Consumer Reports

A guy from work that sits near me came by my cube with a copy of Consumer Reports Auto and proceeded to tell me that my 2004 Mazda RX8 was about the worst car built that year. More bad marks than any other car and what wasn't bad was average. Told him he's obviously never driven one. Every RX8 owner I know knows all about the quirks and choose to live with them and/or fix them. Besides, whomever writes the reports in Consumer Reports probably doesn't even know how cars work besides where to put the gas and turn the key. He replied that may be true but you have to be a mechanic to own one is what he got out of Consumer Reports. By the way, he's an engineer and drives a MazdaSpeed3. And bases all his decisions (at work and in life)on reports. I thought about here and our taste for quirky mechanical objects. And what he's missing.

I work around aviation engineers and technicians/mechanics. I'm one of the techs. Surprises me how many don't even know how their cars work but design and/or fix helicopters. Some of the helicopter techs/mechanics can't change spark plugs or point them out on their vehicles.

In reply to wlkelley3:

I work in a similar field and see this a lot. Our company has a networking website we can use to find a "mentor", the idea being that someone like me can meet someone in the level they're trying to achieve and start working down that road. In viewing their profiles I've found that not a single one of the engineers has done anything but put pencil to paper (no wrench turning, no hands on experience, no etc).

It amazes me that such "smart" people can be so... helpless. It also amazes me that some of the fixed wing wrench turners I work with can't do simple things you would expect a wrench turner to do. Like drive a manual transmission. I don't know why, but I lose a ton of respect for the people here who work on aircraft and cant drive a manual... (actually I do know why, but that's a "rant of the day" post).

Good times

wlkelley3 wrote: A guy from work that sits near me came by my cube with a copy of Consumer Reports Auto and proceeded to tell me that my 2004 Mazda RX8 was about the worst car built that year.

Also: I'm almost positive this person views you as a threat to their ego.

Guy sounds like a bit of a shiny person. But as an RX-8 owner, they have some serious short-comings in the reliability department. Great chassis, lots of fun, but still.

As the owner of an rx8 that is currently spraying grease everywhere, I can't deny the reliability thing, but every time I drive it I come to the conclusion that it is, in fact, the BEST car made that year

Consumer reports reviews appliances. To them a car is just a variant on a washing machine. For those that approach cars that way they are a good source of information. For the enthusiasts GRM is a much better course of car review information.

People own Mazdaspeed3s and don't modify them? I'm confused by why you would buy one.

CR is a great resource for a lot of things but numbers aren't the whole story in the automotive world.

Hungary Bill:

As an aircraft mechanic I'd be highly amused to see that rant. We have a few that are scared to death of wrenching on cars but turn wrenches on airplanes everyday.

dean1484 wrote: Consumer reports reviews appliances. To them a car is just a variant on a washing machine. For those that approach cars that way they are a good source of information. For the enthusiasts GRM is a much better course of car review information.

This sums it up quite well.

My old mechanical engineer boss asked me what the red things in my wheels were? I said they were brake calipers. He was a smart guy, but just didn't care about cars. I'm a mechanical engineer too but I love cars, that's your difference.

Not to stick it to my old boss but, he complained about the buzzer noise in his saturn that took 5 seconds to turn off when he started the car. He said he wanted to find the buzzer and disconnect and asked me about ideas for making it stop. Then weeks later we went to a job site and I watched him get it, start the car and plug his ears, waiting for the buzzing to stop. Then he buckled his seat belt. I told him to buckle up before starting the car.

Geez, don't get so uptight over someone saying something about your car that you don't like. The RX8's issues are well known and documented. It is what it is. Doesn't mean you can't like the car anyway.

I don't subscribe to Consumer Reports or read it, I did a very long time ago. But don't mix the subjective with the objective. I don't put much stock into their subjective opinions on cars. They're a jack of all trades, master of none. They're not washing machine experts either, they test everything and give their personal opinion. But their annual reliability report (at least from my understanding of it), is based on objective metrics such as documented complaints. Those findings usually bear out what we see. I've found the cars we see are reliable are typically the same ones that score well in that report and vice versa. So I'll look at that reliability report as part of my car research, but not their subjective opinion as to how it drives or handles.

I remember them panning the Miata one time because it was "too" stiff and was too rough out on the highway … shrug

Discuss with him how the Pontiac MAtrix got way lower scores than the Toyota Vibe? THey were the same cars, designed by the same team, with the same suppliers built on the same production line by the same people, yet according to them the Turdbota was somehow magically superior to the Pointy-Ack. Totally neutral non biased methods I assume?

Consumer Reports is a resource. Their information on reliability of used cars may not be submitted by experts, but that does not diminish its significance. If you're looking for impartial reliability data, where are you going to go? To the manufacturer? Not bloody likely!

