With all the hubbub surrounding Consumer Reports’ latest issue (seeAutoblog
comment-field staple Michael Karesh of True Delta has been touting his analysis
and refutation of Consumer Reports (CR) rating system. He points out how the rating system changed from the use of
relative ratings for 20 years to an absolute scale
which, for example, gave a red dot to vehicles with problem rate under two percent, and now again to a
controversial a new hybrid system for 2006. More details of Karesh’s analysis can be found here.
Doron Levin of Bloomberg News, in reaction to CR’s 2006 Top Picks, does what
he admits is an unscientific
study on car-buying habits. His sample, though, are ‘Smart People in Leadership Positions’, or SPILPs. He
questions a former governor, a commanding officer in the First U.S. Army, and even a Nobel prize-winner, all of whom
have more than sufficient funds to afford the costly exotics. Instead, they choose their favorite vehicles in total
disregard to CR’s report.
[Sources: True Delta, Bloomberg]