NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #27/NN_1992_27.iso/spool/rec/autos/26895

Internet Message Format | 1992-11-16 | 3.5 KB

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From: [e-mail] (Doug Fierro)
Newsgroups: rec.autos
Subject: Re: CONSUMER REPORTS
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 16 Nov 92 09:16:07 GMT
References: <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA
Lines: 59

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>In article [e-mail], [e-mail] (Slartibartfast) writes:
>>    In reply to a reply of one of my posts:
>>
>>    I congratulate you on not letting CR make your mind up for you on these
>>issues.  I don't get CR anymore (my dad got it for a while, but stopped.), but
>>last summer I saw them tell people that the Diamond Star triplets are a
>>substitution for the Saturn SC.  The SC tops off at $17K, while the Diamonds
>>are just getting started at that range.  They are NOT the same type of car at
>>any stretch of the imagination.  Also, I've seen tests with Barettas (sp?)
>>compared with 240sx's.  They, even according to C/D, are not the same type of
>>car.  The Baretta has a functional back seat, and they differ on other issues,
>>too.  So IMHO, CR simply knows nothing about what they are talking about.
>
>Agreed. Lots of ignorant folks read Crappy Reports and buy according to the
>written word. At least they could do better by asking car enthusiasts about
>our opinions.
>

 [...]

>The folks do not read CR, but CR is aimed at people like them.


  Well, I'm going to jump in on behalf of Consumer Reports here :-)

  First of all, I don't think anyone seriously subscribes to CR for the
automobile reviews, although they do them may times throughout the year
for obvious reasons.  If you want an auto rag you subscribe to the
appropriate auto enthusiast's magazine(s).  Every other month people are saying
here how off-base the auto reviews are that CR does and I say if you are basing
your auto purchase on a CR article you are already bad off mechanics-wise.

   But CR does offer a wide evaluation of ALL products and no, they don't
just evaluate toasters and cam-corders.  They had an excellent three-part
series on U.S. health care and reform (July '92) and just this month they had
a good article on recycling and the environment that was pretty informative
(I just found out for example that paper grocery bags "have no discernable
environmental advantage over plastic bags" among other environmental tid-bits)
so some of CRs articles do have merit, it's just not the automotive ones.
Also their analysis of the CPI was excellent as well.  I also received a
free TRW credit report via my CR subscription.

  So be careful when you say "folks who read CR" because I know enough about
cars to know that I wouldn't take much of what CR says seriously about vehicles
beyond the sticker price and cargo area dimensions, but it is a good magazine
nevertheless.  I prefer a car magazine that prints the 1/4 mile times of
the vehicles they evaluate :-)

  Moral of the story- CR is NOT an automotive magazine.

  Doug
--
                                                     Doug Fierro
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