Fuel Fiasco Mk II: Consumer Reports Fingers Ford
If you know how to listen and who to listen to, you have heard for weeks that Hyundai is not the only one with overenthusiastic EPA ratings, and that other car companies might soon have to restate...
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Fuel Fiasco MkII: EPA To Investigate Ford’s EPA Ratings
Consumer Reports’ story about two Ford hybrids falling way short of their official 47 MPG number has attracted the EPA’s attention. The agency “will look at the report and data,” it told Reuters. Last...
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Elio Motors – It Just Might Be For Real, So to Check it Out, TTAC Rolls...
Click here to view the embedded video. Elio Motors is one of those automotive startups that raises all sorts of flags that makes some people think that it’s a scam, or at least on shaky financial...
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Lexus No. 1 in Reliability, Ford Near Bottom
If reliability is the No. 1 trait your next car must have, you may then opt to visit your nearest Lexus dealership before considering anything from the Ford dealership across the street as far as...
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Toyota Prius Best, Nissan Armada Worst in Consumer Reports’ Cost Per Mile...
The Toyota Prius was ranked at the top of Consumer Reports’ Best New Car Value scoring for the second year in a row. CR’s analysis ranked over 200 vehicles on performance, reliability and costs and...
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Upstart Tesla Makes the Top 5 in Consumer Reports’ Brand Perception Survey
Toyota is an old family firm. Ford is 111 years old. Chevrolet celebrated its centennial not long ago. Mercedes-Benz traces its lineage back to the 19th century. Though not 100 years old like those...
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Japanese Brands Dominate Consumer Reports Rankings, Detroit Three Struggling
Though quality and performance have improved as of late for products made by the Detroit Three, they still have a ways to go to beat the Japanese brands dominating Consumer Reports‘ current rankings....
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Toyota Dominates Consumer Reports Used Car Recommendations
Several Toyota models dominated this year’s Consumer Reports list of used car recommendations, with 11 out of 28 overall belonging to the automaker’s Scion, Lexus and namesake brands. Automotive News...
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BMW M235i Bests Corvette, 911 In Consumer Reports Road Testing
BMW’s M235i has earned the highest marks ever bestowed upon the German automaker’s lineup from Consumer Reports, while also besting the Porsche 911 and Chevrolet Corvette in road tests whose results...
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Consumer Reports: Infotainment System Woes Mark 2014 Reliability Survey
Consumer Reports released its Annual Reliability Survey for this year, focusing some of the attention on the woes experienced by a handful of infotainment systems. According to the publication, the...
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FCA Quality Chief Replaced Day After Poor Survey Outing
A day after Fiat Chrysler Automobiles found itself near or at the bottom of Consumer Reports 2014 Annual Reliability Survey, FCA quality boss Doug Betts left the building. Per Autoblog, Betts came...
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Consumer Reports: Tesla Model S Ranked “Average” In Reliability Survey
Think your Tesla Model S is all that and a bag of Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte Doritos? That it says to the world that you’ve arrived? That you’re standing on the edge of a silver future? Consumer...
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Consumer Reports Declares Tesla Model S P85D ‘Undrivable’ Due To Glitch
The thrill has gone for Consumer Reports‘ review team over the Tesla Model S, declaring the P85D “undrivable” in a new blog post. The publication said its tester was described as such due to issues...
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Consumer Reports Rates ‘Imperfect’ Car With Perfect Score
Consumer Reports says that Tesla’s Model S P85D initially scored 103 points out of a possible 100, which initially “broke” their rating system. Consumer Reports adjusted the overall score to 100, and...
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Columnist: Consumer Reports ‘Prostituted’ Itself With Tesla Review
Wall Street Journal columnist Holman W. Jenkins (great name) slammed Consumer Reports for its glowing review and better-than-perfect score for the Tesla Model S P85D, in part, because the $127,000 car...
View ArticleTTAC on The Trading Floor: Ferrari Good, Tesla Bad*
According to The Truth About Cars’ stock exchange bureau chief, Ferrari is good and Tesla is bad today.* Tesla shares have dropped 10 percent on news today that Consumer Reports would pull its...
View ArticleConsumer Reports Has Tips If You’re Buying Your Teen a Car for the Holidays
It’s never too late to snap up a last-minute gift for your teenager, such as a car. Consumer Reports has nifty practical advice for parents looking to make this Christmas one to remember for their teen...
