[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.

[Alberta's Child]

It's funny you should mention that. I'm currently driving an SUV with nearly 300,000 miles on it. It was made by Ford in Kentucky, but it's actually called a Mazda. The Mazda was slightly less expensive than the Ford with identical options (I think this was because they offered the Mazda with only a few specific option packages), and was a much better deal because the standard Mazda warranty was better than Ford's.

But as far as reliability is concerned, I can't imagine that the Mazda would be any better than the Ford.

[brownsfan]

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

You're 100% correct. What's even more interesting is that Freepers will revel in this report and not stop to consider that it was compiled by a group of tree hugging leftists.

[wayoverontheright]

This is a survey of the READERSHIP of Consumer Reports, I hope I don't disparage anyone on this forum, but that means this is a survey of people who BUY A MAGAZINE to help them evaluate products. I would do that for which I had NO BASIS whatsoever to evaluate for myself, but I believe that as concerns automobiles most people simply don't fall into that category. I am saying that these responders might possibly be people who HAD NO CLUE about automobiles to begin with.

I have purchased asian imports over the years, but recently I've been very successful with domestics of all stripes. The quality the big three is putting out is far better than it use to be. Is it better than the Japanese? I don't know, but I would bet readers of Consumer Reports don't either.

[KarlInOhio]

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

I'm sure that the bosses at GM and Ford have similarly dismissed Consumer Reports and are happily producing cars as before.

I think the Big 2 will have to improve quality and then, like the Korean manufacturers breaking into the market, give impressive warranties. Maybe 5 years/60000 miles or even 7 years/84000 miles would show that they are confident in their quality.

Without Japanese competition, American cars now would be like Pintos and Vegas "improved" by an additional 25 years of cost cutting.

[jdsteel]

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.

Exactly. Mr.-lib-Nader got his start putting down American cars, and he's never stopped doing so.

[Strategerist]

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.

One of my best friends is a Ford Engineer, and he believes that Japanese companies (other than Mitsubishi) are clearly superior to the Big 3 and Toyota is by far the best automobile company on earth. And that Hyundai is rapidly improving and he'd buy one if he wanted a cheap new car right out of college or something.

He also thinks Ford is run by morons. The Asian companies are simply better run, and run by people with experience actually building cars, not business-school finance types.

So, I can believe someone who actually works in the industry, and Consumer Reports, or I can believe you. Not a difficult call there.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

This report is a bunch of crap because it is well known that consumer reports is notoriously bigoted against the big three.

How so? Consumer Reports doesn't accept any advertising or freebies. They are totally objective.