CR ratings

No question we are getting dumber year.

chevman

otrfun wrote:
CR is just a tool--one of many. I say use (or not use) whatever tool(s) you need to help make your version of an informed decision.

Curious though. For those that don't put much faith in CR, where do you recommend people look to get good, accurate vehicle testing info?

Friends? Family? Search on the internet? From life's experiences? How did people do it before there ever was such a thing as a review written on anything? When one purchased a car or truck or appliances back in the 60's, even early 70's, you went by what others had told you, or maybe even went by an advertisement one had seen on TV...Now in today's media, everyone has an opinion and a lot of times JD Powers doesn't necessarily match up with CR...so, does one use their own mind and decide on their own? Or go by what a magazine states "is the best" to get? What happened to experience and common sense?

when one joined the military, did they read about it? use someone else's opinion?...how about getting married? Was their a "rating" out there by CR or JD Powers on longevity or maintenance, what kind of career to go into? How to raise kids. Don't recollect my parents reading ANY of those books..they did very well themselves and by three kids..



We're dumbed down to the point we're supposed to believe everything we read, and make sure we go by what something say's? Been married almost 44 years, glad I didn't believe all I read about being married and 50% ending in divorce and everything else I've read "for fact"...especially all the miracles that certain pills will help people do now a day's.....on occasion, one has to use their OWN mind to make a decision with and use a gift most have, but is rarely used today....common sense.

CR is just a tool--one of many. I say use (or not use) whatever tool(s) you need to help make your version of an informed decision.

Curious though. For those that don't put much faith in CR, where do you recommend people look to get good, accurate vehicle testing info?

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:

Ron3rd wrote:

Lowsuv wrote:
There is no reason to bash Consumer Reports .
I have followed their reports on everything since the 1970's .
They buy stuff and test it .
They do not allow advertising .
Every car report lists the shortcomings of every vehicle no matter how good .
This is way more reliable than the anecdotal stories expressed on the internet .
As regards cars I have bought plenty of them based on CR reports .
Every one of them were were winners that lived up to the reports .
More important is that CR steered me away from the lemons , of which there are many .
I bought 6 Toyotas based on CR Reports and all were excellent and way above average in their time frame .
1984 Supra , 1999 Avalon , 2001 Avalon , 1994 Lexus LS 400 , 1997 Lexus LS 400 , 1999 Lexus LS 400 .
CR also put me into a 1976 Buick , 1979 Mercedes 280E , 1981 Accord , 1986 Maxima , 1987 Maxima , 1991 Acura Legend , 2006 Mercedes E 350 4matic , 1996 Carrera , 1999 Carrera, and 2006 Carrera 4S .
Every one of those rides lived up to the rating that CR gave them .
CR sure beats flying blind .
Their testers have to come to a consensus before publishing .
Further, you can't beat CR for the wide range of products tested .
I have never found their reports to be inaccurate in 41 years of subscribing .

In the industry, theirs is the only voice that carries weight. Check out the big jump in Telsa stock when the CR announcement was made. They have their detractors in the public, but the auto industry knows they're the real deal and an endorsement by CR is money in the bank. Lots of "surveys" out there; KB, Edmonds, JD Powers, etc, etc, but none matter to the industry. BTW, the Ram kudos surprised me, they must be doing great things. Good for Dodge.

Link to story
Last week we reported on Consumer Reports’ annual auto issue, which includes its popular automaker report cards. There have been many vehicle launches over the past few years that have helped automakers like Ford and Volvo reach a level of competitiveness comparable to top Asian makes. Even so, it was still somewhat surprising to see Chrysler still at the bottom of the heap, especially with a new suite of vehicles on dealer lots.

Consumer Reports says it’s the reliability scores that are primarily keeping Chrysler from being competitive. But now the publication is acknowledging there are large swaths of missing reliability data for the automaker, according to Ward’s Automotive.

There a joke and will always be a joke. If you come out and admit that your data is flawed but print it anyway, IMO that make you liable.

Don

MAN!! I can't believe you're trying to confuse people with facts in here Don...come on man.

CR talked about Jeeps being trash for years..I've owned Grand Cherokee Ltds', Patriots, Liberties and even a Compass, (along with Wranglers) and all I EVER read was how terrible they were....DON'T BUY THIS...IT's HORRIBLE (yeah, I paraphrased)....NEVER EVER EVER had the first problem with ANY of them, have owned them since 82 and now have a Compass...zip, nil, nada wrong with any of them..BUT if I had went by what CR stated, I'd never even looked at one.

appliances? A/V equipment? bunch of fools...don't know who they use, but I know Audio/Video equipment and again,....just a bunch of iidiots that haven't "tried them all"...Though they FINALLY gave VIZIO a good rating even though I've been buying them for years and they should have blown up by now as bad as they were per CR, but I digress.

Yeah, they're a great magazine. if you believe EVERYTHING YOU READ...oh, and the little dog laughed to see such sport, and the fork ran away with the spoon...yeah, a fairy tale, just like much of CR is...forgive me if I hurt anyone's feelings by saying this..it's not "the Bible", just another magazine to look at or swat fly's with...nothing more, nothing less. Most should be able to use some common sense and a little research all by themselves to figure out what to buy for themselves...if not....how does one make the hard decisions in life...out of another magazine?????? really?????

Perrysburg Dodgeboy wrote:
Consumer Reports says it’s the reliability scores that are primarily keeping Chrysler from being competitive. But now the publication is acknowledging there are large swaths of missing reliability data for the automaker, according to Ward’s Automotive.

There a joke and will always be a joke. If you come out and admit that your data is flawed but print it anyway, IMO that make you liable.

