Consumer Reports top 10 cars for making it to 200k

[Claud]

How come someone making a post mentioning "Consumer Reports" starts Americans towards civil war?.

Of course CR isn't run by gearheads, read Car Craft or Road And Track if you want to know how fast the latest Testosterone Wow GT can get round a track. CR will let you know if your adult friends will be happy to sit in the back seat for a long trip, and if your luggage for your vacation will fit in the trunk. And lots of other tings that to anyone who doesn't eat drink and sleep cars might want to consider before making a big financial commitment. I note they number several Japanese models as cars that don't make the cut.

Over here we have a similar publication (Which? magazine), in it's first vehicle test report in 1962 they prefaced the report with a statement on the lines of; "Of course we cannot be objective about what may be fashionable, if it is fashionable to chase Jaguars round country roads in a BMC Mini no-one who wants to be fashionable will want to read the dull things we have to say about the Mini's brakes or transmission"

So it is today, who wants to read about what great cars boring mid range Toyotas, Hondas, or even Fords and Chevrolets are?. People who want a car that will fulfil their needs without any desire to make a statement about their status, that's who.

Claud.

 

[Joe1]

Originally Posted By: VNTS
Yes we did, 1st we had been making all their product for them for the prior 3 years and there are special markings on the etch on the bulb for traceability, so no question they were produced in our plant. Also CR did not use any ANSI and IES stds when they test, and god knows their sampling plan etc

Bottom line I point this out to show how poorly they conduct their testing and draw their conclusions. They have no credibility with anyone with a quality/statistical or engineering back ground since the way they do things is amateurish at best.


Thanks for the clarification. I will keep your statements in the back of my head when reading CR in the future. Overall, I think most of their reporting is good.

 

[rjundi]

Only makes sense at least half those vehicles are top selling vehicles in the US. The metric of 1.1 million vehicles surveyed these are the 10 most prevalent in the list. It is not that these vehicles are an better then the rest just they appear the most.

No brainer the top selling Corolla, Camry, Prius, Accord, Civic, CRV are in that list. The Pilot/Ody/Highlander/Sienna are the ones that are oddly in there.

IMHO its rare to have any serious problems to 150k(design life of many car components). The 150k-200k+ is when the chances of problems exponentially increase. That is the finding of myself.

 

[Joe1]

Originally Posted By: Claud
How come someone making a post mentioning "Consumer Reports" starts Americans towards civil war?.


Good question. When I first started reading CR in the late 70's, I was shocked and angry that they consistently rated Japanese vehicles with red (better than average reliability) and domestic vehicles were consistently black(poor reliability). I thought that they were biased and anti-American. I continued to buy domestic vehicles in the 80's while many others I knew started jumping on the Japanese bandwagon. My vehicles were plagued with a succession of costly repairs and breakdowns while those who had Japanese makes were praising their quality and reliability. My real-life experience mirrored CR reporting.

In the early 90's, I finally came to the painful conclusion that the Japanese built better cars than Americans and purchased one of their vehicles and never went back to domestic.

I think it pains many patriotic Americans to read that their country is no longer #1 in manufacturing prowess and some get upset when they perceive a bias towards foreign automobiles. Many American are passionate and are rooting for the domestic automobile makers to succeed and can get upset when reading something they do not want to read. I think this is why the comments get vocal whenever CR is mentioned.

It would make me proud as an American to see the 10 Toyota and Honda vehicles in this report replaced by USA domestic made Chevrolet and Ford vehicles. As I've gotten older, I have learned to take emotion out of my buying decisions.

 

[MCompact]

Originally Posted By: Claud

So it is today, who wants to read about what great cars boring mid range Toyotas, Hondas, or even Fords and Chevrolets are?. People who want a car that will fulfil their needs without any desire to make a statement about their status, that's who.

Claud.


I'm so ashamed...

 

[hattaresguy]

Consumer Reports has always loved Japanese cars.

 

[dishdude]

The reliability survey CR sends out to it's subscribers is a joke. First of all, they only survey subscribers to the magazine. The next joke is they expect readers to accurately complete the survey. Have you ever talked to a coworker about a car problem? They have no idea what failed, what was replaced and what went wrong. They only know how much it cost.

 

[ls1mike]

I get all the banter back and fourth, but without maintenance history and duty cycle it is just another data point.

All I can gather is the people who buy CR buy the cars listed. That is not to say the cars listed are not good. They are good and for those people probably great! Nothing on that list is my cup of tea.

