Help me argue against Consumer Reports, for my girlfriend's sister, who believes in it wholeheartedly.

Give as valid points as you can as to why it is biased, untrue, or over/under exaggerated.

Go!

 

I am pretty sure that they are owned by either a Japanese automaker or a Japanese corporation (not really, but might as well be)

Perhaps they are communist. Whatever they are, they most always seem to be anti-American product.

 

Give me some more specific info to argue against. I'm not oging to make a sterotyped comment that "all" consumer reports are bad.

 

Oh yea, sorry...I mean how it makes American Autos to be unrelaible, unsafe, low quality, etc.

I'm trying to get her family to believe in American cars, at least a little.

 

They are not all bad, but when it comes to american cars, yes they are.

 

Search around, this was discussed not too long ago. The main problem with CR is they only poll people who have subscriptions. With such a flawed and inadequate sampling mechanism, how can you take any of it seriously. Not only do you eliminate the bulk of the population since they don't subscribe, but you also eliminate the subscribers who choose not to resond.

 

http://web.camaross.com/forums/showthread.php?t=410252

 

yes... They will report one vehicle one year as being unreliable in a certain aspect but the company doesnt address the problem and the next year its excellent...

or on badge engeneering cars... like the pontiac vibe and the toyota matrix... the matrix gets recomended but the vibe wont when they are both made by toyota...

this shows that toyota isnt being represented the same as other automakers... like pontiac...


so why would you believe the rest of their things...

i remember with the chevy prism and the toyota corrolla same thing there.. the corolla was recomended but the chevy was a problem child

 

I don't like them and think that the magazine exists mostly to give Camry buyers a reason to feel good about their decision.

However, I will say this:

VW rates poorly - My VW has been "below average" in reliability
Subaru Impreza rates very high - No problems with either of my Imprezas

 

I work with a guy that bases all of his buying decisions off of Consumer Reports. That is exactly why he purchased his recent Toyota and now argues how superior his car is as compared to my two American cars.

 

They suffer from selection bias, that is the largest problem. After that, what objective data do they really monitor? How is the data reported?

 

The basic problem is this. They send out questionaires or surveys to their subscribers only, it is limited selection at best and it re-emphasizes negative trends creating a negative feedback loop. Also they have a small rate or return and they don't ask about specific purchases they let you fill in the blank on what you bought and what is wrong about it. They don't monitor real world data or trends, there is nothing outside of their subscriber's reviews that they use.

Basically small subset of population recieves surveys, smaller subset responds. Negatvie trends are emphasized as are positive one creating feedbac loops. No objective data just subjective reviews.

Totally non-scientific.

 

Wow, pretty worthless.
Tell her, what does she have to lose by at least test driving a vehicle? Instead of just blindly following what some magazine says, why doesnt she just get up and drive for herself? How about read other reports to the contrary, especialy when you stack them up against consumer reports.
Such as JD Power scores and NHTSA Crash tests. Tell her to get up and sit in cars with "poor interior quality" and "lackluster performance", before she buys a 160hp 4cyl, 4k lbs Camry.

 

Keyword, "feedback". CR is constantly being refueled by the same consumers who have the same biases. People who subscribe to CR value its opinions, adopt its biases, and ultimately, contributes to those tendencies. Wash, rinse, repeat.

That's the ONLY argument you need.

 

Its the only mag I've seen where the Cobalt SS came out in a comparison to other compact sports cars. Sorry, dont have the link.