Are we going to take this sitting down?

rineman1 · 10-28-2009

Here is a quote from a Consumer Reports Article " Most Reliable Cars"

"Volkswagen and Audi are staging a nice recovery. The Volkswagen Rabbit (Golf for 2010), and its new CC got top scores. The VW Jetta's recommendation now extends to the diesel version, making it the only diesel we currently recommend. Both the Passat and Audi A3 have improved to average. The new VW Tiguan SUV was average. The Audi Q7 SUV continues to be much worse than average, while the VW Touareg, which had the worst new car prediction score in the survey, is 27 times more likely to have a problem than the best, the Honda Insight. "

Rickanns · 10-28-2009

IMHO, anyone on this forum who even reads CR vehicle reports is just wasting their time. CR does a good job of backing up whatever perception they think is important, BUT it has nothing to do with many Touareg owners, especially those who off-road or tow with the vehicle.

Any capabilities beyond city commuting does not compute in their minds. That's what their readers want. That's what they give their readers.

I have not found agreement with CR's ratings of SUV's since they promoted the Ford Explorer as their best many years ago

Rick

mscot · 10-28-2009

CR gives all non-car based "SUVs" bad ratings. They don't get it at all.

Mike's Panzer · 10-28-2009

They just blew it on Ford. Great write up, but none of the cars were top 5.

ColoradoMax · 10-28-2009

If your car says Honda or Toyota on it, then it's an outstanding, reliable car according to Consumer Reports. If it doesn't, well....

I'm convinced that the magazine's coverage is aimed at people who look at an automobile as an appliance rather than something to be enjoyed.

**designergrey** · 10-29-2009

In general there is a lot of interesting and useful information in Consumer Reports, but I take little stock in their auto reviews. Like ColoradoMax said, the target reader doesn't appreciate what goes into a fun to drive vehicle. They are just getting from point A to point B.

I have bought more than poorly rated Consumer Reports car and they have all been great cars for me. The one that wasn't so great for me, the 2004 Acura MDX, was the shocker. But for some reason if your door handle fell off of a Honda as compared to a Volkswagen you are going to hear more about it from the Volkswagen owners. Its all in the years of perceived quality and as Ford already knows changing perceptions is a huge hurdle to jump over even if you make quality products.

mscot · 10-29-2009

I've had nothing but good experiences with the two jettas I've had and both got bad ratings from CR.

jtcalvert · 10-29-2009

i simply call b.s.

**TREGinginCO** · 10-29-2009

When I read the rankings and saw the bit about Touareg... the little "*" by it says the information is based on one model year. What isn't specified is which model year. If it's 2004... then yes... the ranking is deserved.

But, the reality is... since that MY... problems have diminished significantly and it's disappointing that CR didn't see fit to mention how much better things are now with this vehicle.

AltaTour · 12-31-2009

Well, my brother reviewed forums on a number of SUVs and told me that he'd noticed that the discussions on the XC-90 (initially his preferred choice) were about pretty significant and and critical failures. 'My transmission won't shift...' or 'I need a new transmission ,or a/c compressor, or whatever...'

Then he said that he went to the MDX forum and all the discussion were about colors, the odd squeak, wind noises, etc. So he bought an MDX.