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Filed under: Car Buying , Economy , Hybrids/Alternative , Green If you're already stretched paper thin under the financial weight of a thirsty, expensive vehicle, getting out of it for something more fuel efficient might seem like an unattainable dream. Fear not, the smarties over at Consumer Reports have rightly pointed out that since depreciation accounts for nearly half of the cost of a car during its first five years of ownership, buying a used miser is the best way to save money and resources. The usual suspects top CR's lists; both the under $10,000 and $10,000-$20,000 categories are dominated by Toyota and Honda products. Honda's Insight is deemed the zenith of $10,000 sippers, with the '01-'02 Prius right on its heels. For the higher-price category, the first two slots are occupied by the Prius, and Honda's Civic Hybrid takes the next two seedings. Rankings are based on CR's own fuel economy tests, done with a flow meter and repeatable drive cycle, and...
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Filed under: Car Buying , Economy , Hatchbacks , Chevrolet , Carsumer Advocacy Consumer Reports isn't known for completely trashing cars in its reviews. In fact, the publication is more often criticized for going too easy on them and finding something to like in everything that passes through the CR garage. But dang if they didn't just tear apart the 2008 Chevy Aveo sedan, going so far as to say its big-bro Cobalt is an all-around better car and better deal for bargain shoppers. They cite Cobalt's comparable fuel economy, better handling, quieter more refined interior and, after discounts, better price. The magazine calls the Aveo a "miserable little car" and, since they couldn't find the name "Aveo" anywhere in the car's interior, thinks GM might think so, too. CR says it readers certainly thought the Aveo was miserable, rating the hatchback and sedan variants at the very bottom of their classes. Worse than the Cobalt? Ouch. We tested the 2007 model...
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Filed under: Car Buying , Economy , Sedans/Saloons , Wagons/Estates , Hyundai click above for high-res gallery of the 2009 Hyundai Elantra Touring While the big Japanese auto manufacturers have been incrementally improving their vehicles ever since they were first launched in the U.S., Hyundai has been bettering itself in leaps and bounds. While we're not quite ready to anoint Hyundai as the second coming of Toyota, it just isn't all that shocking anymore to hear that the Hyundai Elantra is now Consumer Reports ' top-ranked 2008 vehicle amongst 19 other compacts and subcompacts. Beating out such high-quality stalwarts as the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla and Toyota Prius is very impressive work, and Hyundai is justifiably proud of the accomplishment. Jim Trainor, a Hyundai spokesman, told the Detroit Free Press , "As I got the note from Consumer Reports , we were ecstatic. Coming from such a highly regarded industry source like Consumer Reports , it really says a lot about...
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Filed under: Car Buying Any of you who consider hating on Consumer Reports a personal hobby, get ready to indulge yourself. The consumer advocate mag has just released its list of American Top Picks for 2008, and it ain't pretty. The criteria to be named a Top Pick in general by CR is steep, and the American auto industry failed to produce a single candidate for five out of ten categories, including Small sedan, Small SUV, Minivan, Fun to drive and Green car. To be named a Top Pick, a vehicle has to score well in tests performed by CR, be trouble-free to own and relatively safe. That's not all. A vehicle must also have Electronic Stability Control available, decent crash test results and have been around long enough that there's reliability data to back up its durability. That last one's the knock-out blow for many viable new vehicles. The Chevy Malibu, for instance, is too new to have an archive of reliability data. Not eligible. The Ford Fusion and Mercury Milan don't...
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Filed under: Car Buying Koreans come on strong, a domestic makes it and Toyota nabs four var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/autos/Consumer_Reports_names_Top_Picks_for_2008'; Consumer Reports will soon release its highly anticipated Annual Auto Issue and we've got the scoop on which cars will be honored as Top Picks within its pages. This year there were some surprises among the 10 categories, including Hyundai, which broke out with two Top Picks: the Elantra SE for Small Sedan and Sante Fe for Midsized SUV. Even a domestic vehicle managed to make it on the list (the first time in two years), with the Chevy Silverado 1500 Crew Cab earning a Top Pick in the Pickup Truck category. The rest of the honored vehicles all hail from Japan, including four Toyota models, one Mazda, one Infiniti and one Honda. The fact that Hyundai earned two Top Picks and a domestic received one at all is a testament to our long held suspicion that Japanese automakers aren't the only ones who know how...
