CR's Prius Reliability Rating Drops to Average

I long ago stopped taking them seriously. All you have to do is read the ratings for a group of products that you are very familiar with or expert in to realize they usually don't have a clue as to what they are reviewing.
Since I retired I moved into digital photography, mostly sports, as a full time gig. Their camera reviews are not only inaccurate but their understanding of some of the most basic terminology and characteristics of the hardware are flat out wrong. Sadly, thousands of people base their buying decisions strictly from the ranking lists and never realize how much better they could have done with a little research on their own.

 

"Lost credibility" - Yes, perhaps ..................

But ..... who can you trust? Motor Trend? Car and Driver? I don't think so. Maybe it wasn't Motor Trend, but one magazine designated Volt "Car of the Year" before it was publically available .... seemingly on the basis of GM's hype. From my readings, the "car" magazines are heavily political .... look at their advertisers.

I suspect, even with it's flaws, CR is still viable. But I do think they over-reacted to the brake issue. I was very pleased with their article about the 10 year old Prius, and from what we read, the Volt findings will be consistent with so many PC writers doubts.

 

Impartial journalism is non-existent these days. Somebody is always paying somebody. CR is the closest thing the people deserve.

 

The Prius has been around for 7 or so years. The brakes are a 2010 model year problem.
The reliability for the sum of other years is still outstanding--the highest in the industry.

It is common for a new model like the 2010 to have a few problems the first year--a good argument to avoid first year models.

The author of this thread has chosen to present Prius overall in a negative light. At least it seems that way. That is not the case. We live in a world of spin spin spin.

Has there been a campaign to discredit Prius and Toyota in America? I would say yes.
The American car industry is pretty desperate these days. A lot of jobs depend on it.

I was parked in a shopping center yesterday next to a guy with a 2010 Prius model. He was raving about it. Personally, I prefer my 2008--more leg room without the center console.

 

G1 hit the roads in Japan in 1997, and came to the US with an improved battery pack in 2001.

 

Ok, let's play "Fill in the Blank"
Three easy questions....ready?....GO!


1) A more reliable vehicle than a Toyota Prius is _________.

2) To save on fuel cost, I want to buy a _________.

3) A _________ holds its resell value better than a Toyota Prius.


Forget what you are being told. How would YOU answer these questions? IMAO, you just can't beat a Toyota Prius.

 

Regarding the brake score for model year 2010, it got the solid black dot (worst rating). Keep in mind that per the bottom of Reliability histories, to get an average rating on a 2010 car for brakes would mean 1% of the respondents for that model and year reported a brake problem. The page also says they don't assign the solid black dot or half black dot "unless the model's problem rate exceeds 3 percent."

Per Consumer Reports Car Reliability FAQ

I suspect that a fair percentage of the respondents didn't follow directions and noted a brake problem anyway, skewing the results. It would take just somewhere above 3% of those folks to do it. CR also requires that in order to not have an insufficient data label for a given model year, there has to be at least 100 respondents.

ALL 2010 Priuses produced prior to January 2010 were subject to the recall (again, this wasn't supposed to be counted...) and the Toyota media hysteria, fear mongering, publicity, etc. didn't help.

 

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JeffD

 

FINISHED!
Here's my test!
(How'd I do?)


1) A more reliable vehicle than a Toyota Prius is _________.
1 Scion xD xB
2 Porsche Boxster 911
3 Acura RL TL (AWD)
4 Honda CR-V Element
5 Infiniti G sedan (AWD) G coupe

Source: Most, and least, reliable cars for 2011 | The Car Tech blog - CNET Reviews
of course they're unreliable according to PriusChat...so I visited:
JD Powers...(another bunch of lying jerks!)
2010 Initial-Quality Award-Recipients Photo Gallery | Pictures | J.D. Power


2) To save on fuel cost, I want to buy another motorcycle or a bicycle. (I live 9 miles from work )

3) (for mid-sized) A Honda Accord holds its resell value better than a Toyota Prius. Other cars do as well...see below:
Source: Kelley Blue Book Announces Winners of 2011 Best Resale Value Awards - Nov 17, 2010

 

@ETC:
You failed miserably. Only way to pass test is fill in all 3 blanks with the same vehicle!!!!!

You answered with 3 different vehicles which at a minimum would be over $50k which is double the base price of a Prius.

 

Crap...

 

lol! ETC (SS)

 

lol... GREAT effort tho!


Really, what 1 vehicle would fit better than a Prius?

I believe none. I guess that is why I own one...

 

Clearly the answers to that quiz is Auris Hybrid. A lighter Prius

Remember that a recall also is an anoyance. Unless you treat your customers like Lexus does when they recall a model, you must expect consequences, such as lower ratings in CR. Let's see how Prius does next year.

 

Odd how some people who don't own a Prius are more fanatical in their views about it than those who do.

 

Strange considering there are no outstanding problems with 2010 or 2011 brakes.

 

There was fear of the opposite, when reading articles from a year ago...
Prius unintended acceleration...

LOL