Bill wrote:
On Wed, 16 May 2007 20:13:09 GMT, frank1492
wrote:
I subscribe to Consumer Reports primarily for its entertainment value.
I think it's primarily useful in alerting people to products they may
not know about, such as my Panasonic low-profile AC ( the best low
profile ever made) which I bought in the early 90's (now
discontinued.) But as a rule I don't trust their ratings.
I tend to agree with this. A good source of information, but their
specific recommendations can be suspect.
I really wish I could get a good discussion going on this
group about CR. I think it would be very interesting to see
what people report.
I've seen plenty of spirited discussion about CR on the net over the
years. It commonly goes something like this:
(in a camera group) "CR is way off base on its camera ratings, but
it's a good place to pick a dishwasher"
(in an appliance group) "CR knows nothing about dishwashers, but it's
a great place to pick a car"
(in car groups) "CR knows nothing about cars, but I bought my camera
according to one of their ratings"
etc...
It seems the more you know about the products, the less confident you
are about the ratings. Of course, there are lots of people who follow
CR closely and don't have any complaints about it.
My take on them is like this: they're a good place to go for info on a
product if you are not an enthusiast of whatever you're looking for and
don't care to be. e.g. you're just a general, average consumer and you
need a car. Read CR, buy a Toyota Camry or Honda Accord. Done. But if
you're a "car guy" you know that there's way better products on the
market for what you look for in a car - but an enthusiast's priorities
are not aligned with those of the average consumer. Me, I'll keep my 20
year old Porsche, thanks, but your average person would be writing angry
letters to CR when they find out that a timing belt service is $1500...
(well, to be honest, I thought about writing a letter to Stuttgart
myself, what the hell were they thinking driving the water pump off a
long ass timing belt like that? And on an interference engine, too?)
However, your average consumer does not care so much about handling,
acceleration only a little, and above all they want reliability, low
maintenance cost and a good dealership experience. They also probably
won't bother keeping a car more than 10 years (or even 5) so ultimate
durability is of little concern to them. So a Camry or Accord is good
for them, but maybe not for me. The short-term thing is *my* biggest
reason for not reading CR, I prefer to make long term commitments to my
vehicles and CR takes a very short-term, JD Power-esque view of rating
"quality." Vehicles that have proven very durable, like many German
makes, get abysmal ratings from CR because that seems to go hand in hand
with niggling little initial quality issues (more emphasis on design
than build quality?)
nate
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