[sk8fool]

Just to clear things up the Focus ZTS got about the highest ratings for Small Sedans, and the SVT was ranked highest for Sporty cars. I had seen some people say that Consumer Reports trashed the focus and just want to keep people correctly informed. they also ranked the explorer sport trac top rank as compact pickup 4x4s section

[ 05-08-2003, 12:13 AM: Message edited by: sk8fool ]

 

[OmniFocus]

That's good...

I still hate Consumer Reports.... makes good fire starting material.

 

[CharlesWA]

No, their highest rating would have been if it was recommended or a "top pick" or "best buy" or whatever they call it. That's their real endorsment, and ad far as I know, they still won't give that to the Focus.

 

[Maxximtl]

They won't give that title to the Focus because of its reliability rating. Consumer Reports has no problem giving the Focus a lot of solid black dots in the reliability section.

 

[familyman]

What's strange to me is that the 2002's had well above average reliability. Hell, the 2001's had average reliability. And they still won't give the car a good rating because of 2000.
But then a few colums over they give new Toyotas best buy status becasuse they believe that they will have above average reliability even though they have no data at all for the car and in some cases haven't even driven it yet.
It really showed me that they're basing way too much on opinion and perception and not enough on the numbers.

[ 05-08-2003, 06:53 AM: Message edited by: familyman ]

 

[bitwiz]

familyman, I agree with you, but that's how people do stuff and it seems that Consumers Reports works that way too (I still think it's garbage).
It takes years to build up a good reputation, seconds to lose it.
Ford might have fixed the problems 2000s had (my 2000 ZX3 had very few), but it's going to take a while before people start looking at them again.
A friend of mine just bought a $27G CAD Protege5 even though she loves the ZX3 and could have had one for quite a bit less. Why? Perceived quality problems with ZX3. Not real ones, she knows how good my car was, but she was still scared to buy it.

 

[Slackmeister]

Originally posted by OmniFocus:
I still hate Consumer Reports.... makes good fire starting material.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Are you still mad about what they said about the Omni and Horizon?

 

[OmniFocus]

Originally posted by Slackmeister:
Are you still mad about what they said about the Omni and Horizon?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Who.. Me?

Yeah... any magazine that tests vehicles by jerking the wheel and letting go needs a good bulldozing.

 

[AnythingButAFocus]

Originally posted by OmniFocus:
That's good...

I still hate Consumer Reports.... makes good fire starting material.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">w3rd! Edmunds.com is the best source right now, Period!

Andrew

 

[ferrethouse]

Originally posted by bitwiz:
It takes years to build up a good reputation, seconds to lose it.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">No kidding. How can someone state that the 2002 has better than average reliability. Its only early 2003. Just because a car hasn't blown up in the first 5-12 months of ownership doesn't make it reliable. it would be irresponsible for consumer reports to slap a happy dot for reliability until ford proves the focus has no more major problems. that takes time. thank goodness there is a magazine that tells it like it is instead of kissing ars and praising every car they review. its for the consumer not the tuner and its a great mag for the every day joe smoe.

[ 05-08-2003, 09:37 PM: Message edited by: ferrethouse ]

 

[Slackmeister]

I've never read the article, but from what I know about it, it almost makes the Suzuki Samauri lane change "test" seem reasonable.

 

[jdorff]

Originally posted by OmniFocus:
I still hate Consumer Reports.... makes good fire starting material.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Agreed, Consumer Reports is the most biased, inaccurate and unscientific source of car info! To make things even worse, they have a very arrogant tone.

[ 05-09-2003, 07:11 AM: Message edited by: jdorff ]