The January 06 issue of Consumer Reports tested most of the premium replacement headlight bulbs ( sorry no link....paid subscription ). The test shows no consistent improvement over standard HD factory bulbs, many were not as good as factory and they all had a much shorter life span. They do yield a whiter - looking light. May want to read before spending the $$$.

But, if it makes the stang go faster or look cooler then it can't all be bad.

 

Looks > longevity in my books when it comes to cheap mods like headlights.

 

Are you sure that included domestic cars ? Maybe you missed that part of the article

 

Yes, one of the cars was a domestic........does not matter if the cars are German, Japanse or USA made, "the distribution of light is dictated by its reflector and lens" says CR.

 

Yeah, and Consumer Reports is the same magazine that says the Mustang V6 has the worst reliability score among sports cars/sporty cars (-82 compared to -11 for a Hyundai Tiburon). They also ranked the Corvette C6 among the least reliable. Thus, I wouldn't trust the magazine with my life.

 

I sold electronincs for years. I knew what preformed well, and didn't break. Every year when Comsumer Reports "tested" stereo equipment, TVs, or VCRs, they would pick brands and models the I knew to be the most problems. I wouldn't trust anything they said. I dealt with these things every day and I knew what was best. They look at them maybe once a year.

Didn't they also just love Saturns? I don't know if you have ever driven one, but most of the car magazines thought it was an appliance at best.

 

ditto on They dont know crap at CR i have sold and repaired vacuum cleaners my whole life and they never got it correct. some years they would give Panosonic at best buy rating and give a sears a less than satisfactory rating unless color is a performance related they were gompletely off base CAUSE THE ONLY DIFFERENCE WAS COLOR . always seemed like the yuppy scum, foriegn car driving, ultra left winger would always want to argue over his rating , i would let them rant and rave and tell them where they could buy the CR best buy and in 6-8 months theycould come back and buy what i reccomended and i would see a lot of them back in my store a few months later. I must have doe itright i retired at 56 after dong "nuttin but fixing and selling dirt suckers" if CR says it lousy i make sure to take a 2nd look

brianj(tncruisrr)


ps per CR redfire adds an extra 22.3456 HP to my v6 pony

 

Ditto on what others have said. Consumer Reports has ZERO credibility in my book.

 

heh you can tell my feelings for CR from my sig

 

Whoa, here. CR's auto reliability ratings are done by people who reply to their surveys, NOT by magazine editors. If the Mustang V-6 had poor scores it's because that's what the people who bought the cars REPORTED. Yes, a Toyota or Saturn IS an appliance, but that's what the masses want. Sorry, but that's the way it is.

 

The average toyota/honda owner is quite a bit more apt to actually subscrbe AND submit a CR survey. I would venture to say that of the thousands of people I have hung out with over the years with various hot rods at tracks and events cosisted of exactly 0 cr subscribers.

When I see a honda civic owner trade in his car with $4000 worth of perfectly kept 'service' records on a $14k car that never 'broke down', they usually spout CR information like a record. All I know is that my g/f's civic hybrid was in the shop at least 15 times for semi-major repairs, about 10 requested by Honda themselves as 'technical' or 'safety' updates. Two broken CVT belts, wheel bearings, battery problems, etc. CR-perfect circles everywhere and no recalls ever listed, and she's not the only one I've heard with complaints like it.

When we process used cars, the shop bills to get the cars ready to retail between the average domestic/import is nil. There are just as many used japaneese cars put out to wholesale because of the ammount of work needed as american cars. However, VW stands out as a brand that nearly always needs too much work to consider keeping for our used car department. When I worked for Toyota, and the other people in the business that have known for years for any brand all complain of the exact same issues customers have. You would think that Toyota or Honda didn't need anything other then an oil change bay by CR ratings. Those shops are just as filled as any other with cars with motors out, suspensions and subframes all over the place and headliners, door panels and dashboards all taken apart.

Some vehicles stand out as extremely rare to ever see in the shop, like 03+ escapes, freestyle/500's or new mustangs or F150s. They just don't come in much, and I have yet to have a customer complain about one with any serious problem. According to CR we should have a parking lot full of them.

The numbers and ratings do not match up well either. I remember a base model taurus with no abs stopped from 50 in 151 feet and got a 'poor' rating from them and a Toyota Camry XLE abs top of the line stopped in 150 and got excellent(it also seems that this type of class 'mix' has always been typical of CR 'tests'). I gave up studying CR's consistency of information as a pet project years ago. I have never seen the majority of problems cr claims with its blackballs in the real world with real customers. And don't think they hold credibility with everyone. I meet a lot of people with heavy disdain for CR, and I mean quite boisterous comments from customers.

These are the same people that picked the unibody Honda Ridgeline as best 'full size pickup', about 2 days after they came out(with perfect predicted ratings of course). The honda pilot 'baja', a full-size pickup?? Whos to say Honda employees are not all CR subscribers themselves?


Just like pollitical polls, when I actually meet a living person who has actually SENT IN a survey to CR I may start to look into it again. But being in the car business when CR comes up more often then not, I have yet to ever talk to one.

 

I never agreed with CR. Its who pays them more in my mind

 

Note to self: Don't mail in that check for consumer reports.