Understanding Consumer Reports

Consumer Reports assigns a numerical score to vehicles:

• 84 - Jetta TDI
• 80 - Prius 2010

In the past, I've tried to figure out how they get these scores without luck. This time, I took those fields that had a difference and generated this table:

	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4	Column 5	Column 6
0	comparison	Jetta TDI	Prius
1	crash test	rear	5	4
2	controls and displays	5	4
3	interior fit finish	5	4
4	routine handling	4	3
5	emergency handling	4	3
6	ride	4	3
7	driving position	4	3
8	Side bags rear	1	0	0=no	1=optional	2=standard
9	Accident alert	1	0	0=no	1=available
10	towing	1	0	0=no	1=available
11	Reliability	3	5
12	rear comfort	3	4
13	rear access	3	4
14	climate control	3	4
15		46	41

.
This isn't perfect, I'm one off and that could be because I didn't include MPG, an area where the Prius blows the TDI away. But at least this gives some clue as to what CR may be using to generate their score. Sad to say, "Accident alert" was not available when CR ran their test this summer. Worse, I don't know if CR will go back and re-score or regression test as planned features show up.

Bob Wilson