[soccer_maniac]

That's strange because I would take a Porsche or Audi over a Nissan any day of the week.

[.cnI redruM]

It's a conspiracy! They produce good products, at a fair price, in a nefarious plot to sell more cars than Ford and General Motors.

[brainstem223]

This report is a bunch of crap because it is well known that consumer reports is notoriously bigoted against the big three.
The same minivan with a asain badge off the same assembly line when badged as a Mercury got much lower rankings.

They are a bunch of asain car fanatics, and these findings are worthless.

[Hoodlum91]

Mercury in the top ten? LOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!

I owned one and it was horrible. My friend's was even worse. Never again.

[Tribune7]

ping

[Tribune7]

The ping was to you.

[Alberta's Child]

Rating reliability based on something like "problems per 100 vehicles) may not be the best way to measure this. I would suspect that a more accurate indicator of a vehicle's reliability is its resale value at 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year intervals after purchase.

[Willie Green]

Fast shift needed to save U.S. autos (260 replies · 2,938+ views)

[xzins]

I don't look at the things they look at.

And you simply can't get a deal on a Honda or Toyota.

Ford will win this war by cutting their labor costs by a third and then putting out road-worthy, but very cheap, automobiles.

Where I live in middle america, a 30,000 dollar car is half the price of a decent house and a third of the price of really nice house.

They should team with Hyundai/Kia in the way that GM did with the Geo.

Go with the 10 year 100,000 mile warranty and small buyers won't care that a Toyota will get 50,000+ more lifetime miles. They will care about a monthly payment they can afford attached to a 4 or 5 year loan.

[The South Texan]

Ping to the GM/Ford Protectionist "we like our 70's quality American car" types out there.


Quality products attract buyers. Another lesson in ECO 101 for the Buchannites here on FR.

[kidd]

Japanese brands?

You mean the Japanese company that designs cars in California, engineers them in Michigan and builds them in Ohio?

Or the American company that builds their cars on a Toyota Camry frame and builds them in Mexico?

[green iguana]

Reliability rankings are based on a survey of Consumer Reports subscribers who are asked if they have had serious problems with their vehicles in the past 12 months.

I guess all Consumer Reports subscribers could be tree-hugging leftists too...

What I really don't understand is how the Ford Fusion was the runner-up in the small car class. Since it first went on sale in September of last year (6 months ago) I wonder if they doubled the number of complaints to get a 12 month number.

[Supernatural]

PT Cruiser didn't make the list. Made in Mexico.

Mine has 115,000 miles on it. Five speed stick. First year car.

One wheel bearing, two water pumps and a tie rod end are my total repairs. Changed the spark plugs one time.

Pretty good car, all in all. Second water pump must have been defective, only lasted 30,000 miles. Factory Chrysler replacement part.

[tumblindice]

Foreign cars are not only better than American cars, but polls of similar sample groups show that Alf Landon should have been president in 1936, and Al Gore should be president today.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/aboutus/test.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_effect
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5168

[isthisnickcool]

Consumers Unions who publishes Consumers Reports is a 502(c) charity and exempt from income tax. Their total revenue for 2005 was about $192,000,000. Their total assets are about $258,000,000.

They paid James A. Guest who is the President about $400,000 last year plus $95,000 in benefits.

I'm not 100% positive but I'm pretty sure that when they mail out Consumers Reports the taxpayer pays part of the postage.

Why is this a "charity"?

[RayChuang88]

I'm not surprised that the Honda Civic took best honors for small car given the fact that the new 2006 model got a Gold Star crash rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Thanks to Honda's ultra-modern crash research facility in Japan, today's Honda cars are safe enough that if you drive a Civic and get broadsided by a full-sized SUV like a Ford Explorer or Cadillac Escalade chances are good you will survive the accident.

[RockinRight]

I have a Mitsibishi Galant. I love it. Every bit as reliable and enjoyable as a Camry or Accord and cost a couple grand less.

[gesully]

I have always bought new cars. Years ago I owned a 1970 Ford Country Squire wagon. I replaced the engine (casting flaw), transmission, 3 alternators and more. Then I bought a Plymouth Barracuda. It never steered right and one day the alignment guy told me the left front wheel was a half inch further back than the front and it need to go on a frame stretcher.

Then I bought an AMC Hornet Sportabout. The seat covers shredded at about 30,000 miles.

Then came a 1977 Chevy Impala. It was a pretty good car.

Following was a 1983 (I think) Buick Century. Freeze plug fell out of the engine and the dealer couldn't figure out how to fix it...had the car for over a week.

My wife bought a 1991 Dodge Caravan. It ate two transmissions, replaced the fuel injectors, had to replace the temperature control module in the dash, starter and cruise control among other things.

I owned a couple of Volkswagon Sciroccos and had trouble with both.

Then I bought a 1991 Acura Integra. Had to replace a rear shock in warranty and that was it, other than scheduled maintenance, for 100,000 miles. My wife now has a 2000 Toyota Sienna with which we have had no problems and I have a 2003 Acura 3.2CL. It has been through two recalls for some items but no problems.

When, back at the end of World War II, the Big Three auto makers told Edward Deming to pound sand that is when they sealed their fate.

The rest is history.

[Joan Kerrey]

Our only choice is to use prison labor and eliminate child worker laws.

[MikefromOhio]

1998 Chrysler Concorde with over 120K miles on it now.

the only maintenance thing (beyond what happened in my wreck) is that I waited too long to get the brake pads checked out and ended up scoring the rotors as well.

Eventually it will need an alternator, but as of right now, it's running as good at 8 years old as it did at 3 when I bought it.