Consumer Reports vs. Edmunds.com

[usbseawolf2000]

Consumer Reports recently named the 2009 Toyota Prius as "the best new-car value" among the 300 vehicles evaluated by the magazine's staff.

Edmunds.com, the online car shopping and data site, begs to differ.

"The Prius is a lot of cool things, but 'value' is not something that pops into mind," Edmunds.com CEO Jeremy Anwyl said in an interview. "If you're buying a Prius to save money, you're going to be in for a shock."

Although there are differences in the two outfits' ownership-cost calculations -- for example, Edmunds.com's estimate of the annual cost to insure a Prius is almost double CR's -- that's not the main reason their rankings vary so much.

In addition to ownership costs, Consumer Reports factors in the results of its customer surveys and its own vehicle road tests. This information is combined with the cost data to arrive at a final score -- which is then used to rank vehicles by "best value" as opposed to "cost of ownership."

"There's more to good value than just low cost," says Jake Fisher, a Consumer Reports vehicle tester.

The No. 2 car in Edmunds' "small sedan" rankings is the Chevy Aveo, "a car that did horribly in our testing," Fisher says. "It was slow, it wasn't very fuel efficient for its class, and its emergency handling was not very good.

"To suggest that people should look at a Chevy Aveo just because it's cheaper to own doesn't really help consumers out much."

Edmunds.com vs. Consumer Reports | Up to Speed | Los Angeles Times

I have almost 90k miles on my Prius and I have not seen the cost shock that Edmunds suggesting. The most expensive maintenance item I had is changing tires.

[filiberti]

I'm very happy with the cost to maintain a Prius that's why I'm on my 3rd Prius , 09 Touring. And as far as insurance yes I am 50 now but my insurance , state farm in NY is $600 /year - not bad for a new car . And I also agree with CR that the Touring is a much better handling car than the base, that's why I opted to go for a 09 Touring instead of waiting for a 2010, plus dealers had local stock available too .

[tableround]

My '05 Prius is cheaper to insure with State Farm than my Cavalier, and the Chevy Cavalier was liability only. The Prius has full coverage and costs $72/year less.

[bac]

Consumer Reports + No Advertising = No Vested Interest

Edmunds + MUCH Advertising = HUGE Vested interest

Any way you do the math, you'll come up with the same answer.

... Brad

[peterbright]

amen

[calpal]

Is it possible that the car companies has "got" to Edmunds? (You know,MONEY, or THREATS)? Why then all the nasty stuff on the excellent Prius?

[djasonw]

Years ago Edmunds was much better than it is now. It's ALL about the advertising and as calpal put it, YES the advertisers may have some influence on the editorial content of Edmunds. I used to peruse that site on a weekly basis. I may take a peek once every few months. As for CR, I have a subscription and their reviews are spot on.

[fredthepostman]

Chevy Aveo- Are you kidding me? All creditability went out the window after that pick!

[qbee42]

Consumer Reports makes mistakes too, but I believe their mistakes are honest mistakes. They try to do a fair and honest evaluation. Once in a while they get their facts wrong, or screw up the analysis, but I don't sense an overriding agenda.

Tom

[strieby]

You just have to read the lopsided review Edmunds comparing the 2010 Insight vers 2009 Prius do see how stupid they are. They could have waited about a month and gotten an apples to apples comparison done .. 2010 Insight vers 2010 Prius. Sometimes you have to wonder where they are coming from. They must have an agenda of some sort but for the life of me I don't know what it is. Maybe just $$$?