Five popular cars to avoid
08-08-12, 10:14 AM
#1
Five popular cars to avoid
http://autos.yahoo.com/news/five-pop...-20120807.html
Five popular cars to avoid
ConsumerReports.orgConsumerReports.org – 23 hours ago
Just because a car generates a lot of buzz or is a best seller doesn't mean that it's a good choice for you.
The five models here may be on a lot of buyers' shopping lists, but we suggest you steer clear. They didn't perform well in our testing or they suffer from subpar reliability. Either way, there are better choices.
Honda Civic
For years, the Civic has been an iconic small car. But Honda took too many shortcuts in its latest redesign. The Civic is still one of the more reliable and fuel-efficient cars in its class. But the current model suffers from a choppy ride, noisy cabin, vague steering, and mediocre interior quality. The Subaru Impreza, Hyundai Elantra, and Mazda3 are better small cars with similar or better fuel economy.
Jeep Liberty
You might be drawn to this SUV's rugged looks. But that style comes with an equally rugged and unrefined driving experience. The Liberty can tackle tough off-road terrain. But on pavement its ride is unsettled and handling is clumsy. The interior is cramped and cheap feeling. And the engine is noisy and thirsty, getting only 16 mpg overall. All of this has earned it one of the lowest road-test scores of any vehicle we've recently tested. You'll give up some off-road prowess, but the Toyota RAV4 and Subaru Forester are much nicer SUVs overall, with notably better gas mileage.
Toyota Prius C
It's all the buzz: a less expensive Prius with great gas mileage. What more can you ask for? Plenty. Yes, this new subcompact gets a stingy 37 mpg in city driving and 43 mpg overall, 1 mpg shy of the larger Prius hatchback. But all-around quality really drops. Related to the lackluster Toyota Yaris, the Prius C suffers from a stiff ride, noisy cabin, slow acceleration, and cheap-looking interior trim. Though it can't match the C's stellar mpg, the Honda Fit scored much higher in our tests and costs thousands less.
Dodge Grand Caravan
This is one of the best-selling minivans on the market. It's versatile, comfortable, quiet, and well equipped. But according to our annual reliability survey, it's also the most problematic minivan, suffering from numerous reports of squeaks and rattles, loose interior trim, and power-equipment and sliding-door troubles. The Grand Caravan also didn't measure up to its competitors in our testing, delivering unimpressive gas mileage of 17 mpg overall and sloppy at-the-limit handling. We favor the front-wheel-drive Toyota Sienna, which has had better reliability and gets 20 mpg.
Ford Edge (V-6)
The stylish lines of this crossover SUV might catch your eye, but we suggest that you keep on looking. In our testing of the V-6 all-wheel drive version, we found a jittery ride, pronounced road noise, and distracting controls, especially with the complicated and unintuitive MyFord Touch infotainment system. And in our annual survey of subscribers, it had much-worse-than-average reliability. There is also a turbo four-cylinder engine that works well and gets better fuel economy, but it can't be paired with all-wheel drive. For about the same price, better alternatives include the Toyota Highlander, Nissan Murano, and Mazda CX-9.
Five popular cars to avoid
ConsumerReports.orgConsumerReports.org – 23 hours ago
Just because a car generates a lot of buzz or is a best seller doesn't mean that it's a good choice for you.
The five models here may be on a lot of buyers' shopping lists, but we suggest you steer clear. They didn't perform well in our testing or they suffer from subpar reliability. Either way, there are better choices.
Honda Civic
For years, the Civic has been an iconic small car. But Honda took too many shortcuts in its latest redesign. The Civic is still one of the more reliable and fuel-efficient cars in its class. But the current model suffers from a choppy ride, noisy cabin, vague steering, and mediocre interior quality. The Subaru Impreza, Hyundai Elantra, and Mazda3 are better small cars with similar or better fuel economy.
Jeep Liberty
You might be drawn to this SUV's rugged looks. But that style comes with an equally rugged and unrefined driving experience. The Liberty can tackle tough off-road terrain. But on pavement its ride is unsettled and handling is clumsy. The interior is cramped and cheap feeling. And the engine is noisy and thirsty, getting only 16 mpg overall. All of this has earned it one of the lowest road-test scores of any vehicle we've recently tested. You'll give up some off-road prowess, but the Toyota RAV4 and Subaru Forester are much nicer SUVs overall, with notably better gas mileage.
