Consumer Reports bags our trucks :(

[ElAviator72]

Our trucks (GMT360's) appear with a definite do not buy recommendation on used vehicles in the latest CR.

They say the engine and tranny are fundamentally reliable, but then go on to bad the vehicle based on other issues, some of which aren't even clearly defined in the article.

I have about zero respect for consumer reports when it comes to cars anymore...they are all for it if it is a Honda or Toyota, but that's about it.

 

[The_Roadie]

Since I never trade a vehicle in, resale value doesn't motivate me. Buying a spare for a parts car cheaper benefits me, so attaboy CR.

 

[MedicatedMike]

lol, love that answer roadie.

To be honest if I had extensively researched the platform before purchase, I might have considered something else, and Im glad I didnt, because we love our TB!

 

[blazinlow89]

The thing about consumer reports is that if it is made by one of the big 3 auto makers it automatically gets points off. However if it Toyota, Honda or german made it gets points automatically. For a while if it wasn't and M3 it was crap. I have no respect for them, C&D, or many other consumer auto raters.

I read one about the Excursion, it was a constant bash fest. Oversized, poor gas mileage, loud engine etc. They rate it based on their taste, not on the end consumer who is buying it for their own needs.

 

[The_Roadie]

They rate it based on their taste, not on the end consumer who is buying it for their own needs.

Exactly. And as a non-profit east coast-based organization, I believe they see themselves as an agent for change, and they would love to nudge the country into a lower energy consumption mode. An admirable goal, but their tastes are not shared by everyone, and they grew more and more strident as time went on. My wife and I were members for 32 years, using their buying guides as the bible for major purchases except autos. But their fund-raising got out of hand, and ended up bordering on deceptive (Consumer Reports FOUNDATION making their begging letters look like they were CR invoices.) so I fired their ass and their publications are out of my house. I may have also grown a bit less blatantly liberal over the years.

 

[Voymom]

I have owned now 2 American made vehicles (GM/GMC) and 2 foreign vehicles (Toyota&Mazda) and I have to say that the only difference between my 'Voy and those 2 cars were that they were made in different countries, and my foreign cars were purchased brand new....The foreign cars were easier to work on only because stuff was easier to get to...parts still cost money no matter what you buy. If something small takes a shit it won't cost very much, but if something big takes a shit your looking to pay an arm and a leg...NO MATTER if you own a foreign or american made truck.

The "Cheap" wood grain inside one consumer report mentioned when I was doing my research is the SAME cheap crap that my 04 Toyota Camry had in it.. The leather in my Toyota kept tearing and had to be replaced before it was even paid for, and I paid it off in 2 years. I also had to have the moonroof and stereo serviced 3 times before it was paid for. Once the issues were dealt with by the stealership it was okay, no major malfunctions only because it was still under warranty. When I was going through my divorce(ex husbands car) I didn't even refill the windshield wiper fluid. No oil changes no nothing...the windshield was about a crack away from completely imploding lol. When I got it in the divorce I was actually a bit pissed, it was so ran down I no longer wanted it, but was rewarded it anyways. It needed some work and I mean WORK. I let the oil run low and so forth, tires were as slick as a dragsters tires, brakes were crap as well as a few other big issues.

MY Mazda gave me tranny issues about 3 months after I purchased it. I ended up having it repo'ed when I left my ex husband as I wasn't able to afford the $700 payments plus the $150 for insurance being a single mom of 3.

But the point is...American or not a car is a machine and ALL machines eventually break either from wear and tear or a malfunction, the more "bells and whistles" a car has the more there is to need fixed...It's simply common sense, and we all know this world is severely lacking in that category. Consumer's don't really think ANYTHING will ever break on their trucks, and when something does break...it's automatically the worse car they ever owned. It's funny when warranties expire...people brag about their vehicles while the warranty is good, but the second the warranty is up and something needs to be paid for out of pocket AT the stealership....they say it's the worse and most expensive car they have ever had.

