[shaneathan]

Any of you guys remember the thread about the C.U. and auto reliability surveys? I am officially backstepping on my earlier position that I believe their reliability surveys are the most accurate gauge of an automobile's reliability. I have done some of my own independent research, and come to this conclusion.

When I bought my wife's Mazda MPV, it was the most reliable van on the market. NOw, all of the sudden, it is one of the least reliable because of minor transmission problems which are fixed by an ECU flash.

When I bought my redline, the ION was the second most reliable small car, but now it is also not "recommended." As stated above, I have done some other related research, and I think the C.U. means well, but their surveys are not accurate. I just don't think you can trust their results because of how they go about administering the surveys and analyzing the results.

On another note, I have had quite a few very minor problems with my redline, which is probably indicative of their conclusions of it being less than average in terms of reliability. nothing major though, or anything that would have dissuaded me from buying this great car.

 

[jpapa]

When you say consumer report, are you referring to things like JD Power surveys or something else?

 

[shaneandjennifer]

This thread is just about consumer reports. JD Power and Associates is even less useful in terms of reliability. They survey like initial quality, which is worthless to me.

And yes, I am shaneathan.

 

[Signals]

This thread is just about consumer reports. JD Power and Associates is even less useful in terms of reliability. They survey like initial quality, which is worthless to me.

And yes, I am shaneathan.

Did I miss something? Why were you banned? What happened?

 

[jpapa]

The JD Power may not be that helpful to us the consumers (in some areas it can be useful), but inside the auto companies, it is very useful. They use these reports (with more detailed verbatim than we have access too) to help fix problems that arise after production, so that the same problems don't occur in every car. Be thankful for what JD Power does for these companies, otherwise our cars would have many more problems than what already exists.

 

[shaneandjennifer]

Did I miss something? Why were you banned? What happened?

In short, yes. Very funny actually. I mouthed off to ecool in a PM.

Anyway, any comments on consumer reports? I'm interested in what everyone has to say.

 

[Chazb]

Who really is consumer reports.I am a consumer and have never been contacted and I have read a former chrysler head is one of the big haunchos.Everyone has a bias to a product one way or another what may be a harsh ride or loud exhaust to cs is good handling and music to my ear.I do care about the breadowns in which they may report but how do we know they are telling the truth or just a opinion they have.IMO why read CS when you can go to a forum like this and really find out what is going on.If we relied on cs we would all be driving hondas.

 

[jpapa]

I came to this forum before buying my RL to see what was up. It seems like a lot of people do the same. Also, I do know that people inside the auto industry frequent these forums to find out what is going on with their cars, to see how they're holding up and what people are saying about them. You won't be hearing anything personally from them, but just know that they are among us.

 

[Vita]

I came to this forum before buying my RL to see what was up. It seems like a lot of people do the same. Also, I do know that people inside the auto industry frequent these forums to find out what is going on with their cars, to see how they're holding up and what people are saying about them. You won't be hearing anything personally from them, but just know that they are among us.

and we love them here, if they actually listen to us

back to topic, i don't like the fact that say, a faulty seatbelt lock could cause it to be "unreliable" if it happened a lot, but say, an impeller flying out of a turbo (yes, extreme) only happening once would keep it highly recommended.

this is because they use general numbers of incendents to cars sold, and don't actually rate the seriousness of said incendents, just that they occur more often in one car than the other. so say head gaskets were few and far between, with no assault of minor problems, it won't be so bad. but a car like ours with a good amount of minor problems, but no real big major ones, can end up being "not recommended"

all that said, it's a decent measure of if things are to be expected to go wrong, but not to compare car to car