Many cars flunk new type of crash test

[kphoger]

If you place your coffee in the cupholder next to the ignition switch, you may have a problem in time

Which is all well and good...if that had been the reason they gave.  No, every year it was the same thing:

Saab, quirky as ever, refuses to stop placing its ignition switch in the console.  People will never be able to figure it out.  Those crazy Swedes!

Overall, a decent car.  Drives well, has good trim, mediocre gas mileage, average repair record.  We give it a thumbs-up.  But they put the ignition switch in the CENTER CONSOLE!!!  Freaks, freaks, freaks!  We cannot recommend this car.

This may or may not be a paraphrase.

[JREwing78]

The main problem with Consumer Reports is for longevity it relies on past data (this is a problem with any longevity study).

Huh? So much misinformation out there. How many of you have actually SEEN the surveys Consumer Reports use to compile their reliability ratings?

They do surveys every year; the surveys reflect what happened with the vehicles over the past year, not since they rolled off the line. If you had a 2004 model that gave you lots of grief in 2005 and 2006, but became more reliable as the years went on, the surveys reflect that. If a reliable model has a part that fails frequently after 3-4 years of use, they reflect that too.

Also, their reliability rankings focus STRICTLY on reliability. They don't factor in things that people merely don't like about their cars, then misleadingly call it a "quality" survey, like JD Power does.

Their reviews on how a car performs on the road have NOTHING to do with their reliability rankings. NONE. They won't RECOMMEND an otherwise good-performing car if it's unsafe in a crash or is significantly more troublesome than average, but if a car performs well otherwise, they say so. And, they have - check their reviews of the latest Civic, for one good example.

That's not to say my buying decisions are strictly by what Consumer Reports tells me to buy. On my last vehicle purchase, I picked up a Cobalt despite CR's lackluster driving reviews and mediocre reliability ratings because it had very low mileage and was in excellent condition for the price. I had a choice of a near-new condition 2006 Cobalt with 25,000 miles or a 1998 Corolla with 90,000 miles and trashed condition for the same price. Gee, that was an easy choice!