Japanese brands continue to dominate Consumer Reports' rankings

[germeezy1]

After reading the latest CR in search of an appliance I happened upon their automotive rankings, and decided it is time for me to consolidate. All of my American cars will be put up for immediate sale, and will be replaced with a Toyota Camry SE with the amazingly powerful 2.5 liter 4 cylinder engine.

[XP300]

OK Here we go. Domestics Bad. Aisians good. Are we done with this thread now...please?
Or we doomed to have 11 pages of CR bashing...again.

Calm down, we're only on page 2 at this time.

In a related story: Grass is green, sky is blue, stay tuned for more details!

The sky is white here, we're getting snow. BTW ..... Nice truck!

Oh, c'mon guys ... don't spoil the fun. It's fun to bash CR!

We're not bashing, just telling the truth, something unknown to CR.

CR continues to live in the Reagan years.

You have that wrong, CR lives in the Nader Years and always will.

After reading the latest CR in search of an appliance I happened upon their automotive rankings, and decided it is time for me to consolidate. All of my American cars will be put up for immediate sale, and will be replaced with a Toyota Camry SE with the amazingly powerful 2.5 liter 4 cylinder engine.

So ......... you were looking for an appliance and got one, a Toyota Toaster!

[joemac]

Most of us would never base an automobile purchase on Consumers Report recommendations. The buyers that subscribe to the magazine do and they are the ones who submit data. Could that data be slightly biased?

Yes as it's a captive audience, CR's sampling is not a open scientific model with sampling from consumers at large. Same goes if you ask one ethic group what is your favorite genre of music. Likely one generally preferred from the ethic group at large. Thus what CR has is a self fulfilling prophecy. Nothing will change until the subscriber base changes.

[1999 White C5 Coupe]

Is anyone surprised? I hope CR enjoys those big checks from Toyota and Honda to keep them on top. This just doesn't make sense, how can Toyota stay on top with all of the recalls they have had the past 3 years? Sure, they shouldn't drop to the bottom because of it but how can they stay on top?

Would you please provide proof of the "...big checks from Toyota and Honda.."? Thank you.

[Hitman1970]

After reading the latest CR in search of an appliance I happened upon their automotive rankings, and decided it is time for me to consolidate. All of my American cars will be put up for immediate sale, and will be replaced with a Toyota Camry SE with the amazingly powerful 2.5 liter 4 cylinder engine.

The beige ones are impregnated with magical ground unicorn particulates. It is what makes it so beigey.

[red_rider]

I wonder how the NASCAR drivers that blew their Toyota motors would rate their Japanese brands.

Bazinga

[germeezy1]

The beige ones are impregnated with magical ground unicorn particulates. It is what makes it so beigey.

Prosthetic limb beige is just so appealing to me, and with the SE body package as well as the amazing sound signature of a 4 cylinder I have no chance but to fall head over heels in love with it.

[chakis24]

im curious what the subscriber-vehicle ownership breakdown is.

Reliability: the ability of a system or component to perform its required functions under stated conditions for a specified period of time.

Not being able to properly operate infotainment controls has nothing to do with reliability.
Not achieving EPA fuel mileage has nothing to do with reliability.
Not liking shift quality has nothing to do with reliability.
Having a funny, squeaky noise has nothing to do with reliability.

and how likely do you think it is that all CR subscribers feel that way?

[Butz]

Subaru and Mazda don't sell that many cars and if you are buying a Mazda or Subaru chances are you're motivated by something other than reliability and with a smaller sampling size the outcome is more likely than not to be positive.

[GM-Joe]

Such strong bias towards a small amount of manufacturers tells me this is either extreme bias or that their processes are too narrow and irrelevant.

I never see old Subarus in the midwest. Toyota leads the U.S. in recalls, again! And Kia is near the bottom of reliability according to J.D. Power, again. CR is pure nonsense.

[germeezy1]

In other news today from Consumer Reports.


" White continues to dominate the color charts for side by side refrigerators "

[stratojet]

This has been going for as long as I have been in the Industry, 30+ years.
For a short while, CR praised Ford, just after Chrysler and GM bankruptcy. The really felt that they needed an all american hero. This did not last very long. Now they are on a mission about Ford Touch.
The 3 US manufacturers will never get a good score from them unless all the employees from the manufacturers and Dealers buy a subscription. The database is corrupted because it is not random. Obvious , only subscribers have a say. It would also be quite interesting to have a bio of their staff. Just knowing that their former boss,David CHampion, went to work for Nissan is a sign of a conflict of interest. They should be dragged in court and force to disclose their database.

[Mr. Burns]

Can GM and Ford do anything about those dishonest reports? I think CR should be hauled in court and tell the legal system how they come to those conclusions. Take the Fords, just because they don't like the Microsoft Sync entertainment system, does that make it a bad car? I think CR should have to answer to the legal system, because they are steering auto buyers away to perfectly great cars and have been doing so for decades. I can not see how they can continually get away with this. I hope they go bankrupt and go out of business.

Fords are not very well assembled cars and their insistance on using small displacement turbocharged engines in low cost mainstream cars impacts the long term reliability potential.

[SigEpCutlass]

In a related story: Grass is green, sky is blue, stay tuned for more details!

Damn you beat me to it. Just another day in the bubble with CR...

[SigEpCutlass]

Such strong bias towards a small amount of manufacturers tells me this is either extreme bias or that their processes are too narrow and irrelevant.

I never see old Subarus in the midwest. Toyota leads the U.S. in recalls, again! And Kia is near the bottom of reliability according to J.D. Power, again. CR is pure nonsense.

Nah...CR biased? Ok I won't kick the dead horse in the corner...

Not sure what your definition of old is, but my 2000 is running strong at over 150,000. Our Subaru is "Ziebarted", or it might otherwise not be so nice. I plan on driving it for another 2 years, or into the ground (whichever comes first). Please note I expect the former of these given the new clutch I just put in, Ziebart, & Amsoil. I love GM cars, but on days like today where we got 6"+ of snow, just about nothing is better than my Subaru with snow tires.

We are planning to ditch my wife's Mazda like the plague in the spring or summer because I think the lousy JATCO sourced trans is on it's way out after only 94,000 miles, despite being serviced every 30k. The Ford V6 under the hood is solid, but there were a number of recalls on her car in the first few years she owned it. It's been "perfect" compared to that cantankerous pile of **** VW my wife had before the Mazda.

Would like to factor GM back into our stable again, but it looks like my wife's next vehicle will be a Chrysler product...