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America's best-loved cars
More than a quarter of new car buyers are downsizing, according to a new JD Power and Assoc. survey. That means they're buying smaller cars than the ones they're trading in. Only 13% are upsizing.

And those buying smaller cars are finding them much more enjoyable than ever before, according to the J.D. Power APEAL survey, which measures how much new car owners like their cars. The name stands for Automotive Performance Execution And Layout.

The Chevrolet Sonic, for instance, is the best-liked of all sub-compacts, just edging out the Fiat 500 and Ford Fiesta.

This survey has nothing to do with sales volume since plenty of cars sell well but don't make their owners as happy as cars that are purchased less often. Also, there's a tendency for more emotionally engaging or "quirky" cars to do well in this survey since owners tend to identify with them more, according to J.D. Power.

NEXT: Compact car - Chevrolet Volt
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These are the cars and trucks that new vehicle buyers end up liking the best.
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Aaron Craft’s late shot sends Ohio State past Iowa State, into NCAA tournament Sweet 16
With the score tied late and the clock winding down in the Buckeyes’ game against Iowa State, Craft was eerily calm near the top of the key. “I saw him get in his rhythm with each dribble,” Ohio State Coach Thad Matta would later say. The Buckeyes' junior guard barely seemed to notice the seconds ticking rapidly off the clock. In one quick motion, he stepped up and fired the three-pointer that would keep Ohio State’s tournament hopes alive.

Craft’s clutch basket with only 0.5 of a second left clinched a 78-75 win, sending the second-seeded Buckeyes to the Sweet 16 for a fourth straight year. The Big 10 champions are riding a 10-game winning streak into their Thursday night matchup against No. 6 Arizona in Los Angeles.

“Every kid dreams of moments like that,” Craft said. “Just very blessed to be in this situation with this group of guys.”

In the closing moments of Sunday’s game, Craft’s play was marked by a series of hard-to-believe plays, both the good and the bad. He accounted for two turnovers, whiffed on a layup, missed three free throws and was charged with a foul in the final 5 ½ minutes.

“I’m not sure you completely shut that out. I was trying to fight it,” Craft said of his miscues. “The best thing is, we were still in the game. Those mistakes, fortunately, didn’t come back to haunt us.”

Craft also drew a controversial charge on Iowa State’s Melvin Ejim on the Cyclones’ last significant possession, sliding under the forward as he drove to the basket.

John Adams, the NCAA’s coordinator of officials, said in a statement that the official “determined [Craft] established legal guarding position.” But in an interview with CBS after the game, Adams essentially said that the official made an incorrect call.

When it mattered most, though, no one in the arena doubted that Craft would want to take the final shot. “That’s who he is,” Iowa State Coach Fred Hoiberg said. “He’s been making those shots his entire time at Ohio State.”

After a back-and-forth opening half, the Buckeyes led for most of the second, but the pesky Cyclones refused to go away, despite missing its top defender, Chris Babb, who suffered a sprained ankle in the first half.

Midway through the half, Ohio State strung together a 13-2 run. LaQuinton Ross hit a pair of three-pointers and accounted for 10 points on his own during the stretch, giving the Buckeyes their largest lead of the game at 65-53.

The Cyclones slowly trimmed the lead, and with less than four minutes remaining, they tied it up, 69-69 when Korie Lucious drove to the hoop and drew a foul as he hit a layup with less than four minutes left on the clock. (Lucious is no stranger to tournament heroics; in a second-round game in 2010 while playing for Michigan State, Lucious hit a game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer to beat Maryland.)

After a pair of Buckeyes free throws, Tyrus McGee, the Cyclones sixth man, coolly drilled a three-point basket to give Iowa State its first lead since the half’s opening minute. A minute later on the other end of the court, Craft drove to the basket, sinking the bucket and drawing the foul. His free throw at the 2:35 mark put Ohio State back on top, 74-73.

The two teams traded free throws and the score was tied at 75-75 in the game's the final minute. That’s when Craft found himself alone with the ball, the stage set for the kind of tournament moment children dream about on the playground. Craft grew up barely 100 miles from University of Dayton Arena and many family and friends were among the sea of red in attendance Sunday.

“I was just trying to stay as calm and poised as possible,” Craft said. “The moment’s definitely bigger than me.”

The play was designed for a teammate, but when Craft noticed the Cyclones assigned their 6-foot-7 forward Georges Niang to guard him, the Buckeyes’ 6-foot-2 guard made the snap decision to take advantage of the mismatch.

“It was tremendous basketball play,” Matta said. “He made a great read.”

Until that moment, Craft hadn't attempted a single three-pointer, as he’d spent much of the afternoon penetrating, shooting 5 of 10 from the field. That’s part of the reason Hoiberg sent his big man to help control the perimeter.

“We wanted to keep them out of the paint,” the Cyclones coach said. “We wanted them to take a tough, contested jump shot.”

Craft finished the game with 18 points and six assists. DeShaun Thomas led the Buckeyes with 22 points and five rebounds. Providing a much-needed offensive spark off the bench, Ross finished with 17 for Ohio State in a game that saw 16 lead changes.

“That was as about as high-powered of a college basketball game as you can have,” Matta said.

And it included a finish that no Buckeyes fan, player or coach will soon forget.
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assistant: Aaron Craft’s shot just before the buzzer sends the Buckeyes past Iowa State and into Sweet 16.