I know mine is fresh but after 1150 miles I cannot find a single thing wrong with it at all, it's perfect.

 

The only problem with many of these comments is that the headline in this thread pertains to the 2014, which had an A6, not an A8. The A6 was considered to be bullet-proof.

There have been many threads here over the years, as well as other reliability surveys, and the 2014 MY has fared very well in several w/ the best reliability scores in the 14-16 cohort. I'm only one data point, but my 14 M7 was never in for any warranty repair in 4 years, except for the pass air bag recall, which was just a software reflash.

I also agree that CR readers are a unique tribe not heavily populated w/ sports car enthusiasts.

 

The 2014 transmission is shown as much better than average. The 2015 is shown as much worse than average.

Edit: and for all the conspiracy theorists, they gave it an overall score of 92.

 

I won't argue that. They have a list of best new cars for seniors

 

When CR began rating cars over eighty years ago there were huge reliability problems. Now they still publicize the differences in ranking, but really almost all cars are quite reliable.

CR does not publish its raw numbers, so there is no way to evaluate its results completely. This is basic in any kind of research. Scientific and technical articles that did not do this one thing and submit to outside review would not even be published by any reputable journal. CR can do it only because it publishes its own results.

We have no idea how many owners are providing information to CR on any given model and year, so we don't know why there are big swings from year to year in some reliability areas, but these likely are at least partly the result of small numbers of responses. Interestingly, in all areas other than minor engine issues, 2017 C7 rates above average, usually much above average which according to the data they do provide (page 89), would mean far fewer than 1% problem rates. (There are a couple of areas where they do list insufficient data.) Yet they rate 2017 C7 far below average in reliability over all, which seems to me not to compute. Average for new cars in all cases is fewer than 1% problems.

Also note this statement (from page 38 of the April 2018 auto issue):

"For both surveys [reliability and owner satisfaction], we use CR's expert judgment based on brand track record in cases where we have insufficient survey responses, or when a model is all-new or redesigned."

The translation of this into plain English would be, "If we don't have data, we just use our own opinion."

Even so, CR's judgment of C7 (page 54) is highly positive, and in its surveys C7 is consistently at or near the top in owner satisfaction despite CR's judgment of reliability. Complaints from CR's own road test are "omnipresent tire noise" (not unfair for the coupe although exaggerated), "vague manual shifter" (you judge, I'm an A8 owner), and "low-slung cabin, which requires almost acrobatic skills to get in and out of." The latter is typical of CR's overstatement. It's really quite easy to get in and out although not the same as most cars. (You just sit on the seat and only then swing your legs in, reverse to get out.) I am a 68-year-old non-acrobat, and I don't have any trouble.

So indeed, the sky is not falling.

 

Had my 2014 for 4 years next month. It’s my DD. It’s been one of the most reliable and trouble free cars I’ve ever owned, and I’ve owned a lot of cars.

 

Thread title is incredibly misleading.

 

Buddy 2014 here only problem as new was the OBD2 port didn't work at all. I took it to two diff dealers here in town & the next town over. I ended up having to take it 80 miles away to a dealer ship that had someone that could work on this small problem.Robert

 

 

Consumer Reports' "research" consists of sending out surveys to members, i.e.: People who subscribe to the magazine, and compiling the check marks of returned surveys. The problems with this are many. It's not a scientific survey. It is not shown that CR subscribers are representative of the total population of corvette owners. By definition, it's not a random sample. You have a severe sampling problem right there. Further, since CR does not publish the raw data, there's no way to determine just what this means. Did 500 owners of corvettes return the survey, or did five? You'll never know. It doesn't matter whether CR is left or right; the survey itself is not scientific. If you want a better sense of reliability, try True Delta and you'll get a much better sense of how well corvette does. If you rely on CR as THE source of reliable and valid information about cars, you're not doing yourself any favors. Spreading the myth that CR provides reliable information is a disservice to others.

https://www.truedelta.com/Chevrolet-...frequencies-52

 

I have owned several vehicles as well over the years and all of them combined have not had as many issues as my current C7Z. While I would have preferred to own one of the "solid" vehicles so many owners claim to have, those that have cars like mine are less than impressed with the quality.

 

So I guess the political leanings of CR subscribers "somehow" alters their reported reliability experience with the Corvette, but not a Toyota?????

 

Their brands of choice.

 

Read the more thoughtful responses above from Fsvoboda and Mschuyler. It's not politics, it's a skewed sample, questionable methodology which can't be evaluated, and too little data on C7s to be reliable. C7 owners are far less likely to subscribe to CR than Toyota owners.

 

Agreed. But there is plenty of politics in this thread as well.

 

Actually, at one point the CR survey showed something like this, with the essentially identical cars built for Toyota and Chevrolet in the NUMMI joint plant in California having different ratings despite being the same vehicle with only trim differences, Toyotas ranked higher.

Survey experts call this "confirmation bias." This is "a tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions." (Follow the link for the whole quotation.)

 

(Even if C7 and Toyota owners subscribed at the same rate, there would be many, many more Toyota owners, of course, since there are many, many more Toyotas on the road.)

 

Good to know as I am solidifying my order on a 2019 GS v a8

 

Of course. And this is an excellent example of why you cannot use anecdotal information to determine reliability. You have had a poor experience. Steve and I have had an excellent experience. Neither experience speaks to the overall reliability of the car as a model. The point of this thread is not really to express your or my personal experiences. It is an attempt to evaluate the model as a whole. CR attempts to do that, albeit imperfectly. Whether or not it is intentional, their reports reflect the biases of their survey design and practices. In seeking to find a valid source of information, CR should not be used as a definitive source.

 

Right, but they do ATTEMPT to do this, nobody else even tries, not in the entire auto industry. So flawed though it may be, it's the only entity trying to give you a realistic bigger picture of a car's reliability. All these posts 'oh mine has been perfect' miss the point entirely. Two of my Corvettes have been close to perfect. I further state in my post that if a car is an unreliable model, these days, given improved car reliability across the board, that might impact <5% of owners. If C7 reliability blows (and I do stand by my thread title, I don't think it's misleading at all, relative to say Porsche, it does suck) that still leaves 97% of owners saying 'mine's perfect'. if 2 or 3 Corvettes out of a 100 are a pain in the ***, bear in mind that if the car matched the most reliable ones on the market that might be more like 2 or 3 pain in the *** cars out of say 250.

That wouldn't stop me from buying the car, and it didn't. Still was a no-brainer.

It's just amazing how tied up in this car some of the egos are around here. I can still love my car even if somebody points out that it might be more likely than my Prius to break. Who cares? Chances are neither will break.

That being said our 2017 Toyota Prius Prime is all tied up in the shop for 10 days now (they gave us a nice loaner car) while every Toyota tech from Newburgh, NY to Tokyo (they told me they were in touch with the factory on this clusterfark) is scratching their heads wondering why the hybrid system and automatic braking system warning messages won't go away and/or if those systems are defective or it's bad computer juju.

Serves me right for dissing the C7 with Consumer Reports libtard propaganda I suppose.

I never started the politics in this thread it was the right wing nuts.