I do not currently subscribe to CR, but I have in the past. I have also submitted repair data on cars I have owned. I think the data has value, but certainly isn't the last word on reliability. Mostly, it lacks detail, but it can give you a pretty good idea of what to expect in a used car.

And I'm a hardcore Mazda fanboy and a rotorhead, but I'd never buy an RX-8 as a "used car." Not reliable enough. And I own a Turbo II! On the other hand, I'd love to pick one up in a few years as a toy/beater for cheap.

CR nailed it on the RX-8 reliability. That doesn't mean the car lacks virtues.

Their comment on the Mustang GT in 05 was that it was a fairly nice car but the engine noise was too loud, which tells you everything you need to know.

Consumer Reports is written for my mother: People who don't care what a car looks like or how it performs, may or may not remember to do basic maintenance, don't care how it works...only that it starts and gets them where they want to go. They rate cars on the same scale as appliances, so cars that are appliances always win out.

1988RedT2 wrote: Consumer Reports is a resource. Their information on reliability of used cars may not be submitted by experts, but that does not diminish its significance. If you're looking for impartial reliability data, where are you going to go? To the manufacturer? Not bloody likely! I do not currently subscribe to CR, but I have in the past. I have also submitted repair data on cars I have owned. I think the data has value, but certainly isn't the last word on reliability. Mostly, it lacks detail, but it can give you a pretty good idea of what to expect in a used car. And I'm a hardcore Mazda fanboy and a rotorhead, but I'd never buy an RX-8 as a "used car." Not reliable enough. And I own a Turbo II! On the other hand, I'd love to pick one up in a few years as a toy/beater for cheap. CR nailed it on the RX-8 reliability. That doesn't mean the car lacks virtues.

This exactly. It's not the bible, but the information is useful. I have on online subscription. When I am buying things like actual appliances, the information is quite valuable.

Adrian_Thompson wrote: Discuss with him how the Pontiac MAtrix got way lower scores than the Toyota Vibe? THey were the same cars, designed by the same team, with the same suppliers built on the same production line by the same people, yet according to them the Turdbota was somehow magically superior to the Pointy-Ack. Totally neutral non biased methods I assume?

Except that it doesn't. I just looked them up, the ratings are essentially identical.

Mechanical Engineer here, but I grew up with a dad who knew how to fix stuff, so I was taught. Probably the biggest lesson was to not be afraid of taking things apart and figuring it out as I went with a little guidance and a manual.

Imagine growing up in a city, living in an apartment, condo or what not where whenever something breaks you just call the super, landlord, or what not and they come and fix it. No garage to work on cars and/or it's specifically banned and one can certainly understand how someone could grow up without knowing what a wrench looks like. I know some of the people I went to school with were completely ignorant of any sort of handy work.

I love my RX8, but I also know that it has some "quirks" and accept it. To the average driver used to not maintaining their Toyota and still getting a trouble free 200k+ out of it, the RX8 probably seems like a "bad" car.

His comments deserved Ahhnald's response when he was running for office and reporters said they had proof he smoked pot when he was younger- Yaah, so what?

pinchvalve wrote: They rate cars on the same scale as appliances, so cars that are appliances always win out.

This is not entirely true. I recall CR saying some very nice things about the Porsche Boxster, for instance. Also, I strongly suspect that the Miata has gotten fairly consistent praise from them. They're just not the motorheads that most of us are, and neither is most of the world.

Maybe we should ask Suzuki what they think of CRs test methods and subjective opinions...

Tom_Spangler wrote:

Adrian_Thompson wrote: Discuss with him how the Pontiac MAtrix got way lower scores than the Toyota Vibe? THey were the same cars, designed by the same team, with the same suppliers built on the same production line by the same people, yet according to them the Turdbota was somehow magically superior to the Pointy-Ack. Totally neutral non biased methods I assume?

Except that it doesn't. I just looked them up, the ratings are essentially identical.

Then they've fixed it. At one point one was a recommend buy and the other wasn't

If he drives a Mazdaspeed 3, why don't you have him take your car for a drive? Back when I was trying to figure out what car to buy, it took me two blocks until the first corner to realize how special the RX-8 is.

BTW: I recently installed a clutch pedal reinforcement peice, it makes a shocking improvement to the driving experience.

Imagine how amazing the RX-8 would be with a few simple design changes.

Snrub wrote: Imagine how amazing the RX-8 would be with a few simple design changes.

Like a piston engine for a start?

Adrian_Thompson wrote:

Snrub wrote: Imagine how amazing the RX-8 would be with a few simple design changes.

Like a piston engine for a start?

These have always struck me as the absolute ideal LS swap candidate. And now I'm off to Craigslist...