Autoblog

So we know many of you will roll your eyes at this and let the charges fly, but the results of Consumer Reports' 2008 Car Brand Perception survey reveal that Toyota and Honda are "best by a wide margin." The rankings, based on responses from 1,720 adults whose households own at least one car, ranked the amount of times a particular brand was mentioned in any one of seven categories (listed in order of importance to consumers): safety, quality, value, performance, environmental friendliness, design, and technical innovation.

Toyota rang up 189 points, with Honda following at 146. The next three vote-getters were domestics: Ford with 112, Chevrolet with 110, and GMC with 102. Mitsubishi (21), Audi (14), and Acura (8) brought up the rear. The only category in which Toyota and Honda didn't make the top five was design/styling. That's not really a surprise, and the tie for the win in that category is: Mercedes and Lexus.

Of note is that the results of this survey don't exactly match the results of other surveys. Volvo, of course, leads the safety category, but Subaru was voted more safe than both Mercedes and BMW, and the latter two didn't even make the top five. Mercedes did make the quality category top five, even though it came third from last in CR's rankings for predicted reliability that measures quality over time. We can't speak to accuracy of CR's polling methodology, but the results seem to give us less information about the brands than they do about conflicting perceptions of the buying public.

[Source: Reuters via eGM Car Tech]

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The J.D. Power and Associates Alternative Powertrain Study has found that hybrid consideration among new car buyers is slipping, albeit only slightly. At the same time, the willingness to consider a clean diesel is growing. Overall, 7% fewer buyers are adding a hybrid to their list of potentials, but in the 16-25 age group the drop is actually 13%. For some reason, the hybrid message is getting lost on the people just entering the car buying market. One possible reason could be that, according to the study, buyers wanted to pay no more than $2,396 extra for a hybrid over a traditional competitor, but get 18.5 mpg more. As those shoppers have discovered that hybrids can't provide that cost/benefit ratio yet, they are perhaps staying with the standard option. It's not much different in the diesel category, with folks willing to pay $1,491 and expecting 15 mpg better. However, the perceived benefit of diesels is opposite that of hybrids -- hybrids could be coming down off the pedestal, while more people are realizing that diesels are fuel efficient and, finally, clean.

[Source: J.D. Power and Associates]

In the recently released 2006 Annual Car Reliability Survey by Consumer Reports, seven models from Mercedes-Benz were rated as Least Reliable. The last generation S-Class, CLS, E-Class, SL, CLK, V6 SLK and the M-Class SUV were all ranked least reliable based on the Consumer Reports survey comprised of responses from 1.3 million of the magazine's subscribers. A Mercedes spokesperson blames the brand's poor performance on a couple of issues that include brake dust on high performance stoppers (that's part of the charm!) and problems with the company's new 7-speed transmission that have reportedly been fixed. Mercedes-Benz has certainly had quality issues the past several years that can't be denied, which may in part be blamed on its insistence of imbuing its lineup with the latest whiz-bang gadgetry that ups the complication factor exponentially. Still, many fault Consumer Reports for using an outdated and flawed survey method that doesn't accurately report the reliability of the vehicles that appear on and off its lists. Michael Karesh, a vocal Autoblog commenter and purveyor of a Consumer Reports alternative site called True Delta, has written several articles that address the most serious problems with the way Consumer Reports conducts its surveys. Despite one's opinion on the validity of what Consumer Reports reports, there's no denying the fact that the periodical holds serious sway with consumers. It's no wonder Mercedes is so miffed at the rankings it received at the hands of Consumer Reports subscribers, though the German automaker needs to recognize the part its own vehicles played in these standings.

[Source: Money.cnn.com]

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