Japanese Sweep Consumer reports top spots

Fun to drive - Mazda MX-5 Miata
Small SUV - Toyota RAV4
Small sedan - Honda Civic
Family sedan - Honda Accord
Minivan - Toyota Sienna
Luxury sedan - Infiniti M35
Midsized SUV - Toyota Highlander Hybrid
Budget cars - Honda Fit
Green car - Toyota Prius
Upscale sedan - Infiniti G35

http://autos.msn.com/advice/CRArt.aspx?contentid=4024666

I could have predicted that.

No surprise there. :shrug:

And the Chevrolet Corvette won coolest sports car in Corvette Monthly Magazine.

What is their deal? Not even any European cars? Luxury sedan? I'm pretty sure theres better stuff out there than the M35 for luxury sedans.


Also, the Redline Sky or Solstice GXP would be way funner to drive than the Miata. Plus they look better.

There is one major factor that heavily skews CR's results in ALL categories - they primarily poll their readers.

It's a vicious cycle.

CR reports ________ brand is awesome, so all of their readers go out and buy those cars and rave about how awesome they are. Poll time come around next year and, wouldn't ya know it? Everybody loves their Accord that they bought because CR recommended it, and then the Accord gets ranked well again.

Throw in the occasional Joe who buys a Caddy and it ends up being a POS... his friend tells him "well I coulda told you that, CR says Caddy sucks, you should check them out, they'll tell you what's good"... so he subscribes, gets polled about his Caddy, tells them it sucks, and he goes and buys an Accord, which he will probably end up rating well.

So by nature most of CR's audience are people who AGREE with CR's existing findings and therefore most of them will only continue to agree.

This time they gave a reason for therte being no domestic brands:

Where are the American cars?
This year's Consumer Reports Top Picks are all vehicles produced by Japanese companies. This is actually the second year in a row that that's been the case. In the 10 years that Consumer Reports has produced annual "Top Picks" lists, it's the fifth time there have been no American cars among them.

The biggest problem is that fewer American cars even make it into consideration. To be a "Top Pick," a vehicle must first earn Consumer Reports' general recommendation. That doesn't mean it's the best, but it's at least proven to be reliable, safe, it handles well and is reasonably easy to live with.

Of 23 Toyotas tested by Consumer Reports since 2000, 20 are recommended. Of 37 General Motors cars tested, only 13 are recommended. For Ford, it's eight out of 17 and, for Chrysler, four out of 20.

Besides reliability, American cars can fall down in other areas. Ford, for example, tends to do well in ride and handling, but poorly in braking performance and fuel economy, according to Consumer Reports. While GM has improved greatly in the "fit and finish" of its cars, there still tend to be problems with emergency handling and fuel economy, Consumer Reports says.

Chrysler has the second-lowest score of any automaker in Consumer Reports testing. Bad visibility, cheap interiors and noisy engines are cited as specific problems.

Things are getting better, though. New models and recently redesigned cars from Ford and GM are much more reliable and getting better test scores. The Ford Focus and Buick Lucerne, while not top-rated, are cited as two very good cars that signal a potential turnaround for Detroit products.

And in case you think Consumer Reports always likes Japanese car companies, there is one company with lower average scores than Chrysler: Suzuki.

Interesting that fuel economy is a strike against GM...

Interesting that fuel economy is a strike against GM...

yet 90% of GM's vehicles are either the class leader or within 1-2 mpg of the class leader.

They will never tell you that the V6 version Accord, Altima, and Mazda 6 don't get 30mpg, but the V6 Pontiac G6, Saturn Aura, and Chevy Malibu and Chevy Impala do. Or that the Fullsize V8 Impala SS gets the same mileage as many V6 midsize Import brands.

Interesting that fuel economy is a strike against GM...
First thing I thought of too...

I think I speak for everyone here when I say "Consumer Reports can lick balls. Big, sweaty, hairy ones..."

I'd always suspected CR was simply owned by Toyota, but Threxx's explanation seems to explain the whole thing.

Again, its all from consumer reports readers.

A friend of mine has a Civic Hybrid, and while we've filled the tank, gone on trips, and then filled it afterward and found how much fuel was used, he wont believe we can do simple math correctly. The car's trip computer tells him he gets about 45 city and 50 highway. We calculate about 40 either way. His response? WE must have calculated wrong cause the window sticker said 49/51 and the computer tells him 45/50, and clearly its always right.

I also know someone who bought an Oldsmobile Alero and threw out the CV joints once or twice a year because he would floor it in hard turns and just thrashed on the car all the time. He also never turned the AC off in summer or defroster off in winter (while driving like a maniac) and complained about poor mpg. Said the car was junk and all Oldsmobiles were garbage.

Sells it and buys a Grand Am. Says its such a superior car to the Alero, and it gets much better fuel economy (same engine, same defroster or ac always on)... wheres the mpg coming from?

Consumer reports gets opinions from consumers (idiots) who often have no real concept for what should or should not happen, or even whats going on. Its a stigma. If your car got 27.5 mpg, would you say it got "about 30" or "about 25"? Japanese cars are known for getting good fuel economy, so I'd bet owners will attribute less than window sticker results to their error vs the car.

This time they gave a reason for therte being no domestic brands:Things are getting better, though. New models and recently redesigned cars from Ford and GM are much more reliable and getting better test scores. The Ford Focus and Buick Lucerne, while not top-rated, are cited as two very good cars that signal a potential turnaround for Detroit products.


Doesn't this strike anyone as being odd? Isn't the 1st year Focus like the most recalled model in history?