View ArticleTTAC News Round-up: Pumped About Porsche; GM’s Going To Trial; And Diesel’s...
Man, people are really pumped about the cool, expensive cars they just bought. That nugget of wisdom, Russia’s perpetual Cash for Clunkers program, VW’s appeal to Colorado and Washington buyers and...
View ArticleConsumer Reports Crowns FCA as the Four Least Reliable Brands Available
Consumer Reports released its new car reliability ratings today, and one company should take a long hard look at itself in the Italian-American mirror. The annual report covers brand reliability and...
View ArticleBig Hits, Massive Flops: These are Consumer Reports Least Reliable Vehicles...
Headlining 2016’s Consumer Reports annual reliability rankings were the dreadful results of four Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ brands. Bringing up the rear in uninterrupted fashion were Dodge, Chrysler,...
View ArticleConsumer Reports 5 Most Reliable Vehicles For 2016 are Mostly Niche Models...
Buick grabbed much of the limelight when Consumer Reports released its 2016 reliability survey results yesterday, earning the best-ever brand ranking of any domestic marque. But atop the leaderboard,...
View ArticleSubaru Steps Up Quality Control After Embarrassing Growing Pains
Remember the I Love Lucy sketch when Lucy gets a job at a factory where she has to wrap chocolates? She’s feeling pretty smug over how well she is performing until they accelerate the line and candies...
View ArticleConsumer Reports Dumps Acura Near Fiat in Owner Satisfaction Survey
Consumer Reports’ Annual Owner Satisfaction Survey was released today, showcasing exactly how owners feel about the vehicular choices they’ve made this year. While numerous manufacturers managed to...
View ArticlePiston Slap: How Reliable are Reliability Indexes?
Brian writes: Hi there — I’ve been doing a lot of research (Googling) as of late to truly understand car reliability. I’ve been reading through sites like Carcomplaints.com, Truedelta.com, Consumer...
View ArticleAudi Returns to Top of Consumer Reports Brand Ranking, FCA Returns to the Bottom
The automaker that can’t seem to catch a break in overall quality rankings — or more comprehensive ones — doesn’t get a reprieve in Consumer Reports‘ latest brand ranking. In its 2017 list of the best...
View ArticleNothing but Trouble: Used Cars to Avoid Like the Plague
Navigating the new car market can be treacherous, but the used market is significantly larger and riddled with more hidden pitfalls. Used cars also offer the best potential value for your money,...
View ArticleConsumer Reports Takes a Stand Against Goofy Modern Gearshifts
Oddball gearboxes have been around forever. Cord’s 810 had a Wilson preselector back in the 1930s, Chrysler had the the mid-century pushbutton PowerFlite, and Oldsmobile was throwing Hurst Lighting...
View ArticleConsumer Reports’ 2017 Alfa Romeo Giulia Ti Basically Lives In The Dealer...
In the latest episode of Consumer Reports’ Talking Cars YouTube show, hosts Jon Linkov, Gabe Shenhar, and Mike Monticello discussed the persistence with which their bought-and-paid for 2017 Alfa Romeo...
View ArticleConsumer Reports Downgrades Tesla Models Over Safety Concerns
Consumer Reports has been pretty hard on Tesla Motors over the past year. The primary point of contention in 2016 was the automaker’s perceived misrepresentation of the company’s Autopilot feature. CR...
View ArticleConsumer Reports Restores Half of Tesla’s Missing Points After Braking Update
Tesla Motors has won back some of Consumer Reports’ respect after being criticised for failing to include automatic emergency braking in recently built vehicles. The absence of the safety system really...
View ArticleNo Fixed Abode: All The Unreliable Ways In Which We Talk About Reliability
How did you celebrate Warren Brown Day? What? You didn’t know about Warren Brown Day? Well, my friend, allow me to fill you in. If you are a subject of the Washington, DC metro area, then June 15th was...
View ArticleConsumers Union Wants Heavy-duty Truck Buyers to Know Their Vehicle’s Fuel...
Say you’re on the Ram website, perusing a new 2500 heavy-duty pickup. On the specifications page, you scroll down to the fuel efficiency table to see how many Andrew Jacksons you’ll be forking over at...
View ArticleWhich Brands Fared Best in 2017’s Consumer Reports’ Reliability Survey?
