Posted on 02/29/2012 6:06:55 PM PST by Ron C.
The results of the annual Consumer Reports automotive report card caught a lot of people by surprise when they were released Tuesday – not necessarily because of which automaker claimed top honors, but because of which automaker did not.
A wave of redesigned vehicles helped catapult Subaru into the top position for the first time. It had finished second in last year’s ranking, and buoyed by recent successes with the Outback and Impreza, it improved two points this year to finish with an overall score of 75.
Subaru’s rise to the top meant that Honda’s four-year run as the top automaker among the 13 ranked was over. Honda drifted into fourth-place overall, and the problems caused by last year’s Japanese catastrophes didn’t seem to play much of a factor.
David Champion, Consumer Reports director of research, gave a blunt assessment of the automaker’s chief problem.
“They seem to be cheapening vehicles," he told The New York Times. "It's almost like a role reversal of where the domestics were 10 to 15 years ago."
Mazda showed the most dramatic improvement in this year’s rankings, rising from seventh place to second. Toyota finished in third place.
(Excerpt) Read more at autos.aol.com ...
Consumer Reports? Get series.
Here are some of the worst: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-least-dependable-cars-in-america-2012-02-16
Maybe, maybe not if the pistons whacked into valves that had stopped being timed when the chain broke.
Really! My favorite Elvis song... "a liberal guy and a liberal gal, buy a Yugo."
Ooops - that should have been “My favorite Elvis song parody...”
The JD Power survey is much more limited in scope than what’s available from Consumer Reports:
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2011/12/consumer-reports-car-reliability-faq/index.htm#1.2
The timeframes used in collecting data also differ among surveys. J.D. Power’s IQS is based on the first 90 days of ownership of new vehicles only, and its VDS (Vehicle Dependability Study) is exclusively based on 3-year-old vehicles. CR’s survey asks about subscribers’ experiences with their vehicles over the course of the previous 12 months and, starting with 2006, CR’s survey now covers 10 model years—from brand-new models to models that are 10 years old, providing a more complete profile of the life of a model. Our Predicted Reliability, which forecasts how well a new model is likely to hold up, is based on the cumulative experiences of owners of the three latest model years.
And Subaru isn't mentioned.
Consumer Reports has been in the bag for Japanese car makers for years.
JD Power received 30,000 survey responses, compared to 1.3m from Consumer Reports, or roughly 3% of CR’s sample set:
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2011/12/consumer-reports-car-reliability-faq/index.htm#1.3
Consumer Reports obtains its reliability data from an Annual Questionnaire that is sent to subscribers to ConsumerReports.org and Consumer Reports magazine. In all, the survey was sent to over 7 million subscribers in 2011, and we received responses on 1.3 million vehicles.
“we received responses”
You work for CR?
Domestic car makers have been overpaying UAW workers and making up the difference by skimping on parts quality for decades. This is why Detroit iron breaks early and often, and brand new domestic parts fail faster than Japanese parts. There's no magic - crappy specs make for unreliable cars. Obama gave the UAW a new lease on life by screwing Detroit shareholders and bondholders, but the underlying issues remain. Without the destruction of this union, Detroit's shareholders and bondholders are merely counting the days until the next bankruptcy filing.
My Hyundai Santa Fe (07) is the best car I’ve ever owned!
What is engine work?;-)
Occasional subscriber - typically when I'm in the market for new wheels. I tend to look mainly at power train or electrical issues as opposed to trim- or paint-related problems. The nice thing about CR, as opposed to JD Power, is that those issues are spelled out, as opposed to minor and major issues being grouped together in the JD Power survey. I don't know if JD Power has detailed model-by-model and year-by-year coverage available to individual consumers, but Consumer Reports definitely does.
Have you seen this? http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2851902/posts
It’s always something. *sigh*
I’ll put my 20 year old Crown Vic up against anything you have or will own Japanese or European for reliability, ease and price of repair and maintenance. I won’t even mention the living-room feel at 75 mph all day, for weeks at a time. (Oops, I just did).
Then, after I’ve mopped the floor with your pile of Euro-trash, we can play hit-to-pass, and then I’ll tow your pile of scrap metal while giving you a ride home. In the Crown Vic.
I really am weary of 30 year old partially true at the time of their formation memes being spouted by folks who should know better as gospel truth.
Yes, there are issues with Detroit, but to spew half-truths and innuendo you cannot support is just a bit over-the-top, don’t you think?
Consumer reports has been in the tank for ANYTHING not North American for YEARS! If it had anyting to do with any American manufacturer, CR always gave it below average ratings, often contradicting the information they printed of the test. You’d read the article, and the summary ratings would be so different than how they rated the vehicle in the article’s text you would wonder whether you were reading the right review. Even today, their reviews are so skewed against North American products it’s painful. I gave up buying their magazine 20 years ago, and would rather have teeth pulled than read it even in a doctor’s office. They are anti-capitalist communist sympathizing scum. And that’s their REDEEMING quality!
Bookmark
..... and for (immigrant) Texas lesbians in Austin and Houston, for whom the WRX / STi has been renamed the "Lesbaru" by certain automotive wags. Who can explain it? Diesels are dotty for Subaru snotty.
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