Tuesday, March 11, 2003
By John Porretto / Associated Press
Consumer Reports puts them in elite club in April issue
DETROIT -- The Chevrolet Corvette, Ford Mustang and Chrysler minivans join offerings from BMW, Toyota and Volkswagen as the most influential vehicles of the past 50 years, according to a listing from Consumer Reports.
The list of 10 cars, vans, trucks and sport utility vehicles is published in the magazine's 50th anniversary automotive issue that hits newsstands today.
The April issue also offers top picks among the latest cars and trucks, as well as the most and least reliable models for years 1995 to 2002.
"The annual auto issue remains by far our highest-read issue each year," said James A. Guest, president and chief executive of Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports.
The magazine, known for its scrutiny of products, has a paid circulation of 4 million. The price of the automotive issue is $4.99.
The publication said its list of influential vehicles is the result of debate among its automotive experts, and that the top 10 are far from a consensus.
But in the end, Consumer Reports said, those that made the list were vehicles that created trends that had a ripple effect throughout the industry.
CR's choices are the BMW 2002, Chevy Corvette, Dodge Caravan/Plymouth Voyager, Ford F-Series pickup, Taurus and Mustang, Jeep Cherokee; Toyota RAV4 and Volkswagen Rabbit/GTI and Beetle.
The Corvette and Beetle are the oldest entries on the list.
Two of the later selections are the Jeep Cherokee and Toyota RAV4. Both are cited for influencing today's popular SUV segment.
The Cherokee, Consumer Reports says, helped transform the SUV into an everyday family vehicle while the RAV4 is credited with starting the movement to smaller, car-based SUVs -- known in the industry as "crossovers."
Japanese companies continue to build the most reliable cars.
To establish reliability, Consumer Reports sends annual surveys to about 3.5 million subscribers, seeking insight on vehicles they own. Some 480,000 readers responded to the 2002 survey.
For the 2002 model year, the industry average was 18 problems per 100 vehicles, down from 21 per 100 vehicles in the 2001 survey.
American and European vehicles averaged 21 problems per 100 vehicles while Asian manufacturers averaged 12 problems.
Toyota had the highest reliability ranking with 10 problems per 100 vehicles, followed by Honda and Hyundai (12 problems each), Subaru (13) and Nissan (15).
Mazda, Chrysler, BMW and Volkswagen all had 20 problems per 100 vehicles. General Motors had 21, Mercedes-Benz had 22 and Ford had 23.
In its top picks for the latest vehicles, Consumer Reports named the redesigned 2003 Honda Accord as best four-cylinder family sedan and the Volkswagen Passat as the No. 1 six-cylinder family sedan for the fifth straight year.
"More than half of the vehicles named as Top Picks in 2003 are either new or newly designed models," said David Champion, who runs the publication's 327-acre test track in East Haddam, Conn.
By John Porretto / Associated Press
Consumer Reports puts them in elite club in April issue
DETROIT -- The Chevrolet Corvette, Ford Mustang and Chrysler minivans join offerings from BMW, Toyota and Volkswagen as the most influential vehicles of the past 50 years, according to a listing from Consumer Reports.
The list of 10 cars, vans, trucks and sport utility vehicles is published in the magazine's 50th anniversary automotive issue that hits newsstands today.
The April issue also offers top picks among the latest cars and trucks, as well as the most and least reliable models for years 1995 to 2002.
"The annual auto issue remains by far our highest-read issue each year," said James A. Guest, president and chief executive of Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports.
The magazine, known for its scrutiny of products, has a paid circulation of 4 million. The price of the automotive issue is $4.99.
The publication said its list of influential vehicles is the result of debate among its automotive experts, and that the top 10 are far from a consensus.
But in the end, Consumer Reports said, those that made the list were vehicles that created trends that had a ripple effect throughout the industry.
CR's choices are the BMW 2002, Chevy Corvette, Dodge Caravan/Plymouth Voyager, Ford F-Series pickup, Taurus and Mustang, Jeep Cherokee; Toyota RAV4 and Volkswagen Rabbit/GTI and Beetle.
The Corvette and Beetle are the oldest entries on the list.
Two of the later selections are the Jeep Cherokee and Toyota RAV4. Both are cited for influencing today's popular SUV segment.
The Cherokee, Consumer Reports says, helped transform the SUV into an everyday family vehicle while the RAV4 is credited with starting the movement to smaller, car-based SUVs -- known in the industry as "crossovers."
Japanese companies continue to build the most reliable cars.
To establish reliability, Consumer Reports sends annual surveys to about 3.5 million subscribers, seeking insight on vehicles they own. Some 480,000 readers responded to the 2002 survey.
For the 2002 model year, the industry average was 18 problems per 100 vehicles, down from 21 per 100 vehicles in the 2001 survey.
American and European vehicles averaged 21 problems per 100 vehicles while Asian manufacturers averaged 12 problems.
Toyota had the highest reliability ranking with 10 problems per 100 vehicles, followed by Honda and Hyundai (12 problems each), Subaru (13) and Nissan (15).
Mazda, Chrysler, BMW and Volkswagen all had 20 problems per 100 vehicles. General Motors had 21, Mercedes-Benz had 22 and Ford had 23.
In its top picks for the latest vehicles, Consumer Reports named the redesigned 2003 Honda Accord as best four-cylinder family sedan and the Volkswagen Passat as the No. 1 six-cylinder family sedan for the fifth straight year.
"More than half of the vehicles named as Top Picks in 2003 are either new or newly designed models," said David Champion, who runs the publication's 327-acre test track in East Haddam, Conn.