiled into an Excel spreadsheet and analyzed. Our own chart master Tim Cain drew up a couple graphs to better represent the pertinent data points in this exercise.

According to our data, the Honda Accord is the most popular car among TTAC readers is the Honda Accord. This is probably the least surprising data point in the whole set. The Accord is consistently recognized by everyone from the buff books to consumer oriented publications as the best blend of driving dynamics, reliability, value and practicality, and all of these are attributes that TTAC readers seem to value greatly.

Other stalwarts like the Ford Mustang, Mazda MX-5 and Ford Ranger also ranked fairly high. What surprised me was the Toyota Corolla, the supposed paragon of appliance-like motoring, coming in at #6. Not a single Panther made the top 20 list. A mere 19 respondents admitted to owning Panther platform cars, which would rank them, in aggregate, just behind the Golf and ahead of the Cherokee. Of those, 8 were Town Cars, representing the single most popular Panther nameplate. Of the editors with recent new vehicles, Jack owns an Accord, Bark has a Mustang and I have a Mazda3, all of which rank in the top half.

Volkswagen, which has a nearly satanic reputation among the commenters for poor reliability, is evidently a fan favorite, with the Jetta ranking fourth, the GTI tied for ninth and the Golf coming in at Volkswagen had three vehicles in the top 20, ahead of Honda, Nissan, Toyota and Mazda, and the Beetle and Passat came in tied for 20th place with the Mazda Protege and Jeep Wrangler.

Speaking of Volkswagen, the German conglomerate ranks as the third most popular auto maker. Ford is number one with a bullet, followed by Honda. Mazda is also exceptionally popular relative to their position in the overall marketplace, and while no individual BMW model ranked in our top 20, as a whole they merited seventh place.

To me, this is the most interesting chart. TTAC’s breakdown shares some distinct similarities with the United States automotive market, and also some major differences. Yes, Ford and GM dominate, but Volkswagen could only dream of 11.2 percent market share in America. Honda is also much, much stronger than Toyota on planet TTAC, which has Mazda (!!) nipping at its heels. Hyundai-Kia, a global juggernaut, is bested by tiny Subaru. But one thing that stays constant – a handful of auto makers duke it out for the spoils, with everyone else left waiting for table scraps.