Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General Consumer Reports: Jaguar X-Type is lame

This is probably about right. Sweet handling, small interior & expensive. Most other sources suggest fit & finish is good but may be car to car variation. They left out Jag style and elegance though - hard to match with a Lexus.

Consumer reports is OK, but remember it is aimed at "typical" consumers not gear heads. Your mom would find CR evalations right on the money. It is not "Enthusiests Reports".

'A Cat is a Cat.....more than the rest listed it has breeding....I'd take one in a heartbeat!!!

Consumer Reports is notoriously biased towards the Jap cars. Must be on their payroll.

All of the other magazines (Car and Driver, etc) accept advertising dollars. How can the magazine be objective when it is getting paid to advertise the manufacturer's cars? I also believe that one should take Consumers Reports recommendations on cars like a grain of salt. I have not been impressed with Consumer Reports advice on cars. I wish CR would just stick to rating vacuum cleaners! The best way of picking a car is to test-drive it. When it comes down to it, that is the only way you will know for sure if that car will work for you. Test drive those cars and see what you think!

Nobody said it was "the same as". They did not, in that case, say you might as well buy the non-prestige version.

Oh, brother. Here we go again.

I don't ask magazines to be objective. I ask them to tell me what is the best for purpose x, y, and z which has to be sujbective. Otherwise, the world will be bland. Every vehicle sold has a purpose for someone. Such magazine editors happen to like the same aspects about cars and driving as I do.

CR is biased toward Jap cars for the same reasons that sensible buyers are: because unlike Ford GM and Chrysler, they generally avoid building shiity cars. (Mitsubishi being a notable exception.) This is why the Chevy dealer bargains down from the sticker price, while the Honda dealer bargains up from it: just because the Chevy is a shiitier car.

Well, not that I disagree with their assessment of these vehicles, but here's two words that were propogated by CR, and later shown to be baseless, but not before nearly ruining a great company:

"Unintended Acceleration."

I look to CR for things like reliability, and they do have a better car staff than they used to. But I fuse this info with what I learn in the real mags before making a decision.

I wonder if anyone has done a study, say 10 years down the road (pun intended). Factor in cost of repair parts, insurance, etc.
How would the typical American V. Japanese V. European cars compare?
My wife had a Jap car several years ago and it cost $600 for a new alternator (part only), for example.
My old Buick with 170K miles needed a new water pump two years ago. It cost $15 for a reman unit and a whopping $20 for a new one!

Hey APT,

It looks like you did not finish or understand my post.