Consumers Guide Auto Report Reliability

I've been a big fan of CR for years, EXCEPT for the auto engineers. IMO, they must be a bunch of red-neck V-8 loving hot rodders. They regularly downplay the advantages of fuel efficient cars, and they always report lower mpg numbers than I get.

IF CR had been touting gas mileage to the general public for the past few decades, the american auto industry would be different/better. But they haven't.

 

haha, wow...lucky for me, I was in no such scenario with mine (my trannies were failing like a trainwreck in slow motion to the point where I simply couldn't procastinate anymore) and it happened after 100K miles on both IIRC.

 

One complaint I do have about CR is that I wish they would report the sample size for the car in question. I've written to them about this (no answer). I know they have a minimum size, but still, more data points are more data points and give more statistical power to the conclusion, which is boiled down for the masses into the form of a colored dot. Truth is, not all dots of the same color are really the same without accounting for sample size. In the case of the Prius, there were likely a lot of people responding, over a short window, and with all the hype about the brakes (and everything else Toyota), it may be that they ignored CR's directions to not report recall issues. Perhaps the TL had fewer reporting numbers and/or owners followed the directions as above.

I do agree that a failed transmission is far more serious than a mildly juddering braking issue that one can get used to and accommodate relatively easily by adjusting driving behavior. But we all know how even just a few strong voices can go viral, and make everyone notice the 'problem' and complain ad nauseam.

Re. TL and Acura transmissions, my hypothesis is that Honda built only relatively low-powered 4cyls for decades, and only recently began building torquey V-sixes, without 'beefing up' their trannies to accommodate the extra torque. PD and Vinnie--were your cars manual or auto trans? I had an Integra and an RSX-S type, both manuals, with absolutely no transmission issues except on the Integra when the clutch burned out after about 140K mi largely city driving, which I thought wasn'nt too bad. IIRC, the TL issue was confined to automatics--could be wrong.
~T

 

^Autos on the 87 and 89 (I'm a bit fuzzy on the years) Acuras. I'm pretty sure those weren't V6 engines, though the Legend had the potential to be given it was higher end. The automatic windows never broke in all the years I had it, go figure!

 

One of the key points in buying the 2010 prius is the 4 wheel disc brakes.... My other car is a dodge caravan... I can stop in half the distance with my prius.... I got 53.7 mpg on a recent trip of 1000 miles,
so have no complaints there ..... Cr has to find something to berate

 

In the few cars I checked, CR test fuel economy is higher on the highway than EPA and (quite a bit) lower in 'city' tests. I had thought until now that the CR test was the most demanding in both cycles.

 

Do you have a link to that report?

 

Overall score is 80, Prius 2010 is CR recommended.
Addendum: Sorry, I did not copy the row that shows MY. Last column is 2010, each column to the left is one year earlier.

 

Here's Consumer Reports' Prius reliability report chart in a Microsoft Word file. I had posted it earlier in this thread. You'll see that it's a sea of much better than average full red circles. I think the worse than average full black circle for the 2010's brakes is attributable to the recall (which brought the overall reliability rating down to "average"), and wouldn't worry at all about the reliability of the 2010 Prius. I think that in 2011 and 2012, the overall reliability of the 2010 Prius will be rated much better than average (just like all previous model years).

2010 Prius Reliability Report.doc
.

 

Hi SageBrush,

If you have the time, can you tell me step by step how to capture a CR online chart or page (for posting here as a thumbnail attachment like you did)?

 

Boo,

1. Start with a Mac
2. Press Cmd-Control-shift keys altogether, then the number 4 to enter screen capture mode
3. Draw a rectangle with your mouse.
4. The rectangle will become a jpg in memory (on your clipboard)
5. Open your favorite picture editor, paste, trim the image, and save in the format you want on your HD.

It is simple after a picture or two. The key combo sounds messy but on my keyboard my left index finger hits the cmd (apple) key, and my ring finger covers the control and shift keys.

 

Lol. Thanks. This is the second time I've heard this kind of thing -- dogfriend told me how he used a later OS Mac to combine pdf files into one pdf file, even though he didn't have Adobe Acrobat software.

Now, bwilson4web once explained to me how he uses a Windows PC to capture/copy pages and charts from CR Online into posts. But I couldn't understand what he was saying ... he didn't dumb it down enough for me.

I really do want a Mac. I've gotten my daughter two Macs so far, while I remain Mac-less. The next one will be for me.

 

Funny, I had to do just that this week. I was pleasantly surprised to find out it was drag and drop.

 

Re. TL and Acura transmissions, my hypothesis is that Honda built only relatively low-powered 4cyls for decades, and only recently began building torquey V-sixes, without 'beefing up' their trannies to accommodate the extra torque. PD and Vinnie--were your cars manual or auto trans? I had an Integra and an RSX-S type, both manuals, with absolutely no transmission issues except on the Integra when the clutch burned out after about 140K mi largely city driving, which I thought wasn'nt too bad. IIRC, the TL issue was confined to automatics--could be wrong.
~T[/QUOTE]

Mine was 5 speed auto with select shift (that I never really used). I think it was the Manumatic function that screwed these units up since Honda was new to that game at the time.

 

The February 2011 issue of CR arrived today. On page 8-9 is an article entitled "Nine Year Old Prius Retains iIt's Youth." The article states they ran the 2002 model Prius through the same test as they did years before. They found that gas mileage was almost identical; Acceleration was slightly slower; and it had no rattles or squeaks. The test vehicle had 206,000 miles and still "acts like a youngster. It's expensive battery has not worn out, and it's performance was similiar to that of a new Prius tested 10 years ago."

 

Finally got around to Googling how to do screen captures on Windows.

So here it is ... the Consumer Reports Reliability Chart for Prius model years 2001 - 2010:

[IMGLINK]http://priuschat.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=27603&d=1295070063[/IMGLINK]

I still think that the "Average" predicted reliability of the 2010 Prius is an anomaly and wrong. It's probably due to the big black circle (worst rating) for brakes which is probably due to the recall. My bet is that in subsequent years, you'll see a half red circle (better than average rating) or a big red circle (best rating) for the 2010 Prius brakes, and a big red circle (best rating) for overall reliability -- just like in all previous model years.

 

I suspect CR over-reacted to the brake issue. I could be wrong, but perhaps their poor rating was based on the press .... have we read where their actual test produced a "black circle" rating?

Normally CR's rating system is reliable ... and does not follow the press. Recently there was the big press release re small SUV's. Chevy was first, Chrysler second, then Kia and so on. CR's test of these vehicles found different results.

 

Consumer Reports won't issue anything above average if there has been a recall. The brake recall doomed the 2010's CR reliability rating. The 2010 does have first year model change issues too such as rattles etc. All this doesn't mean the car won't prove to be good to owners over the long haul. (and I understand the CR reliability rating in this year's car issue will be average.)

 

Yep, that makes sense because everyone who completed the survey probably reported the recall service they received for the braking issue. I don't remember completing the survey on my Prius specifically but I may have done so myself.