Anyone else fed up with Consumers Reports?

[GreenS550]

I have been a car junkie my whole driving life. And I have finally had it with CR.

I was looking at MPG for example. They list the CR average gas mileage for the Ranger at 13 city. With 4wd on full time in the winter I have never had close to that poor of gas mileage in the city. Then there is the Mustang. They list that car at 13 MPG in the city. Have any of you Mustang folks gotten mileage that bad in city driving? I've had 5 supercharged Mustangs and none of them were that bad in the city let alone the NA cars.

Am I wrong about this? What has been your experience?

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[Balr14]

Any information or insight they provide is not worth paying for. It was OK when it was free.

 

[David Schmidt]

Consumer Reports has been great for me for picking out ovens, dishwashers, and chainsaws. It's important to me that they don't accept advertising. Not sure I'd go there for information about cars, though. Ford claims 15 MPG city; I currently have 16.5 on the clock, which is pretty par for my commute to the store and back.

 

[GreenS550]

I do remember a few years back now that there was a massive lawsuit against CR because some of their testers were getting kick backs. But I have used them to get a second opinion on appliances as well.

They definitely have a bad attitude about American cars in my opinion. My wife had to have the Subaru and it's been nothing but a nightmare my brother has one in his is a nightmare as well. It's on his third clutch second set of wheel bearings and burns over a quart of oil every 500 miles. And it's I highly raved about Forester. His is a 2014 which she bought new.

 

[15GTCA]

I don't trust CR for any accurate car info.

 

[Rapid Red]

HAaaaaaaa!

That thing was exposed years ago as, shall we say not as unbiased as they claim.

Back and I mean way back it served a purpose. Today just dishonest hype, funded by the products being scrutinized, more cash better the reports.

 

[JCFoster]

Fake media, I truly believe they are biased. It’s all bs anymore and probably always was except now they don’t hide it.

 

[larr12]

My avg is 18-19

 

[Hack]

I averaged 19 with my 2015 Mustang GT and 17 with my GT350 (including days at the track). Yes, it's possible to average lower, but you almost have to ignore traffic laws or spend a fair amount of time on track to make that happen.

I agree Consumer Reports is garbage, especially where cars are concerned. I think they rate Mustang way too low. They are probably just as bad for everything else that they review, but I don't have any personal experience with their recommendations for appliances, etc.

 

[Rapid Red]

Never checked, not concerned, burn hydrocarbons fast & loudly, one of my most favored hobbies.

 

[jimmerheck]

my 2016 is driven around mainly city driving, not a lot of freeway driving. I get about 16 and I'm not hard on it at all.

 

[ORRadtech]

Consumers Reports reviews on the various vehicles I have owned have had almost zero relevance to my actual experience with them.

 

[Hi-PO Stang]

I never look at CR. I make my own decisions.

 

[Doc2020GT]

I don’t base my auto purchases on any magazines but I do enjoy Car & Driver and Motor Trend. Their reviews seem to be pretty good and written by car people.

 

[GreenS550]

The reason I started this thread is because many people hang their hat on consumer reports. I look at all information before I buy anything but it seems like a concerted effort to really put the screws to American made vehicles. I just think back when my brother bought his Forester it was so highly rated and I've never seen a car with so many problems. when he told consumer reports about the mass of oil consumption they told me to keep track of the amount of oil he uses and they reimburse him. In the case of my wife's car which is a loaded Subaru outback, the car is just a miserable underpowered poorly constructed vehicle. When the power hatch closes it's off by about a half inch and hardly can lock.

And I think a lot of people that don't buy American made cars think somehow they're worse than these Subarus or whatever and that's just not the case.

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