Reliability data reporting has always been suspect to me in CR. The one that gets me is that with one brand (say, Toyota,) a new model will be introduced and CR will give it a high reliability rating based on previous models. However, another brand (maybe Ford or Chrysler) will introduce a new model and CR will not give it a reliability rating since it's a new model, even if previous models had high ratings. Inconsistent reporting of data like this to me makes their entire system of collecting data in the first place suspect.

Ron3rd wrote:

Lowsuv wrote:
There is no reason to bash Consumer Reports .
I have followed their reports on everything since the 1970's .
They buy stuff and test it .
They do not allow advertising .
Every car report lists the shortcomings of every vehicle no matter how good .
This is way more reliable than the anecdotal stories expressed on the internet .
As regards cars I have bought plenty of them based on CR reports .
Every one of them were were winners that lived up to the reports .
More important is that CR steered me away from the lemons , of which there are many .
I bought 6 Toyotas based on CR Reports and all were excellent and way above average in their time frame .
1984 Supra , 1999 Avalon , 2001 Avalon , 1994 Lexus LS 400 , 1997 Lexus LS 400 , 1999 Lexus LS 400 .
CR also put me into a 1976 Buick , 1979 Mercedes 280E , 1981 Accord , 1986 Maxima , 1987 Maxima , 1991 Acura Legend , 2006 Mercedes E 350 4matic , 1996 Carrera , 1999 Carrera, and 2006 Carrera 4S .
Every one of those rides lived up to the rating that CR gave them .
CR sure beats flying blind .
Their testers have to come to a consensus before publishing .
Further, you can't beat CR for the wide range of products tested .
I have never found their reports to be inaccurate in 41 years of subscribing .

In the industry, theirs is the only voice that carries weight. Check out the big jump in Telsa stock when the CR announcement was made. They have their detractors in the public, but the auto industry knows they're the real deal and an endorsement by CR is money in the bank. Lots of "surveys" out there; KB, Edmonds, JD Powers, etc, etc, but none matter to the industry. BTW, the Ram kudos surprised me, they must be doing great things. Good for Dodge.

Link to story
Last week we reported on Consumer Reports’ annual auto issue, which includes its popular automaker report cards. There have been many vehicle launches over the past few years that have helped automakers like Ford and Volvo reach a level of competitiveness comparable to top Asian makes. Even so, it was still somewhat surprising to see Chrysler still at the bottom of the heap, especially with a new suite of vehicles on dealer lots.

Consumer Reports says it’s the reliability scores that are primarily keeping Chrysler from being competitive. But now the publication is acknowledging there are large swaths of missing reliability data for the automaker, according to Ward’s Automotive.

There a joke and will always be a joke. If you come out and admit that your data is flawed but print it anyway, IMO that make you liable.

Don

All Cars have improved exponentially over the last decade.
including the domestic manufacturers .
it was easier for toyota and honda to dominate the ratings over a decade ago because they improved faster than the rest of the field .
now , even the korean makers have caught up in certain models .
CR ratings reflect that broadening of worthy vehicles .

Ron3rd wrote:

So they've downgraded Toyota, that gives them credibility using your logic, right? And why are they horrible? Have they done something to you?

No mention of increased credibility in his post. But it has been noted how much they used to recommend Toyotas that it was almost a perennial prediction. So it's interesting to see Toyotas not getting an automatic recommended. I guess more or less a change in habit? Observation?

Flashman wrote:

bmanning wrote:
Random thoughts:

Good for Ram. More evidence they've stepped up their game.

Teslas are everywhere here in Phoenix and Scottsdale. I think they've become the hot new status car (move over, Lexus & Benz...).

I always get a kick out of CR threads because everyone hates CR until their brand gets shown some love, then, voila!, magically it isn't biased pulp fiction anymore LOL.

I agree - CR is horrible - the real point I wanted to make was not about the RAM - but the fact they always love everything Toyota - not so much now.

So they've downgraded Toyota, that gives them credibility using your logic, right? And why are they horrible? Have they done something to you?

Lowsuv wrote:
There is no reason to bash Consumer Reports .
I have followed their reports on everything since the 1970's .
They buy stuff and test it .
They do not allow advertising .
Every car report lists the shortcomings of every vehicle no matter how good .
This is way more reliable than the anecdotal stories expressed on the internet .
As regards cars I have bought plenty of them based on CR reports .
Every one of them were were winners that lived up to the reports .
More important is that CR steered me away from the lemons , of which there are many .
I bought 6 Toyotas based on CR Reports and all were excellent and way above average in their time frame .
1984 Supra , 1999 Avalon , 2001 Avalon , 1994 Lexus LS 400 , 1997 Lexus LS 400 , 1999 Lexus LS 400 .
CR also put me into a 1976 Buick , 1979 Mercedes 280E , 1981 Accord , 1986 Maxima , 1987 Maxima , 1991 Acura Legend , 2006 Mercedes E 350 4matic , 1996 Carrera , 1999 Carrera, and 2006 Carrera 4S .
Every one of those rides lived up to the rating that CR gave them .
CR sure beats flying blind .
Their testers have to come to a consensus before publishing .
Further, you can't beat CR for the wide range of products tested .
I have never found their reports to be inaccurate in 41 years of subscribing .

In the industry, theirs is the only voice that carries weight. Check out the big jump in Telsa stock when the CR announcement was made. They have their detractors in the public, but the auto industry knows they're the real deal and an endorsement by CR is money in the bank. Lots of "surveys" out there; KB, Edmonds, JD Powers, etc, etc, but none matter to the industry. BTW, the Ram kudos surprised me, they must be doing great things. Good for Dodge.