I will admit I have done more work to this truck than any other vehicle owned, but this is also my second used vehicle I have ever owned. And...It's cost me money to fix because nothing is free....people need to feed their families, and because I actually LIKE my truck enough to fix it when he needs fixing.

I would recommend reading consumer reports with an extremely open mind. I would also read stuff like Edmunds forum with an open mind. Life is short...if you don't take any risks...your simply not living. It's just a car and it's just money....

 

[ElAviator72]

Okay, now I have the CR in my hot hands (swiped it from the in-laws, so I'm not going by memory ).

What CR says is wrong with our trucks:

Engine, minor: gets below average on '06, black mark on '07. '08 and '09 show dots (the best). Lots of improvements in the '07, don't understand this at all.

"Drive system": black marks from '06-'09. They don't even define this one in the article

Fuel system: black marks on '06, '07, below average for '08 and '09. If this is related to the sending unit "recall" (that really wasn't), maybe I could understand it.

Climate system: black mark for '06, average on '07 and up.

Suspension: average on '06, below average on '07, averate '08, above average on '09.

Paint/trim: average on '06, below average on '07 and '08, average on '09 again.

Body integrity Below average '06-'08, black mark on '09. What? GMT 360's have very solid bodies. Don't know how they fare when you drive them down salted roads in the winter (don't have to worry about that where I live).

Body hardware: average on '06, below average on '07, black marks on '08 and '09.

Power equipment: Below average on '06, black mark on '07, below average on '08, above average on '09.

Audio system: Below average on '06, average on '07 and '08, above average on '09.

 

[Juicy K]

WOW!!! Maybe this is just a rant... I know these trucks have their quirks, but really? This thing is by far the best looking/riding/reliable American vehicle I have owned, it has proven {(in our family) My Bravada, Moms Trailblazer, Brothers Envoy} to be the best vehicle we have had. Us three have had dumb little things happen, the worst was my Mother and Brothers alternators went out 2 days apart. Consumer reports always seem to favor cars like BMW, yet my fathers 02' 5 series has been plagued with problems, I had plenty of problems with the Celica's i've had, I would never buy a Mitsubishi to many friends with them. To many problems to much to fix, only reason the Wife's 3000GT stays around is she loves that car dearly and its a low mile car. And best of all... Its a summer only car, yet it has still cost a bunch in parts. When we started looking for an SUV we started out looking at the BMW X5, What we wanted to spend was 14,000 or less, but at the time, we could not find one at BMW dealerships that cheap, started looking for individuals selling them, but there were little things that needed fixed/replaced, parts are not cheap for them. So we decided not to go that route (very glad we didn't)
Looked at Mercedes Mclass, same ordeal. Even looked at a Lexus RX300, but it has the Camry V6 and it was not enough power (when i say not enough power it was so slow it almost seemed unsafe, the quality of the interior was alright. We quit looking for a while, until we got stranded at home during a snow storm (at the time we had 2 3000GT's) we started shopping around the next day. I knew I liked the Tralblazers and Envoys, but the wife dislikes GM so those were out of the question... Or so I thought at one car lot I saw a Bravada, I forgot they even made it, I knew it was essentially a Tralblazer, but the wife knew nothing of platform sharing... We test drove it and both liked it alot, good power, comfortable, looked good. AND NOTHING WAS WRONG WITH IT!!! We handed over the cash for it and drove it home 6 days later. I dont regret my choice, my wife was pissed when i told her its based off the Envoy/TB but she has gotten over that.


I'll im saying is I FULLY Disagree with CR

 

[The_Roadie]

CR data comes from a yearly survey sent to all subscribers. It's a self-selected population, so busy folks ignore the survey. Folks with an axe to grind or a lemon of a vehicle are more likely to report it. And more importantly, it's ONLY CR subscribers who are surveyed, so if you believe CR has a liberal East Coast bias, that's going to be reflected in the subscriber base.

