Again, the least reliable car today is going to be pretty reliable compared to problematic cars of 30-40 years ago. EFI, computers, etc. all have glitches but they break less than carbs and other more mechanical stuff on cars from 1984, everything is more reliable. That doesn't do much for you if you're Jay up there with a pain in the *** C7. One issue I have with CR is they should try to quantify the odds of getting a car that's a pain - they do once in a while, but they really should emphasize it so that people can put their data into perspective.

 

Today while driving, my speedometer in the instrument display stopped displaying MPH ... though the HUD functioned normally. When I arrived at my destination shutdown/restart (after 1 hour) all worked fine... I imagined and feared having to return to the dealer for a fix...thankfully, it wasn't necessary.

 

Do you have any reliability data comparing those two models from other sources? If not, this is just conjecture. I'm not familiar enough with those specific models but there could be numerous reasons (even simply with the grilles, lights, trim that you mention).

 

The owners of consumer reports are japanese. They are very bias towards american made products. Read between the lines people.

 

I wouldn't say liberal, more like soulless, passionless, non-car guy.

 

Really? US car really were horrible for the 1990's to the 2000's... Heck since the 1970's really... And please, save me from the "liberal" rant... CR uses reports from OWNERS... They don't make it up like Hannity...

 

LOL . . . we're talking about a story from 30 years ago.

 

OK, maybe the thread title is a little inflammatory.

 

What ARE you talking about? First of all Consumer Reports is a publication of Consumers Union, a non-profit organization founded in 1930 headquartered in Yonkers, NY.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumers_Union

Do you make this stuff up or does Jesus bring you visions during the Fox News commercial breaks?

 

Still upset about the Hillary loss??

 

Exactly. Like the polar opposite of the idiots @ Car & Driver who test drive a Prius with their foot to the floor for a week and then say 'and the best we could get was 28 mpg'. The soul-less, impartial and not-blinded-by-car-passion viewpoint is an important one when considering a car purchase, the second priciest acquisition for most of us (after our homes).

Cars are generally appliances for most people, and they're an enormous waste of money. But I love them like you guys.

It's a problem.

 

You know i have owned 2 15 C7 and had no issues whatsoever ...so consumer reports..it is what it is and haters are going to be what they are so if you put a lot of credence into what they publish then you might have cause for concern but i would much rather have a sampling of those of us who have owned corvettes to form an opinion of their reliability...i have owned 3 C6's ( base 6m,zr1 and currently 08 z06) along with the 2 C7's and the only issue i have had is with the base 13 C6..they replaced guage cluster and thats it.

 

I have a 2014 Z51 7M and although it's 4 1/2 years old I am just shy of 15k miles. I had the rear hatch release replaced, no other issues. CR is heavily biased towards Japanese cars, and although I buy the new car issue every year I can pretty much guess which models they will recommend.

I did agree with their comments about the noise (I, too bought sound deadening mats from a Forum vendor), and getting in/out could best be described as a new yoga move. But, it is a high performance sports car, and the Porsche I had was no different for ingress/egress.

As an aside, the CR New Car issue from 2016 shows the 2014 model as extremely reliable, and the car is listed as 'recommended' by CR. Go figure. My guess is the A8 may be the culprit for the new reviews.

 

Just a little?

 

(This is IMO)...What? I get your disdain for CR... but American car manufacturers in the 70s, 80s, 90s and early 2000s were POSs. Due to EPAs garbage, US makers were playing with things like 4/6cyl Mustangs, Camaros (even today...4cyl-turbo). Even the mighty Corvette was slow and had no power (compared to today's supercar numbers). I'm not sure exactly when the turn was made from being garbage to fairly respectful automobiles. With the Corvette, I'd say around the Z06 time...the 405HP+ C5 era...onto the C6 (beautiful). I don't know how GM/Ford/Dodge get away with building these 700+HP beasts... I like it! I'm thinking that between all the regulatory stuff (EGs, O2s, etc), they just said: lets build the compliance AFTER we achieve HP/TQ numbers... then tune after.
What makes our cars (C6/C7) better today than years before? Better technology. Not the HUD or cool dash/HU, but as it relates to the manufacturer process, testing, implementation, more testing. We have people and robots that build these cars with very little tolerance for mistakes or errors. We have measuring devices inside the vehicles to keep us safe(r), immediate diagnostic information, preventative warnings. They've also included the human "seat-of-pants" experience and tweaking. The greatest change, IMO, is the C7 interior. It is now a proper sports car with all the technology, fit-finish, seating and overall ergonomics. Even the Bose stereo sounds better (the louder you set it).

 

UGH... I'm scratching my head that someone would actually rely on a magazine to determine the reliability of a $65K+ sports car.

The comparisons of C7's to Toyota's is way too broad. One's obviously a model, ones an entire brand. (Full disclosure, I currently own & have previously owned, several Toyota Tundra's and Corvettes. Both models have been extremely reliable for me. Go figure).

The problem with the review & report is it requires long term testing under 'typical use conditions' as a major parameter and they are not in a position to do that. So they instead resort to 'Consumer Reviews' which opens the door to very skewed data points. Problems such as Confirmation Bias, Recency, Central Tendencies, and Sampling Bias are all going to lead to faulty conclusions. Hence my first sentence, who would actually rely on this to make an informed decision on what is actually an emotional purchase anyways? I can't believe anyone who buys a C7 Corvette is emotionless during the process. Read how some people respond when their beloved Corvette is scrutinized in the least bit...

 

No they are not Japanese. I can find no evidence whatsoever that supports your claim. There is a Japanese Consumer's Union of Japan (CUJ) but it's not the same organization as the Consumer's Union of the USA that publishes Consumer Reports in the US.
Please do not interpret this as someone who supports CR as I don't. I think the magazine is a rag and have zero respect for their opinions based on how they determine their ratings and poor performance based on our personal use of CR. However, the truth is they are not Japanese.

 

If CR was Japanese owned then the quality of analysis would likely be higher

 

IMO every source has a bias, as evidenced by their target audiences... Motor Trend differs from Car and Driver which differs from Hot Rod which differs from Road and Track which differs from Consumer reports...
When preparing to spend $70+k for anything, it seems that a conscientious consumer would review multiple sources provide a more detailed picture of the intended purchase...

 

It's one source of info. Did you rely only on one source of info? What was the source?