The August 2016 issue is on the news stands so I bought one because it had the 2016 Prius review. But the reasons why we no longer subscribe was re-enforced by pp. 67-68: metric\model Toyota Camry Hyundai Sonata Ford Fusion Toyota Prius Three Ford C-Max Chevrolet Volt 1 price $29052 $26950 $28290 $27323 $34940 $35890 2 overall score 84 77 76 76 69 69 3 reliability 5 4 3 4 3 3 4 satisfaction 4 4 4 5 4 5 5 front protection optional optional optional optional NA optional 6 road test 87 80 80 75 77 70 7 overall MPG electric 38 39 39 52 94 105 8 overall MPG 38 39 39 52 37 38 9 0-60 mph 7.6 8.2 8.3 10.3 8.1 8 10 60-0 braking 133 140 140 135 136 133 11 avoidance mph 51 51 52 53.5 50.5 52.5 12 controls 4 5 4 4 3 5 13 rear seat 4 5 4 3 4 2 14 ride 4 4 5 4 4 4 15 noise 4 4 4 4 4 4 16 front seat 4 4 3 3 4 3 17 handling 4 3 4 4 4 3 18 suitcases 3 2 2 2 1 2 19 duffels 1 2 3 2 1 0 bubble icons - mapped 0-worst and 5-best sorted left-to-right - highest CR score sorted bubble rows - best to worst, top to bottom All of these are hybrid vehicles but MPG plays no part in the CR score. How they calculate their scores is a mystery but their weighting provides no insights to my requirements. For a hybrid, MPG is pretty important. Now if we had a couple of hundred scores, we could do an analysis that 'reverse engineers' a functionally equivalent scoring system. But why? Consumer Reports already knows their scoring system - no help to them Consumer Reports advocates - already subscribed Consumer Reports skeptics - this is a little to narrow The irony are several Korean news reports are citing the Consumer Reports scoring, 77 for the Hyundai Sonata over the 76 score for the 2016 Prius. Like it or not, Consumer Reports scoring is being treated as an endorsement which is sad because the actual scoring mechanism distorts the engineering. The VW diesel scandal happened because they put code in the cars to cheat the system. In effect, the emissions test score was all VW cared about. The Koreans reports are using the Consumer Reports score the same way. Build the car for a high CR score and the problem is solved regardless of how well the car actually performs for a buyer. Bob Wilson ps. That Consumer Reports got their 2016 Prius Level 3 with TSS-P for more than $1,000 less than I was finally offered ...
I would have to agree with you, mpg does play a big part in my decision also on a hybrid. I have never found Consumer Reports that useful. When I went to research a certain product in a category, many times it was not included.
still, the koreans must be plenty pi$$ed that they came in so far behind camry, which is the real competitor to sonata.
They don't have to go through the SE Toyota cabal. Close to 30 years ago I swore an oath never to buy another Toyota, EVER again. I take my oaths fairly seriously but I have a poor track record in actually keeping them as evidenced by the fact that I did get married again.....and I did deploy on a second submarine tour. My work Prius (2010, II) has impressed me so much during my 100,000+ miles with it that I actually went to a Toyota dealer for the purpose of negotiating a replacement for one of my GMs and maintaining the pattern by breaking a third oath. We were back in the car and driving away shaking our heads in under 5-minutes. Thanks SE Toyota!! As far as CR is concerned, I don't buy them. I also don't buy buggy whips, whale-oil lamps, and mechanical typewriters.
I feel re: Cars, that Consumer Reports tries to be politically correct, supporting U.S. policies and Congress and EPA. Liberal bias as usual for press. For example, when Prius was a young car, almost every monthly issue of CR slammed the Prius for not making financial sense re: Hybrid cost premium. Now CR has gotten "green-car" religion and unfort tends to blindly support green cars when more critical evaluation (eg; cargo space etc) could be justified. I liked the new study by AAA today on gasoline fuel quality, showing TopTierGas makes sense (more additives). CR just gives us drivel about all gasoline being equal. AAA study is more what we need.
Great chart BTW. It tells me to buy a Prius! Bolt should do very well when added and where is leaf? Pretty sure all of us get more than 53MPG.