A more comprehensive article explaining the CR flaws: Statistical problems of Consumer Reports auto ratings

Good paragraph:

John Greenstreet: "the CR survey may over/understate the reliability of certain cars because the people that own them are not homogeneous. ... many people will have a subconscious need to justify their purchase of a Japanese auto over of a domestic one, and they could do this by believing superior reliability is the reason they bought it. Because of cognitive dissonance, they would tend to overlook or downplay anything that would attack this mind-set. We do see many people who vehemently defend Japan's cars' reliability and smear that of others."

 

[Jkust]

I've never believed much CR has to say concerning cars. They are clearly a liberal, bias org and if a liberal says it or writes it, it can not be believed without verifying. As for depreciation, that's the reason I was turned onto our platform in the first place. Lots of truck for little money in the used market and they aren't ugly like Explorers or Durangos of the same generation. Other sources give our trucks good marks for drivetrain and engine and may ding other things but come on the 5.3 is in every GM truck made. As for other brands, my wife wanted a Lexus or Mercedes suv and she got a Buick and loves it.

 

[JerryIrons]

I used to be a long time subscriber to CR but gave it up a number of years ago. It just didn't seem as accurate as it used to be, and they seemed to ask for money a lot. Bubbye!

-Jerry

 

[Mark20]

John Greenstreet: "the CR survey may over/understate the reliability of certain cars because the people that own them are not homogeneous. ... many people will have a subconscious need to justify their purchase of a Japanese auto over of a domestic one, and they could do this by believing superior reliability is the reason they bought it. Because of cognitive dissonance, they would tend to overlook or downplay anything that would attack this mind-set. We do see many people who vehemently defend Japan's cars' reliability and smear that of others."

Worst car we owned was a wife's Toyota Tercel. Constant problems with electrical system. Also one of the spark plugs kept loosening itself.

An old co-worker used to work in the Lafayette electronics store chain. People would come in with recent CR in hand saying they wanted such and such a model. He'd be dumbfounded because it was discontinued the previous year.

Don't worry, the east coast doesn't have a lock on liberal stupidity.

 

[blazinlow89]

I think Maryland contributes to about 90% of the liberalism of the east coast.

 

[christo829]

I know plenty of "non-liberals" who think CR is the word of law, so libs aren't strictly the cause, and not the only ones guilty
of narrow sighted bias. My guess is that they might be the ones not turning in their survey responses.

CR's biggest flaw as far as statistics is sample group. It's a lot like looking at this group and the OS,
and thinking that the GMT platform is terrible. It's certainly not, but since a large number of people posting are there because
of a problem, that's the perception. All the people that aren't having problems read, but perhaps don't post.

I've always found CR, as well as C&D, to be overly Toyo and Honda friendly. Nowadays, I just look for web based
reviews, take 'em with a big grain of salt, come up with a list of things I want in what I'm shopping for, and go from
there. I also tend to not listen to movie critics. Sometimes, I should...

Cheers-

Chris

 

[tblazed]

Dropped my subscription to CR many years ago when I was still active in the electronics repair business. Too many times I read reviews of electronics like TVs and VCRs that made no sense and their reliability ratings did not match what we experienced in the shop, a very high volume shop in North Dallas, factory authorized warranty service for over 30 brands at the peak of the biz back in the 80s-90s. Maybe if I was buying laundry soap...

 

[gmcman]

Where's the middle finger smiley? CR makes me nauseous...

Here ya go....sorry for the crappy pic but had to dig this out of safe keeping.

 

[jdoorn14]

Just read the latest CR notes about our TVs last night. The only thing that came to mind was thank god I have the 04.

CR does tend to rate mpg higher than anything else...which is odd when they give a bad PERFORMANCE rating for a low estimated mpg.

One US car they were all about is the new Ford Escape...you know, the one that now only has 2 four cylinder engine options with automatic transmissions that are both hamstrung even more in favor of fuel economy.