Consumer Reports: on your next Track Toy

Sitting around the airport, I was listening to a segment on NPR where folks from Consumer Reports were interviewed in response to their latest New Car Issue. Much of the broadcast was spent describing their processes and testing methods. And since I had a long flight ahead of me, I figured it was an opportune time to run over the local newsstand, grab a copy, and re-ignite our continuing debate on Which Car Should You Buy?

This time we take a look at the “available at your local dealership” offerings that fit our – Spirited Driving + AutoCross + Track Days – criteria and do some semi-science by reanalyzing Consumer Reports findings to determine which car comes out on top! There are absolutely too many vehicles in this issue to talk about each one individually or in any sort of detail. And after reading through the 200-or-so pages of this issue, we were able to boil down the list from 248+ to roughly 25 by pulling our track worthy vehicles from the “Luxury Compact and Sports/Sporty Cars over/under $40K” categories. (seen below)

Time to stack rank these new track toys and see which one comes out on top! 

Now let’s review the magazine itself #soapbox #rant

Depending on your age bracket you probably grew up with different “gold standards” for being able to determine if a product was good, bad or indifferent. In my grandparents generation there was Readers Digest, my parents generation Consumer Reports, and us… well, we have Amazon Reviews and we all know how those measure up.

Opinions are like… especially in the Automotive world. But every year one publication stands out above the eye catching “Top 10s – Best Car Ever – Must Drives” and the rest of the marketing hype, it’s Consumer Reports (CR) annual Best Trucks, SUVs + Cars issue. Consumer Reports tests everything from tech products and automobiles, to food, financial, and health services. The magazine allows no outside advertising and has a strict no-commercial-use policy, and prides itself on being objective. But I found it amusing that CR does target it’s audience, as seen via the different cover art it offers, depending on where you find the magazine to help draw you in.

Admittedly, I have strayed away from this particular issue of CR for quite some time. In the past I found it riddled with comparisons and information that as a non-standard consumer – aka “car enthusiast” – didn’t make sense. Yes, I can hear you all now, “it’s not intended for you, idiot.” #facepalm.

– And I understand and respect that… but considering the overwhelming number of cut’n’pasted comments like: “Agility, ride, quietness, braking, fuel economy, controls” denoted as high points in the comment sections, the feedback doesn’t really provide the average car buyer any sort of useful impression.

When you get to the individual vehicle entries (pictured above), versus high-level comparisons like our table in the first section, everything becomes a bit confusing. The compact tables take some deciphering and leave you looking for which car has“the most green bubbles” rather than evaluating each vehicle on its own. Using the excerpt from the Audi A3 above, you can see plenty of green double arrow bubbles which means “best” in CR speak. And for the purposes of this discussion, let’s compare the Audi A3 to the Subaru Legacy entry. The Legacy has less “best” marks than the A3, lower fuel economy, etc, but carries a score of: 88 while the A3’s overall score is: 70 – wait, what? – Both vehicles are given a “recommended to buy flag” (see black check mark, next to opening paragraph), but cross correlating the information left me skeptical and thinking this system might be too subjective.

More importantly, the Average Joe doesn’t probably understand the vehicle manufacturing process as well as some of us do. Many manufacturers have moved to consolidated platforms where chassis, engine and part sharing is used to save on costs across models. Which makes reading a review on the Audi A3 with glowing marks and then jumping over to the VW Golf which shows average scores, frustrating. Folks – these two vehicles are the same car, different sheet metal – but don’t take my word for it – take a look at the VW MQB platform for yourself. But its not just the VAG products, you see it throughout the GM reviews and even down to oddly different ratings between cars like the Subaru BRZ and the Toyota 86 – seriously, its the same car with a different badge.

I am always disappointed when the cars we hold dear don’t make the CR cut list, for example: true ///M BMWs, Cadillac’s V-series (CTS & ATS), the Porsche Caymen, or the Audi “RS” series cars. Sometimes they do get a passing reference at the end of a paragraph for the base model, as pictured earlier: “A nicely detailed convertible and a sporty RS3 are also available” (at the tail-end of the blurb on the Audi A3). So that leaves me wondering … if the readership of this particular issue of CR is as high as they claim, aren’t they doing a disservice to their audience by not showcasing these vehicles? And how do these alternate versions play into the scoring system? #outofsight-outofmind. #savethemanual.

In the end, despite the overall fit & finish of the publication being 100x better than the last time I read one, I feel that CR doesn’t offer anyone real-life information that’s much different than if we walked up to 20 people and asked “what do you like / not-like about your car?” – There are too many nuances and variables left unchecked. Even though CR puts a lot of effort into capturing its metrics, there is something to be said for “brand loyalty” and “toughing out the issues/bugs” – and in my opinion, sometimes customer service is more important than where the controls are in relation to the radio. IMHO: It would be awesome to re-review these vehicles in 5 years, and see where things actually ended up.

In the meantime, the 2019 issue of Consumer Reports “New Cars” will be available on bookstore shelves until about the end of April. If you would like a copy, be sure to catch one before they are gone – or borrow mine, I’m done with it ;-).

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Disclaimer: GTM’s high-level assessment of these cars is based on our member/owner experiences and we urge you to do your own research and fact-checking before committing to any one vehicle. GTM isn’t responsible for your satisfaction, happiness or overall track experience with the vehicle you choose. Make sure to visit some vehicle specific online-forums and/or owners clubs for highly detailed and first-hand information on any vehicle you might be interested in.