Consumer Report responds to criticism of their review

Just another part of the "we can't make anything as good as them, but if we bash them enough people will think we are better" conspiracy... I mean the prius technology has been out for over ten yrs, but instead of trying to emulate it, the big three have wasted time and money on a smear campaign. When you are the best, there will always be haters.

 

Consumer Reports recommends the Prius Hatchback, so I don't think their non recommendation is based on hybrid technology envy. I really just think that some testers don't like small cars, and that tends to cloud their views of the car, no matter what. The Prius c is a great small car, period. Not for everyone for sure, but for anyone that is interested in driving a quality and highly efficient small car, you won't find anything that comes close to the Prius c.

 

LOL Wow... people take these guys seriously?

 

Consumer Reports despised the new Honda Civic but it's the best seller in May

 

The response was just as flawed as the review. They missed the entire point of the Prius C. A cheaper, lighter, more nimble city dweller, equally at home in the suburbs or open road. Once they nullified the car's best feature, its excellent fuel economy, they rated it against the current crop of cheaper 40 mpg sub-compacts.

 

efusco

I don't know man, I beg to differ. I have no skin in this game. I joined this site after getting the car, not before. I purchased the car on it's own merits, not because I'm a Prius fan or care about the environment.

CR brings up a few reasonable points in the original article, but as someone mentioned in the first thread, the entire article reads negatively. Even the positive statements about the car are to spun to be negative or qualified into negativity - they wrote off ever feature that makes the car better than the competition and then said it sucked. At first I wrote it off as different strokres for different folks, but this rebuttle and that idiotic statement I quoted make this reviewer straight up delusional. He can get back to me in six months when the Prius C interior looks identical to when it was purchased the Sonic interior looks like a 10 year old rental car.

 

I bet I know where someone can get a great deal on a used C2!

 

Of course they will, because it's how the automotive game goes. Bigger, better, faster.... and more expensive. This is why manufacturers are constantly introducing new entry models, because the last entry model was "improved" right out of the size and price range it once occupied.

If you want to hold a price point, you can't have all that tech AND a Lexus-like interior. These reviewers lose sight of the fact that costs have to be cut somewhere, and Toyota cut it in all the least painful places. Of course it'd be nice to have the interior of a LS600 and the acceleration and handling of a GT-R, but the other cars in this class don't have that, so why would anyone expect the C to?

 

Where are they getting the 43 mpg? And how tall was the driver because I am 5'6'' and my husband is 5'10'' and neither of us feel that it is a "cramped driver's space." I looked at a Chevy Sonic and was NOT impressed and didn't even bother to look at the Hyundai Accent because well, it was a Hyundai. I knew the resale value for Toyota was going to be much better. Oh well.. I like my C. Not cramped, I don't notice a bunch of road noise, and it gets WAYYYY over 43 mpg.

 

2013 Toyota Prius C doesn't get much love from Consumer Reports | PriusChat

 

They got better gas mileage on the hwy with the C than they did in the city? I am starting to believe they didn't even drive one at all. I NEVER get better on the hwy than in town.

 

Our Chevrolet Sonic and Hyundai Accent both feel like driving a Mercedes compared to the more expensive Prius C, and they cost $3,000 less.

HAhaha... quote of the year!!!

 

Really, because I've driven both of those, and think the C is pretty close. The higher MPG means I make the difference back in cost after two years. If I keep the car for 5-6 years, I'm way ahead. Why wouldn't CR mention anything like that? Finally, I'm 6'1", and just don't feel cramped at all (and this coming from a Subaru Forester). I have the same issues with the C that other people have posted (in another thread), but I took both the 2012 Prius and the 2012 C out for tests and preferred the C. To each his own, I guess. Just don't know why they needed to be so...negative, particularly in that defensive reply.

 

Did you read the last page of http://www.consumersunion.org/Oct_CR_Fuel_Economy.pdf that I pointed to in my other post? They describe their tests vs. the old EPA tests. The short drives starting from a cold engine in their city test is likely what's killing their mileage.

Did you also look at The most fuel-efficient cars ?

 

"Our Chevrolet Sonic and Hyundai Accent both feel like driving a Mercedes compared to the more expensive Prius C, and they cost $3,000 less."

The arrogance and smugness in the response was seriously insulting as well as being totally contradictory to many other road tests of the car. I test drove the Chevrolet Sonic and found road and wind noise higher than the Prius C coupled with a jittery ride. The interior of the Hyundai Accent has just as much hard plastic as the Prius C, and doesn't even have a padded armrest! Mercedes-Benz indeed, Tom Mutchler is an idiot to make such a comparison.

I have totally lost confidence in Consumer Report's journalist objectivity. From their GX460 warning (apparently because those fools don't know how to control a car from skidding) to indifferent reviews of the ride/handling/quality of cars most people disagree with...as far as I am concerned, their magazine isn't worth the paper it is printed on.

Thumbs up for discontinuing subscriptions to Consumer Reports.

 

I forgot about that laughable GX skid warning. Thanks for the reminder. CR is a joke.

 

Wasn't it indeed?! I'm not sure how the GX460's behavior is any different from cars without stability control. Was their argument that we should never buy a vehicle that could slide sideways? It seems like saying that the oversteer seen in the video would lead to a rollover is more opinion than fact. Any vehicle can oversteer and any vehicle can rollover. I'd be more concerned if CR found that the vehicle is inherently unstable, not that it can slide in a turn. Recommending people don't buy the car because of lift-throttle oversteer? A lot of cars exhibit that behavior. There's only so much a computer can do when you do something stupid (like lift throttle and turn in at speed). So what they basically said was that if you drive a 7 seater SUV into a corner like a Ferrari, it normally WON'T rollover when it hits a curb? It is just a function of the fact that it is a tall, thin wheelbase. DUH your tall and heavy SUV drove like a tall and heavy SUV. If you buy a dog, expect it to bark. If you buy a cow, expect it to moo.

They were really kicking Toyota when their down.....so sad. And now they're doing the same with the Prius C.

Poor Journalistic Integrity + Tom Mutchler / Staff = Consumer Reports