Major appliances for the home have gotten much cheaper these days. That includes washers, dryers, refrigerators and stoves. Unfortunately, many people buy expensive, unreliable fancy appliances that break all the time just because they look good.
What people don’t understand is that these fancy appliances are not tested enough. Therefore, the bugs have not been worked out and they end up breaking all the time. The reliability of an item increases as the production runs increase. Consumer Reports confirms this in its appliance issue, in which ultra expensive items are always rated worst in reliability.
Most people are still looking for good deals on reliable appliances, however. According to reports, the most price-sensitive shoppers are upper- to middle-income buyers. These are people who make a substantial income but are looking for the best value on a dollar. Remember that if you were psyched to get one of those ridiculously expensive appliances, don’t! You’re wasting your money!
I've had a few gripes with consumer reports where they ranked something high and it turned out to be crappy and vice versa.
I think part of the problem with them, is that they really don't test something long enough (which I understand for them is impossible).
They do rank Bosch very highly though.