Bias Against Domestic Cars

So why hasn't CR shown any bias when they've tested American and Japanese twins, like the Toyota Matrix and Pontiac Vibe or the Toyota Corolla and Geo Prizm?

Statistics can be used to prejudice almost anything, I guess.

Seems to me CR would have better served its subscribe if it had informed them they could save a lot of money by purchasing the domestic version of those vehicles rather than the Jap twin.

They have.

Jeff

They have. Look back through the archives at their ratings for the Ford Probe and Mazda 626. They were built in the same US plant, using largely the same parts, yet the Mazda was always given the higher reliability rating. This was one of the first clues that I had that something was wrong at CR.

Derek

The same is true at C and D. They seem to usually favor the German and Asian cars over the US cars. Not always though.

If the five year repair cost ($800) is less then $161 a year is it really realistic to call something a "clunker"? And do they take into account how much less that "clunker" might cost to buy compared to their favorite import?

After looking thru the article I agree it's rather striking how they padded the "top 10" with the same vehicle under two names.

I was actually complaining about the Forbes article and how it used the CR data. But as to your comment, the editors at CR may be biased, but they are not stupid.

Ed

That's like saying you're biased against having piles of human waste in your living room.

Bias is simply bias. In this case, enough people came about the bias honestly.

Fuck the UAW and the crap it puts out. Fuck the Big Three and the crap they put out.

CR only reports what their annual survey says. If there is any bias, it's in the subscribers.

Also, don't forget that the quality of the dealership can go a long way toward how 'reliable' you think your car is.

CR rates the Ford Fusion/Mercury Milan as having higher reliablity than the Accord or Camry. (Toyota is nice if you want your car to drive

Just a point...."largely the same parts" may not be the same as equivalent vehicles.

I am not defending CR.. I have held them up to doubt many times on other types of products, where they clearly had no idea what they were talking about.

There's always bias in humans, but a better survey would do a better job in trying to design it out of the polling. The JD Power data seems better quality.

Very, very true. Even though the dealerships are independent entities, people still see them as "Ford". If they treat the buyer poorly, it will be reflected in the surveys.

A very impressive achievement! Note that Lincoln MKZ is also higher rated than the Lexus and Acura equivalents by CR.

Derek

The only differences were the outer skins. They were the same platform underneath.

I've always worried about a company that reviews toasters rating sophisticated devices, particularly consumer electronics and automobiles. But they do have the advantage of being advertisement free...

Derek

It seems that you're drunk and senile again, Foghorn, because the links show that CR has done exactly that. They actually favor American brands when they're competitive with foreign ones, as demonstrated by their gushing over the pretty good but not best Ford Fusion, and back when Toyota's T100 pickup was introduced in the US, the cover of CR headlined, "Ford Beats Toyota" (but the T-100 was pretty bad compared to the Ford).

JD Powers is worse and has shown more bias in favor of luxury cars and cars favored by senior citizens, whether or not those vehicles were reliable (Lincoln) or not (Jaguar before Ford bought them).

Then I'd expect luxury car brands to fare better because of their dealerships, so why have Cadlllac and Rolls-Royce long fared so poorly in reliability ratings? And Toyota's brand with the highest reliability is budget Scion, not luxury Lexus.

Please explain. Here are the reliability ratings of the 626 and Probe:

"Andrew Rossmann" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org...

I don't completely agree with this. The CR survey is very simplistic. A lot of the questions depend on the responder making value judgements. These judgements are based on the experience / beliefs / opinions of the reponders. These factors are at least partially influenced by what CR says about a given vehicle. If CR says a Camry is reliable, then the respondents are more likely to shade their answers in that direction. Probably a small shading, but given the tiny differences in the results, it does not take much to seem significant given CRs method of reporting the results. The little shaded circle methods makes it seem that the differences are much more significant than they really are. The difference between the horrible black dot rating and the wonderful red dot rating can be trivial in some cases. So small shadings in the responses can look like major differnces, when in fact they are not. And then there is the whole problem of the pool of responders. I would argue that the readership of CR is biased towards a group of people who agree with the CR editorial opinions. Since CR has shown a marked prefernce for Toyota products over recent years, I believe the CR reasdership is more likely to be disposed towards believing Toyotas are more reliable than other cars. I believe this will lead towards a bias in the survey results. Again, maybe a small bias, but that is all it takes to completely screw up the results as interperted by the CR editiorial staff.

Definitely true. This probably explainis why Lexus always has high ratings. However, it probably works against Toyota, since Toyota dealerships are usually rated worse than average in other surveys.

Ed

On Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:59:55 -0500, "C. E. White" wrote:

Toyota/Honda owners will disagree with what you said. But you hit the high spots. Of course CR will never release the number of survey respondents of each make of car. Might look funny to see that 90% of the survey respondents are reporting on Toyotas/Hondas. Why subscribe to a magazine then not follow its advice about your biggest purchase? CR does do some good stuff on smaller purchases and other matters though, so it is a useful tool. That's why I was a long-time subscriber. Nowadays there are net resources with product reviews. As you said, the use of colored circles dots is a big weakness. More detail on what was repaired and actual costs could very well save some subscribers money when they select their car - especially used cars. I get that detail through other sources (mechanics, net complaints, forums, etc) and do very well with costs on my used cars. Chevys. The knocks from CR on Chevys and other cars have made them a real bargain on the used car market - if you are even a bit analytical. The JD Powers surveys are often knocked, but they are professional surveys paid for by the auto manufacturers. Last I looked the individual owners surveyed are paid 20 bucks to tell the truth. BTW, I never filled out a CR survey. Even when my Chevys were young enough to qualify, I didn't want to mess up a good thing by reporting no problems. FYI, it seems CR is now a free magazine, at least for me. I let my subscription lapse about 5 years ago, but continue to get the magazine in the mail. Along with occasional letters asking me to re-subscribe. I guess they think sending me the magazines is an enticement to subscribe. Not a good sales practice overall, I think.

--Vic

The same "platform" does not mean the same floorpan, or even necessarily the same wheelbase or track. It means it shares a "layout".