What am I reading?! (CR 2011)

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: sciphi
Oh, squeaks and rattles have driven me up the wall with my Cruze.


It's interesting that your experience seems to correlate well with what others have reported.

Early on, my experiences never matched the ratings you see in CR. But the more vehicles I own, the more my experience tends to align what is apparently reported to them through user surveys.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: mechanicx
I think their reliability ratings as presented are very vague and misleading though. Just how significant is "average" vs "much better than average" and how significant a reported reliability issue is or not isn't very clear.


I agree completely. I participate regularly on their "Tires" message board, and requests to see the actual data come in monthly, if not weekly. Their response is that empirical data will be mis-interpreted by readers who may not necessarily understand that a stopping distance achieved in one particular tire size and on one particular track surface won't be the same as what someone else might achieve on different equipment or track surfaces. And that does make sense.

I do wish they could publish SOME data on vehicle reliability, even if it's normalized to something, such as problems per 100 cars or similar.

 

[opus1]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: opus1
And I'm saving the $6. I stopped reading CR years ago when I memorized the mantra: Japanese=good, American=bad.

So how are they rating the Chrysler 200 so well, very well in fact, if they're biased against domestic vehicles? How are ANY of the domestic vehicles they rate highly (and there are a lot) rated so well if they're biased?

So many accusations, so little to back it up.

Just because we don't understand the system doesn't mean that they're making the data up.
Maybe they bought into the whole "imported from Detroit" line and think it's an import?

You can dismiss me as sour grapes, but they lost credibility with me years ago when they panned the Chevy Nova and praised the Toyota Corolla -- you know, the 2 cars that were built on the same NUMMI line?

 

[hattaresguy]

Who reads CR anymore?

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Who reads CR anymore?


Apparently the OP does

 

[hattaresguy]

Well its a bit late since he already owns the car, so who cares?

Most people don't because I see a lot of Chevy Cruze's running around.

 

[mechanicx]

Originally Posted By: opus1
You can dismiss me as sour grapes, but they lost credibility with me years ago when they panned the Chevy Nova and praised the Toyota Corolla -- you know, the 2 cars that were built on the same NUMMI line?



Didn't something similar happen with the Diamond Star cars, Mitsubishi Eclipse and Plymouth Laser? The Eclipse would get much higher ratings.

I just don't think Japanese car problems were being acknowledge and Domestic's problems were being overblown.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Well its a bit late since he already owns the car, so who cares?

Most people don't because I see a lot of Chevy Cruze's running around.


Apparently he does, hence the thread, LOL

 

[mechanicx]

Originally Posted By: hattaresguy
Well its a bit late since he already owns the car, so who cares?

Most people don't because I see a lot of Chevy Cruze's running around.


I see even more people driving around in Hondas, Kias and Hyundais all smug and blissfully ignorant of the sad state of their automotive affairs

.

 

[antiqueshell]

I know for certain that I have seen one of our members owns a Cruze and has has quite a number of problems. Rattles, and also fascia pieces falling off from the dashboard , granted his car probably was one of the very earliest production vehicles. I also recall that he has has some issues with the tubro making ominous noises. If anyone knows that member have him post in this thread for an update. I believe he also mentioned that he was having second thoughts about his purchase too.

My guess is that by now all the issues have been ironed out, and likely they have GM is really counting on this model for its bread and butter sales. It can't afford to fail.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: antiqueshell
I know for certain that I have seen one of our members owns a Cruze and has has quite a number of problems. Rattles, and also fascia pieces falling off from the dashboard , granted his car probably was one of the very earliest production vehicles. I also recall that he has has some issues with the tubro making ominous noises. If anyone knows that member have him post in this thread for an update. I believe he also mentioned that he was having second thoughts about his purchase too.

My guess is that by now all the issues have been ironed out, and likely they have GM is really counting on this model for its bread and butter sales. It can't afford to fail.


That would be sciphi. He has posted in this thread about those issues:

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2558132#Post2558132

 

[PeteTheFarmer]

Originally Posted By: opus1
You can dismiss me as sour grapes, but they lost credibility with me years ago when they panned the Chevy Nova and praised the Toyota Corolla -- you know, the 2 cars that were built on the same NUMMI line?


