Consumer reports is so heavily biased towards Japenese cars its absurd. The difference in initial quality among most All manufacturers is very small, and long term reliability has alot to do with the owner of the car and his/her level of neglect/abuse. For example, a car that’s kept in a garage is much less likely to develop electrical problems because all the contacts are effectively stored in a warm, dry, less stressful environment so they do not corrode and short out. The editorial staff at CE simply maintains a collective attitude that Japenese is best and nobody there dares challenge that notion for fear of being ostricized. I hate GM, but I’m objective enough to admit their cars today are very reliable, Buick beat Toyota by a pretty decent margin last mont in a JD powers survey, and Buick also stole the premium market from Audi in China because they are so well built. I don’t like GM and I’ll admit that.

CR has no automotive sector creditability – waste of reading.

It’s great to hear that other people out there recognize CR for what it’s really worth! As for the average car buyer, reading reports like this may influence their next automobile purchase toward Japanese auto makers, unfortunately.

Madcapp,
I couldn’t agree more with you; on the other hand, I do like GM and hope that more people will recognize their improvements in quality and reliability.

You have to subscribe CR to be able to participate in the studies. I can’t see how that can possibly give them the broad spectrum of reports they would need to be unbiased.

heh… our newspaper ran a report on how cr tests cars today… im like ‘thats not how they do it… they just test the cars and then wait for the checks from japan…’
im with hemidakota… cr’s auto issue has about as much credibility as motor trend’s car/truck/suv of the year has now…

how unbiased, what else is new.

They’re not bias at all.

Honda Civic (sub-$20k sedan)

In 1990 I bought a Mustang LX 5.0 that according to their ratings was a piece of trash. They claimed body and electrial problems would be abound and rated it below average. At 75,000 miles the water pump went and that was literally the only problem that I had with the car. All else was maintenance and wear items. It was not garage kept and I really drove it hard. In 2002 I sold it with 157,000 miles and still on it’s original clutch. (and for $3200…God Bless eBay Motors!)

And I am not a GM fan but I feel they are more reliable than people give them credit for now. (Mainly because they are using old tech that has finally been baked long enough, but I digress.)

more on the bias:
my parents issue of cr just got here in the mail…

most satisfying cars list:
4 american
9 european
30 japanese

least satisying cars list:
14 american
6 japanese
1 korean (a kia, who would guess?)

best cars under $25000:
1 european
2 korean
9 american
27 japanese

vehicle profiles-reccomended cars:
3 korean
10 european
22 american
54 japanese

bias? what bias?

I see now, LLN readership defines bias as “disagrees with me”.

stop complaining and go out and buy your mustang with a massive 4 liter V6 that only puts out 210 hp with a live rear axle and 5 speed tranny.

God man new mustang with old suspension technologies. I wonder what they’ll do next? Run out of style and try to go retro? Maybe they’ll end up putting a gas tank behind the car so when someone hit it from behind BOOM.

^I’m gonna stop picking on the solid-rear in the mustang. mustangs are supposed to look like only an american car can, have a v8 up front and be as cheap as possible while delivering in a straight line. a solid rear does that. cheap, square, strong. independents would take GT’s out of a lot of owners’ hands, and obviously their audience doesn’t care. Look how many they moved in the first year! even if it falls off, it’s one of ford’s few recent successes. I would like the option of an independent rear for some handling models, but not as a slap-job. I’d have wanted a chassis set up so that there’d be room for either. wouldn’t that be cool? All the other cars on the DEW98 platform (LS, thunderbird, S-type) had rwd independents, so I wonder how hard it’d be to rig one up later… I’m kindof suprised there isn’t an aftermarket guy selling purely that!

Consumer Reports Website is so biased towards Asian cars that not a single Mercedes-Benz or Volkswagen is recommended. No wonder CR employees are rumoured to receive bribes by 3rd parties and low introductory offers on vehicles!!
The Company heavily neglects adding a ‘Design’ category that would drastically change the picture. In terms of visual appeal, it is hard to beat European automakers especially unmodified versions.
For example, the Civic is great AFTER mods.

i am a honda man myself and has lived in its world for over 15 yrs. Other than cadillac, mustang, corvette and camaro the other gm cars have to be stepped up a notch to be recognized truly. it is an up hill battle. it is not impossible though. some gm cars have had some bad wraps that have been more than explited.

What really bugs me is that they gave the Subaru B9 Tribeca a “recommended” before receiving reliability ratings, but not giving a “recommended” to the Scion xA despite good reliability. Not to mention, they seem to really hate GM.