When it comes to shopping online, consumers say Cars.com is the best automotive third-party desktop site and that Kelley Blue Book is the best mobile site, according to the J.D. Power 2017 U.S. Automotive Website Evaluation Study Cross-Device report.

The study examines which current site functions and designs car buyers say is most effective when researching vehicles.

J.D. Power evaluated automotive third-party websites overall site function and the relevance of multiple site features to online shoppers.

In January, the consumer insights provider surveyed 8,525 new and used-car shoppers who visited automotive manufacturer websites’ shopping for a vehicle within the next 24 months.

"Over the past five years, we've seen an explosion of innovation that has been employed by third-party automotive sites, among others, to guide automotive shoppers through the process," Thomas King, vice president of PIN OEM operations, media & marketing at J.D. Power, said in a news release. "However, in the end, it always comes back to content and we have found that the top-performing sites are better at delivering key information on different devices."

Following Cars.com as the top ranking desktop site is Edmunds, followed by Carfax.

CarGurus and The Car Connection trail Kelly Blue Book as the second- and third-ranked mobile sites.

Seventy-six percent of highly satisfied shoppers on third-party websites say they "definitely will" visit the website in the future, and 75 percent say they "definitely will" recommend the site.

Navigation, appearance, information/content and speed are the four website satisfaction areas the study analyzed.

Website satisfaction is lowest for navigation.

The study finds that car buyers on a desktop computer significantly enjoy their experience navigating automotive websites more than mobile users.

Desktop evaluations totaled 4,259 and mobile evaluations totaled 4,266.

To read more information about the study and its methodology, visit http://www.jdpower.com/resource/us-automotive-website-evaluation-study-cross-device.