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Consumer Reports has been dead to me in the automotive space for decades ... great for appliances and consumer goods ... but in the automotive space, the reality is that the majority of (reporting) car owners have a limited understanding of mechanics and root-cause issues ... all they know in terms of expertise is that "they had a problem" ... so they "vote" by categorizing ... which is then represented as absolute "data" by Consumer Reports ... only as accurate as the (non-professional) information source.
There are better automotive professional based resources to research recall, repair and quality issues by make, model and brand ...
Consumer Reports has been dead to me in the automotive space for decades ... great for appliances and consumer goods ... but in the automotive space, the reality is that the majority of (reporting) car owners have a limited understanding of mechanics and root-cause issues ... all they know in terms of expertise is that "they had a problem" ... so they "vote" by categorizing ... which is then represented as absolute "data" by Consumer Reports ... only as accurate as the (non-professional) information source.
There are better automotive professional based resources to research recall, repair and quality issues by make, model and brand ...
It’s still better data than most other consumer-digestible rating sources. CR aggregates a lot of data.
IIRC the 2014 or 15 Gx was actually rated as not recommended. That reverse the following year. It was surprising but I chalked it up to a fluke.
CR isn’t for enthusiasts or early adopters. It’s for Camry, ES350 and Rx450 customers. It doesn’t mean the data is bad or methodology is flawed.
Just the wild swings in their ratings would make me wonder. The cars have barely changed in the past 10 years, now one can go from rock bottom to top and then back is beyond me.
CR isn’t for enthusiasts or early adopters. It’s for Camry, ES350 and Rx450 customers. It doesn’t mean the data is bad or methodology is flawed.
An unrepresentative dataset used for extrapolation to draw conclusions on a much larger population is a flawed methodological approach and therefore unreliable. They’ve always made out that they are the preeminent expert on all things. I’ll concede that they are good with rating toasters but that is the limit.
An unrepresentative dataset used for extrapolation to draw conclusions on a much larger population is a flawed methodological approach and therefore unreliable. They’ve always made out that they are the preeminent expert on all things. I’ll concede that they are good with rating toasters but that is the limit.
Because it is not a random set, it only comes from their subscribers. No telling how many GX owners subscribe to CR and fill out surveys. This survey could have 3 owners of a 2014 and if those three report issues, it rates poorly but that sample size is so small that it is not representative whatsoever..If it came from a Lexus database across every user, that’d be different. It would be nice if they were more open about their sample sizes and methodology.
After decades of ditching CR ... was researching kitchen appliances ... so opened a CR on-line account ... had to provide CC payment ... so did my research and then attempted to cancel the (forced) monthly subscription ... an absolute nightmare ... designed to make it close to impossible to cancel ... and they are a proported consumer advocate ...
not sure the statistical difference in CR subscribers is significant as in a sensitivity analysis on parametric results. meaning that subscribing most likely wouldnt impact results. the contour plots would intersect.
but i am sure that CR will 'revise' equations and results prepublication in many cases.
After decades of ditching CR ... was researching kitchen appliances ... so opened a CR on-line account ... had to provide CC payment ... so did my research and then attempted to cancel the (forced) monthly subscription ... an absolute nightmare ... designed to make it close to impossible to cancel ... and they are a proported consumer advocate ...
There are several "one time use credit cards" that can be used for this, you can even preload with few $ so that when they do the 1$ card charge to check card its valid.
It's a hassle, and shoudl not be like this.