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Filed under: Car Buying , Sedans/Saloons , Dodge , Ford , Honda , Kia , Nissan , Subaru var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/autos/Nissan_Altima_boots_Accord_as_Consumer_Reports_top_sedan'; The Nissan Altima narrowly beat out the Honda Accord for the coveted Consumer Reports Top-Ranked, Mid-priced Sedan, which is revealed in the February 2008 issue. The V6 Accord lost to the V6-powered Altima by a scant one-point, followed by the Toyota Camry and Volkswagen Passat. Consumer Reports tested a number of family sedans for its February issue, ranging from the base four-cylinder models and up to the range-topping V6s. The selected vehicles, which also included the Ford Taurus, Dodge Avenger, Kia Amanti and Subaru Legacy, were broken down into three categories: "Affordable," "Mid-priced" and "Large" family sedans. The four-cylinder Altima took the top spot in the "Affordable" category, leading by six points over the Accord, with the Kia Optima EX and...
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Filed under: Car Buying Consumer Reports released its Car Owner Satisfaction Survey results and brands hailing from the Land of the Rising Sun accounted for nearly half of the winners. Toyota took 10 of the top 39 spots, including the Prius, where nine-out-of-ten owners said they'd buy it again given the chance. U.S. automakers didn't fare as well, only taking seven spots, but the addition of the V6-powered Ford Fusion and Saturn Aura proved that Detroit is making inroads in the family car segment. Despite many domestic models getting tagged "least satisfying" there's been a significant up tick in the U.S. automaker's standings. Also of note, European models made up 12-percent of the list, particularly the BMW 335i and Porsche Boxster, which rivaled the Prius for owner gratification. The Hyundai Azera and Santa Fe also made the "most satisfying" cut, which is determined if 80-percent of owners said they would buy or lease the model again. Consumer Reports'...
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Filed under: Car Buying , Recalls/TSBs , Ford , Lincoln , Mercury Ford's quality record at the beginning of this decade was so bad, the automaker was spending billions on warranty repairs, while simultaneously turning off potential buyers in droves. The blue oval has been righting the ship for the past couple of years, with vehicles like the Fusion and Taurus leading a quality renaissance that has the automaker nipping at the heels of its Japanese competition. That quality improvement has been cutting losses, with $900 million in savings achieved in 2007, and more on the way. The embattled automaker is forecasting an additional $300 in savings for 2008, which means Ford is expecting additional quality improvement. The money will eventually be used to finance new product, but for now the cash infusion is merely stemming Ford's substantial North American losses. There is little doubt that newer models like the Edge and Milan are far more reliable than what Ford was making even three...
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Filed under: Car Buying Seriously, a survey by Consumer Reports shows 57% of car buyers are very satisfied with the treatment they got at the dealer. Another 31% said they were somewhat satisfied. That means 88% of those surveyed drove away from their car dealer with a smile on their face. If you find that surprising, get this: Of the car buyers surveyed, 96% said they considered the deal they got "fair." If you're wondering how such a high percentage of the public can be so overjoyed with car dealers, the magazine brings up some more interesting statistics that could help explain this. An overwhelming majority (90%) said they found the staff "informed and helpful," which, from our car-shopping experiences leads us to believe the survey respondents themselves could have benefited from some automotive education. Backing up our suspicion, Consumer Reports says from looking at answers to other questions in the survey, car buyers could have saved themselves some money...
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Filed under: Car Buying , Trucks/Pickups , Chevrolet , Toyota Earlier this week we told you about a pickup truck comparison in the most recent issue of Consumer Reports that seemed a bit fishy. The comparison pitted the new 2007 Toyota Tundra against...
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