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consumers reports is amusing... Posted by Snowmobile [Email]  (#686)  [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Snowmobile) on Fri, 25 Jul 2014 06:56:11
In Reply to: Skip the Benz/BMW, buy a Buick says Consumer Reports., Norm95, Fri, 25 Jul 2014 05:09:18 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
"Ultimately, the Regal wound up finishing just one point shy of the class-leading BMW 328i and tied the Mercedes-Benz C250 for second place in the organization's overall ratings of upscale sport sedans — while costing thousands less."
Translation:
"X is the better car, but Y costs thousands less - so we recommend Y."
I'm not saying there is anything wrong with the Regal (aside from it being made by GM, and that it would be a heck of a lot nicer if SAAB engineers and designers had done it) or that it is not a good value or that there is not merit to value cross shopping it vs BMW if that is your cup of tea... but there is a kind of funny logic to Consumer's reports writing... they do some testing, typically using average Joe Toyota drivers, probably staffers, and have some scoring system including stuff you and I probably don't care much about, and try to apply some Toyota friendly weighting system to sports cars or whatever... and then interpret the results, with a bit of a bias towards whatever costs less to buy, or costs less to own, or has fewer oil changes specified in the service program... I'm exaggerating a little, but when you go out to buy a sports car, well, you probably don't care how much it relates to a Toyota... I'm not saying this review was of sports cars, but buyers in this category probably don't give much of a rats arse if the car has the qualities Toyota driving folks at Consumers reports think... heck, there are probably bonus points for a bland or ugly interior...
Then others come along and write an article "CR says Y is better than X... so it must be right!" and maybe they post some scores along with a few photos, but no explanation about how the testing was done (which is of course top secret unless you subscribe to crappy CR)... heck, maybe they drove each car into a lake and measured the time to sink... fastest sinker is the winner!
On another note, I found this clip from the article you cited (USAToday, not CR) interesting, as I know you are concerned about fuel economy:
"The fuel economy numbers shown here are a fantasy, based on our real-world results that didn't come close to 30 mpg. The turbocharged four cylinder in the all-wheel-drive model tested couldn't rise quite to 15 mpg in city/suburban use. It climbed to 24 mpg when highway travel was mixed in."
I know you get some spectacular numbers on the highway, but how do you find yours around town? (do you have regal or verano?)
, Tue, 29 Jul 2014 12:15:17
, Tue, 29 Jul 2014 15:29:13, Wed, 30 Jul 2014 10:32:31, Fri, 25 Jul 2014 16:42:38
, Fri, 25 Jul 2014 16:46:34, Fri, 25 Jul 2014 06:56:11 <-- Viewing This Message, Sun, 27 Jul 2014 18:09:42
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