Anyone else fed up with Consumers Reports?

[Rapid Red]

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.

Same can be said for car & driver another rag.

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[Bugs]

A person needs to understand which aspects of a product are important to Consumer Reports.

I had a simple 1981 Sears top-load washer for about 25 years when it finally died. Based on CR recommendation, I bought a Maytag which died after three years, followed by an LG that lasted two years.

At that time - about 10 years ago - I learned about Speed Queen washers from a friend. I visited the local dealer who told me Speed Queen is more concerned with quality, reliability and serviceability than with energy efficiency. He suspected that may be why CR doesn’t care for them.

CR does indeed place a high regard on the efficiency aspect, so in spite of Speed Queen having Consumer Reports' highest ratings on reliability and owner satisfaction, CR does not place them on their "Recommended" list.

Apparently CR believes it is more responsible to toss "High-Efficiency" washers into the landfill every 2-3 years rather than keep a slightly less-efficient washer running for many years.

 

[jimmerheck]

My friend also went with speed queens recently, for the reasons just like you said

 

[Fly2High]

As for gas mileage, I have NEVER reached the mileage reported in any car. Always less.

In a Scion TC, I routinely got 15-17 mph when it is suppose to be 20/27. Same is true with my wife's Rav4 - 17mpg with her driving it.


The Mustang GT 12 - 13. It only goes up if I drive on the highway. We have way too many stop signs and traffic lights so I idle a lot. Traffic is also bad. Add in the lack of driving due to COVID and that my job is less than 5 miles away with 2.4 highway miles and I think you can understand why my mileage is poor. Being at sea level hurts too. More air means more fuel needed.

I am sure that the fact that nothing stops the pedal when I press on it but the floorboards might also have something to do with it.

Now, on a trip up to Saratoga, I was able to get 26-27 even though we were exceeding the speed limit (60-75). On the way up, we hit no traffic too. Once there, most drives we no traffic and tended to involve far more highway miles or roads with few lights. By me, you cannot go a mile with out hitting one or two or more. Add in that they sell ethanol free gas and the added elevation helps.

 

[coltgus]

CR is a bunch of left wing looneys. I wrote them and asked why they keep pushing for higher and higher CAFE laws. I said that I understand emission laws but I don't understand why there are any laws regarding miles per gallon especially since we are energy independent now. If someone wants to buy a vehicle that gets 10 miles per gallon what's the problem ? I cancelled my subscription because of this.

 

[RPDBlueMoon]

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

You actually don't need to pay for a subscription. Just google "library consumer reports password" and you use an account for free

 

[VIPR01]

Is consumers report next to Readers Digest, or am I thinking of the farmers Almanac...

 

[Norm Peterson]

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?

CR has been just one information source among several in any of the car-related decisions we've ever made.

If anything, CR's evaluation gets lighter weighting than those coming from C/D, MT, and R&T. CR simply doesn't care much about many of the things that matter to me when choosing a car, what they do care about generally aren't the things that I care about, and they're too focused on making recommendations based on their rating criteria (which doesn't always match up with what I'm looking for).


Norm

 

[FreePenguin]

Same can be said for car & driver another rag.

They post THEIR experience with their test appliances and vehicles. Just because 99% of people have great success, if they get a bad apple, they report them as so. I personally had many foresters, outbacks, etc. never a single issue other than expensive ass servicing intervals, their timing belts are tedious.

I read them and take them with grain of salt. Subarus are generally quite reliable.

 

[shogun32]

he reason I started this thread is because many people hang their hat on consumer reports.

yeah 30+ years ago... Back when it was dial-up AOL. And what kind of person even looks at MPG when buying a Mustang?

 

[LSchicago]

My city MPG on the GT is about 9-10. On E85 that drops to about 6. Lots of stop and lots of go....

 

[Reap]

I use Consumer Reports for a lot of things but not for cars.

 

[BoostRabbitGT]

And what kind of person even looks at MPG when buying a Mustang?

...I may or may not have taken fuel economy into consideration when initially deciding whether or not to buy my EcoStang---

 

[2kblacksleeper]

I averaged 23mpg with my 18 PP1 GT

 

[Fly2High]

if I shift no later than 3000 rpm, I can get my mpg up to 15-17 and match the acceleration that my 4 cyl Scion TC had and the same mpg!! That car use to run on the highway at over 3,000 rpm.

of course those 2-3 mpg reduction put a much larger smile on my face that the TC never could. So if you equate dollar spent on gas per happiness, the Mustang was far cheaper

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