This article examines Consumer Reports’ 2007 car model recommendations for the Chevrolet, Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Kia brands to see how they fared in reliability just 3 years later. It delves into the questions: (1) How good are the CR recommendations? and (2) Is US-based Consumer Reports biased in favor of US-based General Motors Corporation?
Consumer Reports’ reliability ratings They are highly valued by many consumers, as they are statistical studies of serious reported problems, or lack thereof, for hundreds of thousands of vehicles, as collected by their subscribers in an annual survey. However, if your annual recommendations receive similar respect? To answer this question, I review some of CR’s 2007 recommendations.
In the April 2007 issue of Consumer Reports, the magazine recommended three Chevrolet car models: a pickup truck, a sedan, and an SUV. They were:
Chevrolet HHR, the wagon
Chevrolet Impala, the sedan
Chevrolet Tahoe, the sport utility vehicle.
Since only 3 Chevrolet models were recommended, consumers might have reasonably anticipated that they were worth considering and that one of the models they could make a purchase with confidence. However, before all three 2007 models were 3 years old, all three were on Consumer Reports’ Worst Cars of 2010 list, a list based on reported serious problems.
The question begs: Were these recommendations simply bad or terrible, or are they evidence of bias in favor of the US-based General Motors Corporation, owner of the Chevrolet brand, by US-based Consumer Reports? USA?
Evidence suggesting a bias in favor of US-based General Motors comes from recommendations for Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai models. For the Toyota brand, the 2007 Consumer Reports recommendations were:
Toyota 4Runner, a midsize sport utility vehicle
Toyota Avalon, a great sedan
Toyota Camry, a midsize sedan
Toyota Camry, a convertible or coupe
Toyota Corolla, a small sedan
Toyota Highlander, a midsize SUV
Toyota Matrix, a small pickup
Toyota Prius, a 4-door hybrid hatchback
Toyota RAV4, a small SUV
Toyota Sequoia, a great SUV
Toyota Sienna, a minivan
Toyota Tacoma, a midsize pickup.
And for the Honda brand, CR’s recommendations for 2007 were:
Honda CR-V, a small sport utility vehicle
Honda Civic, a coupe or sedan
Honda Civic Si, a coupe or sedan
Honda Element, a small and square SUV
Honda Fit, a small 4-door hatchback
Honda Odyssey, a minivan
Honda Pilot, a midsize SUV
Honda Ridgeline, a midsize pickup.
And for the Hyundai brand, CR’s recommendations for 2007 were:
Hyundai Entourage, a minivan
Hyundai Sonata sedan
Hyundai Tucson, a small sport utility vehicle.
Of these 23 recommended models in 2007, none made CR’s worst cars of 2010 list.
Additional evidence that US-based Consumer Reports may be biased in favor of GM remains on its own list of the Worst Cars (Used Cars to Avoid) of 2007. General Motors accounted for a whopping 37 % of this list, suggesting that recommending any GM product was unwise.
However, evidence that these were simply bad recommendations can be found in Kia’s recommendations from CR. In 2007, Consumer Reports recommended the following Kia models:
Kia Amanti, sedan
Kia Sedona, a minivan
Kia Sorento, a small sport utility vehicle.
Three years later, both the 2007 Sedona and 2007 Sorento were on CR’s worst cars of 2010 list.
In short, it’s hard to conclude that Consumer Reports’ recommendations unduly favor US-based GM; however, it is clear that the consumer should exercise caution regarding a CR recommendation. And it may be in his or her best interest to throw that recommendation to the wind when considering a car purchase and rely only on:
(1) in CR’s reliability ratings, in 10-year reliability tables if long-term ownership is sought or anticipated, or alternatively in online car reliability GPAs, and
(2) About CR’s specific comments regarding ease of use of various components, CR’s proven stability, and CR’s credit statements.
