Have you filled out a consumer reports survey?

CR is nothing more than a bunch of clowns that are trying to make money and I am sure they will say what ever they need to say in order to make more and more money. There is defenetly no better opinion about any product than your own opinion.

 

You obviously do not read CR!!!!

I put a lot of credence in CR ratings done in house. I am less impressed by their "surveys". I have a pet theory that people who buy certain things (read foreign cars) have to justify that so they overlook some things.

That being said, I bought my last new car in 1997 so have not had much oportunity to respond about cars. I do rate everything they ask about that we do buy.

 

If at all possible, I will only make major purchases after consulting CR. Have not had any problems with anything I bought on their recommendation.

I did buy a Dodge Grand Caravan even though it had a low reliability rating. Guess what? Had to bring the car to the dealer 4 times because the serpentine belt kept coming off. Brought it to a "real" mechanic, fixed in 15 minutes, never a problem again. Since then, it better have the best ratin for me to buy.

 

Are you sure you're thinking of Consumer Reports? They are a 501c non-profit. I believe they could lose their non-profit status by the IRS if they were pocketing off the top.

And how, may I ask, can you have an opinion on a product you have never had? I ask around also, talk to people...

 

I've actually been to the CR labs. They are a good organization and do take their work seriously, but that doesn't mean that I always take their work seriously. Years ago, they were totally gung ho on Dodge minivans. At the same time I heard my neighbors and friends suffering with failed transmissions and peeling paint on their minivans. It's one thing to test a new vehicle in the "lab" and another thing to use it day to day. So I read CR when I want to get perspective on a new purchase. But it is just another data point. Ultimately the decision to buy or not is my own and based on the sum of data that I can accrue and personal experience. Often it agrees with CR, but there have been frequent times where I go my own way.

 

I fill out the forms when I can. I don't make a lot of Big Purchases (which is mostly what they are looking for). We tend to buy for the long term (My old car is a 1993).

I read them, but they are another point of information.

When we bought the 1993 Ford Escort, it was because my daughter loved her 1992 (bought from a rental fleet sale). And the car seemed adequate and well priced. At the time, CR was downrating the Escorts because the previous model sucked. The redesign in 1991 or 2, was a vast improvement. Eventually the 1992-95 Escorts got ended up on CRs Good Used Cars list. So go figure.

But the Toyota Prius is their prefered Hybrid, so they can't be all bad.

Lisa

 

I love CR. But many of their reviewers still feel a car needs to give your neck stress fractures during acceleration to be a fun car. It's obvious to me that they didn't spend much time reviewing the Prius. That said, they are the least biased out there. But as with everyone it is their opinion from their perspective.

 

Consumer Reports has some interesting information sometimes. But when they digest it all and make up ratings they are biased by their conservative thinking such that any product that deviates from the norm is down rated in the listings.

They used to rate Saabs badly because of the 2 cycle engine.
Citroens were always terrible cars because of all the leaky hydraulics!
Not to mention both cars had that wierd front wheel drive other cars didn't have!

Then for years they warned us not to buy Microwave Ovens because they cost so much and
would zap us with microwave leakage. They accepted them only after everyone already had one.

Now we have reviews raving about the water savings and superior operation of front loading washers.
But years ago they rated them poorly and said they couldn't really clean the clothes like a top loader, back when there were just one or two brands that made them.

HDTV is another area they discovered about 5 years after the rest of the world.

Someday they will start downgrading any car that is not a hybrid, or at least an alternate fuel vehicle.

 

I voted "no", and that they "rarely" influence me.

1. I'm too lazy to actually do anything that either won't make me money, or entertain me, and 2. I use the internet to conduct my own research on whatever it is I might want to buy.

 

I have never filled out a survey for CR, but I do usually check there first when looking at reviews. However, I won't exclude myself to only CR's opinions and don't always follow their recommendations.


I bought a digital camera, after checking out their recommendations and other online reviews.

However, we recently bought a new TV, but didn't go with their recommendation for the HD-TV. After we had decided on a model (after some looking online and talking to others), we got their 2006 Guide and it rated our brand as good buys in the conventional size TV, so it did confirm our opinion.


In terms of where they get money from, I noticed that they always ask for money to support the CU foundation (it is tax-deductible, through your will, etc). In addition, I have gotten a couple of mailings right before the end of the year asking for my financial support.

It seems like they say that they give workers the chance to buy the used cars or sell them. If this is true, they may recoup a great deal of money that way. I may be wrong about this though, I don't have a CR handy.

 

If you are speaking of a conservative political perspective..HAH! I laugh at thee. They are liberal in politics.

If you mean fiscally conservative....then I agree.

 

I have read CR for many years. I am somewhat influenced by the mag. I fill out the annual survey, but they don't have enough ways to answer it. They usually ask if you had any major repairs-then all they ask if the repairs were done properly. I had a Hyundai that practically lived in the shop the 1st 2 yrs. for chicken s--t stuff. They were always resolved, but all the time I wasted!

My Honda Accord has NEVER been in the shop except for 1 factory recall. My car didn't have the problem they were addressing. I HATE wasting my time in shops, and I try not to buy anything that is junk.

It's kind of like the HP computer I bought 6 mos. ago. It had some minor nuisense bugs in it. But, the problem was not the bugs, it was the TECH support- it is a nightmare. You always get an Indian that either speaks terrible english or doesn't know s--t.

Fortunately, the PC only had to be totally erased and re-loaded to solve the problem. I dread the thought of having anything else break on it during the 3 yrs. of "peace of mind" I purchased from HP.

CR was balls on accurate in their rating of HP computers & their horrible tech support. But, they were wrong about our Prius's.

 

I meant both! But I consider Democrats as Right Wing as Republicans too these days.

 

According to their web site, $168M of their $196M income comes from subscriptions and other sales. Here is their financial report:
CR financial report

 

Given those #'s, $168MM equates to roughly 14MM subsciptions at $12/year... Take the population of the U.S. (yes, for sake of rough, thumbnail simplicity I'm excluding the world), let's say roughly what, 280MM, that's about 5% of the population... Not sure if that sounds reasonable or not, but on cursory, ad-hoc evalution, it does seem believable...