Consumer reports is a good company, and I put a fairly high value on their reports.

They really don't accept any gifts or donations from companies, unlike just about every "automotive" rag out there.

That said, remember that a statistic is just a statistic. They aren't saying, "Every VW breaks every time" and that knowing one person with a perfect VW makes them a liar. Their reports are based on real numbers of people actually driving their real cars in to get actual repairs done. Vehicles with low scores break more. That doesn't mean every one of those vehicles will break, just that they are more likely to.

Japanese cars are very reliable. Very reliable. Yes, they still break, like all cars, but reliability is something they've nailed. My girlfriend has put hundreds of thousands of miles on several Subaru's with no unscheduled maintainence (and very little preventative maintainence). The numbers do not lie.

If you are shopping for a car you need to take into account more than just the reliability number. VWs have serious reliability problems, but when you look into it, its mostly stuff like window regulators, not transmissions. Is that something you can live with the possibility of in order to gain the other benefits of that vehicle? Perhaps so!

And we ***** every day here about the declining quality of MB vehicles! Does it just pain us to hear someone else say it instead of hearing it from each other?

Consumer Reports isn't lying here, they are just presenting simple facts, based on real numbers. You don't have to follow their recommendations though, because they don't take every aspect of vehicle ownership into account, but don't be mad at them for being straight-up about vehicle reliability.

peace,
sam

__________________
"That f***in' biodiesel is makin' me hungry."

1982 300TD Astral Silver w/ 250k (BIO BNZ)
2001 Aprilia SR50 Corsa Red w/ 5.5k (>100 MPG)