Toyota Prius C
It's all the buzz: a less expensive Prius with great gas mileage. What more can you ask for? Plenty. Yes, this new subcompact gets a stingy 37 mpg in city driving and 43 mpg overall, 1 mpg shy of the larger Prius hatchback. But all-around quality really drops. Related to the lackluster Toyota Yaris, the Prius C suffers from a stiff ride, noisy cabin, slow acceleration, and cheap-looking interior trim. Though it can't match the C's stellar mpg, the Honda Fit scored much higher in our tests and costs thousands less.
Dodge Grand Caravan
This is one of the best-selling minivans on the market. It's versatile, comfortable, quiet, and well equipped. But according to our annual reliability survey, it's also the most problematic minivan, suffering from numerous reports of squeaks and rattles, loose interior trim, and power-equipment and sliding-door troubles. The Grand Caravan also didn't measure up to its competitors in our testing, delivering unimpressive gas mileage of 17 mpg overall and sloppy at-the-limit handling. We favor the front-wheel-drive Toyota Sienna, which has had better reliability and gets 20 mpg.
Ford Edge (V-6)
The stylish lines of this crossover SUV might catch your eye, but we suggest that you keep on looking. In our testing of the V-6 all-wheel drive version, we found a jittery ride, pronounced road noise, and distracting controls, especially with the complicated and unintuitive MyFord Touch infotainment system. And in our annual survey of subscribers, it had much-worse-than-average reliability. There is also a turbo four-cylinder engine that works well and gets better fuel economy, but it can't be paired with all-wheel drive. For about the same price, better alternatives include the Toyota Highlander, Nissan Murano, and Mazda CX-9.
08-08-12, 11:58 AM
#5
Lexus Champion
yep I read their review (and others) of the 11 Jeep Liberty 4WD saying how ****ty a vehicle it is before I bought mine ....I honestly just test drove it just to please the salesman...I was shocked how rock solid the thing felt and how cheap the price was [selling price was over $5000 less than a comparable 4WD V6 Escape I was looking at]....SOLD.
a co-worker has one....says the Sync totally sucks and wants to get rid of it for that reason only.
recent firmware updates just created new, different bugs and actually made it worse.
recent firmware updates just created new, different bugs and actually made it worse.
Last edited by bagwell; 08-08-12 at 12:03 PM.
08-08-12, 12:35 PM
#7
Lexus Fanatic
iTrader: (20)
yeah sync (by microsoft) is apparently awful.
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08-08-12, 01:04 PM
#10
Lexus Champion
in the Edge with the MyFordTouch, here's a (typical) example of the non-sense --- you have to dig thru menus just to get to the heated seat controls....reminds me of the first iDrive BS units in BMWs.
08-08-12, 05:47 PM
#11
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I have been driving a Prius C for the last month. The interior is fine. I find it very modern and chic. The ride quality is just as soft and planted as a Corolla or Camry. I can accelerate from 0-60 in 9 seconds, plenty quick to merge on freeways and jet past slow moving trucks. On the freeway, it is not Lexus-quiet but not nearly as bad as they make it sound.
08-08-12, 06:30 PM
#12
Lexus Fanatic
I'd put the Smart-for-Two first on the list......for number of reasons. It is arguably the worst new American-market car I've reviewed in decades. I'm also not impressed with the Scion iQ (especially its high-winding CVT), though its build-quality and overall driving-manners are somewhat better than the Smart's.
08-09-12, 05:19 AM
#14
Lexus Test Driver
I'd put the Smart-for-Two first on the list......for number of reasons. It is arguably the worst new American-market car I've reviewed in decades. I'm also not impressed with the Scion iQ (especially its high-winding CVT), though its build-quality and overall driving-manners are somewhat better than the Smart's.
08-09-12, 08:45 AM
#15
Guest
Posts: n/a
I wonder if the Edge they tested had the 22s, that can make the ride very harsh. Seems the vehicle ain't too bad but they are complaining about the radio basically.
Its hilarious to see the Civic on here and it sells so well though it now has record incentives. So many of us called it from the start how bad this new gen was and the opposition is eating crow
Not going to defend the Prius C, its clearly made to be the best MPG hybrid and sacrificed in other areas.
The Jeep Liberty is old, why pick on it?
The GC isn't too bad to me and I like the T&C.
Its hilarious to see the Civic on here and it sells so well though it now has record incentives. So many of us called it from the start how bad this new gen was and the opposition is eating crow
Not going to defend the Prius C, its clearly made to be the best MPG hybrid and sacrificed in other areas.
The Jeep Liberty is old, why pick on it?
The GC isn't too bad to me and I like the T&C.