They make no mention of things like trucks. TONS of those go well past 200,000 miles with a duty cycle that would kill some of the cars listed. Most of the ones mentioned never see anything but a to b. Which is fine, but some vehicles make it those kind of miles live a miserable life with a miserable duty cycle. Stuff like my old Supercharged GTP or my 2 previous LT1 F-bodies or a couple of my trucks.

Since I don't subscribe to CR, they didn't get any data from me and quiet possibly a lot of people very similar to me.

 

[turtlevette]

Originally Posted By: ryansride2017
you have a HIGHER PROBABILITY of reaching 200,000 miles with a Toyota or Honda, IS VALID.


I'd need a lobotomy to drive any Toyota or Honda 200K. I can't even stand when I get stuck with one for a business trip.

Have people who think these things are so great ever driven a real car?

That's the sad thing about the U.S. Most people drive as a necessity. It's a bother.

 

[turtlevette]

Yeah. I say, give me somethin' that says, 'I get up every morning at 5:30 and commute for an hour and a half to some [censored] job where my jag-off boss expects me to kiss his [censored] all day just so I can afford to keep my ungrateful, screaming kids decked out in Dora the explorer [censored] and my wife up to her fat [censored] in self-help videos until the day I get up the courage to put a shotgun in my mouth.'

 

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted By: turtlevette
Originally Posted By: ryansride2017
you have a HIGHER PROBABILITY of reaching 200,000 miles with a Toyota or Honda, IS VALID.


I'd need a lobotomy to drive any Toyota or Honda 200K. I can't even stand when I get stuck with one for a business trip.

Have people who think these things are so great ever driven a real car?

That's the sad thing about the U.S. Most people drive as a necessity. It's a bother.



How would you define what you term a real car?
If you mean something with a German accent, I've driven many such cars and have owned six of them, seven if you include the '81 Vanagon we drove for a number of years. Great cars all and all were very reliable and durable.
I've always liked driving our Hondas, especially those with three pedals and we've driven a few past 200K.
You can have fun driving almost any car. Your sneering reference to Honda and Toyota products is misplaced.
Whatever floats your boat, I guess.

 

[turtlevette]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27

How would you define what you term a real car?


Nothing in your signature. And its not just Toyota and Honda I take issue with. The thread starter was asking for what we think.

I think life is too short to buy any car Consumer Reports recommends.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: turtlevette
Originally Posted By: fdcg27

How would you define what you term a real car?


Nothing in your signature. And its not just Toyota and Honda I take issue with. The thread starter was asking for what we think.

I think life is too short to buy any car Consumer Reports recommends.



What do you recommend to people who want an appliance?

 

[turtlevette]

Originally Posted By: supton

What do you recommend to people who want an appliance?


Best Buy or Lowes?

 

[supton]

Funny answer.

 

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted By: turtlevette
Originally Posted By: fdcg27

How would you define what you term a real car?


Nothing in your signature. And its not just Toyota and Honda I take issue with. The thread starter was asking for what we think.

I think life is too short to buy any car Consumer Reports recommends.



Not a very good answer, so I'll try again.
How would you define what you term to be a real car?

 

[whip]

Originally Posted By: turtlevette
Have people who think these things are so great ever driven a real car?

The staff of Car and Driver have driven a few fine automobiles, and they think the Accord is a pretty fun car. 20+ appearances on the Ten Best list and counting.

 

[eljefino]

Originally Posted By: VNTS
CR is nothing more than a opinion survey, they have no statistical data to back up any of their claims.

Since their surveys are not "random" their sample set is skewed and opinions from these samples is garbage and meaningless, you shouldn't believe any of the conclusions they infer from their survey.


Yeah this. For example I worked one winter at a tire store. For some reason I did tons of $16 oil changes on camrys and corollas. But never a prius. I might conclude that Prii didn't exist, but I see them on the roads.

My presumption, instead, is that Prius drivers have some level of pride in their vehicles and went to the toyota dealer for service, or did it themselves. The corolla/camry buyers saw the vehicle as a commodity, and figured that "anyone" would do the OC properly, so why not pick the shop on price?

BTW 5w30 went in to many 'yotas with 5w20 printed on the caps.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Consumer Reports has always loved Japanese cars.

And so are American consumers/car buyers.

If you have 2 2010 cars with similar condition and mileage and MSRP. One is Buick and one is Honda or Toyota, which one do you think you can get more money if you sell it yourself ? Why one brand demands more money in used car market over others ?

I know the answer for my local market, what is your local market for used car ? Do the people there prefers Buick over Honda or Toyota ?

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

"The Italians are coming, the Italians are coming." And look what showed up, the Fiat 500 POP.