I find this claim interesting, because less than a month ago I read a message board post from someone who claims that the Geo Prizm, built on that same NUMMI line and the Nova's replacement, was given a GOOD review in Consumer Reports simply because of the Toyota connection.


edit: Here I found the post. "they thought it was wonderful because of its Toyota roots.". It's near the end of the page

Blog entry on The Truth About Cars

 

[Propflux01]

Originally Posted By: mechanicx


I see even more people driving around in Hondas, Kias and Hyundais all smug and blissfully ignorant of the sad state of their automotive affairs

.
.
I guess I must be "blissfully ignorant" then, but unlike some of the posts I see on here, I'm happy with my 'automotive affair'
just fine...

 

[Vikas]

Here is the million dollar question:-

If sciphi (or any other participant) had been given the form to fill out and send it to CR, would his ratings have any resemblance to what CR has put out for his car?






















Unfortunately, the answer to that question is "It is really irrelevant because his is only a single sample!"

- Vikas

 

[sciphi]

The thing of it is that the interior layout is great, and everything works very intuitively to me. Just if the blasted cluster had been assembled halfway competently by the supplier, that would have cured ALL the interior issues I've had.

The rest of the car is really nice, and I've got the cluster mostly sorted. I've put a ton of miles onto it, and it's been a comfortable, quiet (aside from the cluster rattles that are mostly cured except a tiny squeak), and fuel-efficient (43 mpg average) car.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Bravo Vikas. That's exactly it.

One or two experiences do not a trend make.

 

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: sciphi
The thing of it is that the interior layout is great, and everything works very intuitively to me. Just if the blasted cluster had been assembled halfway competently by the supplier, that would have cured ALL the interior issues I've had.

The rest of the car is really nice, and I've got the cluster mostly sorted. I've put a ton of miles onto it, and it's been a comfortable, quiet (aside from the cluster rattles that are mostly cured except a tiny squeak), and fuel-efficient (43 mpg average) car.


schiphi:

Glad to hear most all of the issues have been ironed out. I could have sworn that you mentioned a mechanical concern about the engine or engine cooling or a noise? Is this correct?

BTW do you know how early a production model your car is? It must have been one of the earliest units IMO.

 

[friendly_jacek]

I saw it posted on another forum:

I have no opinion on this but stopped reading CR since that infamous CR's oil test or so.

BTW, I looked at Cruze's pictures online, and the car seems similar to Volt. Do they share a platform?

 

[sciphi]

Originally Posted By: antiqueshell
Originally Posted By: sciphi
The thing of it is that the interior layout is great, and everything works very intuitively to me. Just if the blasted cluster had been assembled halfway competently by the supplier, that would have cured ALL the interior issues I've had.

The rest of the car is really nice, and I've got the cluster mostly sorted. I've put a ton of miles onto it, and it's been a comfortable, quiet (aside from the cluster rattles that are mostly cured except a tiny squeak), and fuel-efficient (43 mpg average) car.


schiphi:

Glad to hear most all of the issues have been ironed out. I could have sworn that you mentioned a mechanical concern about the engine or engine cooling or a noise? Is this correct?

BTW do you know how early a production model your car is? It must have been one of the earliest units IMO.


I did have concerns with the transmission early on. It's broken in now, so it's gotten better with shifting, and is less notchy than it was before. No clutch or transmission issues to report in well over 10k miles. I guess I was being picky with the shift quality. Some Cruzes did have clutch issues, so GM redesigned the part. Mine doesn't have the redesigned parts, but shifts okay still.

My Cruze was built around 8/20/11, so it wasn't one of the very first ones off the line. It might have been one of the first 2012 Eco manual transmission models off the line. They updated the cluster for 2012, so it's possible the cluster on mine was one of those cluster**** early-run parts!

FJ, the Volt and the Cruze share many underpinnings. Not surprising they look alike.

 

[mechanicx]

This site lists some of the problems with CR's automotive recommendations http://www.allpar.com/cr.html .