Brand reliability--Perception vs reality

Here are the reason's I don't trust the CR auto survey:

1) CR uses a bad sampling method. Like it or not, you are sampling a
group of people who purchased CR. These people tend to agree with the
CR's editorial style / opinions / whatever. To me it is like only
asking Democrats what they think of a particular political figure. You
may get many responses, but you aren't getting the whole picture.

2) CR is not unbiased. They may not be influenced by advertising
dollars, but they clearly are not unbiased. CR readers are more likely
than non-readers to share the CR biases. I believe this influences how
people respond to the survey. I've responded to the surveys for years,
and it is my opinion that the surveys leave a lot of room for
interpretation and don't collect nearly enough information to make the
sort of dramatic claims the CR survey results portray.

3) CR's method of reporting the results deliberately hides the
information that would help me decide if it was significant. Why don't
they publish the actual number of respondents for each vehicles and
more details on the results for each vehicles. Distilling it down to a
few little circles makes it difficult to put a value on the
information.

4) I don't actually trust CR. I read it all the time, but I treat it
just like any other publication. The opinions of CR's editorial staff
often don't match my experiences. Sometimes the differences are just
honest disagreements, but sometimes I have to wonder. And it is pretty
clear that CR has deliberately monkey'd with tests in the past to make
them match their preconceived notions (just ask Suzuki or Isuzu what
they think of CR's methods). If they are willing to "adjust" tests to
make sure they get the results they desire, is it really so hard to
imagine they might adjust, massage, interpret, whatever, the
responses to their annual survey to get the results they believe to be
true?

Ed

 

Where did you obtain that statistic? Are you referring to the type of
buyers that chose their vehicles like they choose their refrigerators and
toaster etc. or car guys that read Road & Track, Car & Driver, Auto Week an
Motor Trend to help them to determine what to buy?

 

Consumer Reports has done surveys of their subscribers and describe the
typical subscriber as "relatively affluent and well-educated."

Are you referring to the type of

Consumer Reports subscribers value reliability and safety. They are less
concerned about 0-60 in four seconds versus seven seconds.

 

That's the problem with almost all "volunteer" polls. You get two
types of people, the lovers and the haters. For two examples, go to
www.cruisecritic.com or www.tripadvisor.com
--

- dillon I am not invalid

When you wish upon a falling star, your dreams come true.
Unless it's really a meteorite hurtling to the Earth which
will destroy all life. Then you're pretty much hosed no
matter what you wish for. Unless it's death by meteor.

 

which should balance out?


after all these years and all the CR data it should be pretty easy to
refute CR's frequency of repair reports with real world data.

can anyone *prove* the data are not correct?

what, no one has access to frequency of repair data collected by other
organizations?

the CR data is as good as your gonna get.
I've yet to find an independent mechanic who claimed the CR data are
not representative.
CR data may not be perfect but it's MUCH BETTER THAN NOTHING;
which is what you've got without the CR data.