Consumer advice is one way informed shoppers like to make a decision, and few buying choices are bigger than your next car. Every year, Consumer Reports surveys its subscribers to see how they’re...
View ArticleConsumer Reports and Tesla Feud Continues Over Model 3
Tesla Motors and Consumer Reports have enjoyed a fairly contentious relationship with each other over the last few years. The nonprofit consumer advocacy organization had previously slighted the Model...
View ArticleQOTD: Do You Care About Automotive Awards?
Glossy magazines present multi-page spreads on their winners. Poorly funded websites present annual lists of their favorites. Other organizations that rate all sorts of consumer products give out...
View ArticlePump the Brakes: Consumer Reports Dings Model 3 For Lackluster Stops
“Lackluster” may be an understatement. In its test of the Tesla Model 3 Long Range model, Consumer Reports discovered plenty of things to like about the California automaker’s smallest electric...
View ArticleThem’s the Brakes: Musk Promises ‘Further Refinement’ of Model 3’s Binders
If you weren’t on Twitter yesterday, well, you picked a good day to stay away. However, if public battles between an automaker and the media is your thing, coupled with exasperating (and disturbing)...
View ArticleConsumer Reports About-face Brings ‘Recommended’ Label to Tesla’s Model 3
The Consumer Reports review that criticized the Tesla Model 3’s stopping distance and all-consuming touchscreen seems to have sparked CEO Elon Musk’s recent spat with the media, but a change of heart...
View ArticleHands Off: Cadillac’s Super Cruise Beats Tesla’s Autopilot in First Consumer...
Now that new car buyers have a decent selection of semi-autonomous driving systems to choose from, Consumer Reports felt it would be a good idea to put them to the test. Expect to see much...
View ArticleAmericans Suffer in Consumer Reports’ 2018 Brand Reliability Rankings
Consumer Reports has released its reliability rankings for automotive brands. The results, based on responses from half million of its readers, are about what you’d expect, with a few exceptions....
View ArticleConsumer Reports Is All Out of Love for the Tesla Model 3
Less than a year after bestowing a coveted “Recommended” label on Tesla’s Model 3, Consumer Reports is taking is back. You can just imagine the outrage in the online Teslaverse. Consumer Reports’...
View ArticleSurvey Suggests Most Motorists Dig Advanced Driving Aids
A survey released by Consumer Reports this week indicated that a majority of motorists (57 percent) believed that the advanced driving aids their vehicles had actively helped them avoid a crash. The...
View ArticleGas War: Efficiency Rollback Would Raise Fuel Costs, Study Claims
The fuel economy rollback posited by the Trump administration remains a hotly debated issue within the automotive community. Unfortunately, it has become mired in political nonsense, making decrypting...
View ArticleHow Responsible Are EVs for Maintaining Our Automotive Infrastructure?
With electric-vehicle owners eligible for sizable tax breaks, and ineligible for federal fuel taxes, it often feels like they’re not pulling their weight when it comes to maintaining this great...
View ArticleBuying a Car For Your Ungrateful Teen? Here’s a List
The thought of a parent spending any significant amount of money on a vehicle for their teen offspring leaves a bad taste in this writer’s mouth, but some families march to the beat of a different,...
View ArticleMazda Stands Atop the Consumer Reports List for First Time
Mazda just unlocked a first for the brand. The “zoom-zoom” brand is now sitting atop Consumer Reports’ yearly list of most reliable automotive brands. That’s the first time that has happened. The...
View ArticleConsumer Reports Worried Tesla Could Spy on Customers
Consumer Reports has taken umbrage with Tesla’s new cabin camera designed to monitor the driver by suggesting there might be some privacy concerns. While that sounds like the understatement of the...
View ArticleSafety Groups Downgrade Tesla Models for Dumping Radar
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is downgrading the Tesla Model 3 and Y following the company’s decision to remove radar from its advanced driver-assistance suite. We wrote about it,...
View ArticleStudy: Automotive Debt Is Out of Control, You’re Being Swindled
Consumer Reports just released the findings of a year-long study looking into the latest trends in automotive loans and car payments. The resulting information highlights just how explosive the debt...
View ArticleThis, Not That: Consumer Reports Releases Its List
Compilations and lists purporting to tout the ‘best and worst’ of any consumer product – from cars to computers to toasters – are always given side glances in this office, if for no other reason than...
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