I read car news today, oh boy....

[tw]

Anyone who really knows anything about automobiles knows basic concepts such as Horsepower per Liter, reliability, safety statistics, and Consumer Reports' April issue. It has arrived.

Which cars dominate the bottom of Consumer Reports' safety index? Bottom three in each category:
Small Cars: Kia Sephia, Pontiac Sunfire/Chevy Cavalier, PT Cruiser.
Family Cars: Daewoo Leganza, Pontiac Grand Am/Olds Alero, Buick Regal.
Upscale and Large Cars: Chrysler Concord, Cadillac DeVille, Saab 9-3.
Minivans: Pontiac Montana/Olds Sillouette, Chevy Venture, Nissan Quest.
Small SUVs: Chevy Tracker (bottom in a list of only 4)
Midsize SUVs: GMC Jimmy/Chevy Blazer, Isuzu Rodeo (a GM minority owned company) (bottom 3 in a list of 7).
Pickups: GMC Sonoma/Chevy S-10 (bottom 2 in a list of 6).

GM models dominate the bottom half of every list.

Reliability- Bottom of the list by nameplate:
Jeep (worst), Jaguar, GMC, Cheverolet, Lincoln, Pontiac, Cadillac, Oldsmobile, Mercedes-Benz, Buick, Audi, Dodge, Saturn.

""As part of the trend analysis this year, we looked at what happened to the vehicles that were new in 1995 and five years old in 2000. Most of the time, we found, vehicles that were reliable in their first year remained reliable five years later. But there were some surprises.
The 1995 Mitsubishis were the most unreliable when new but when five years old, placed about midpack. Volkswagen 1995 models started rather poorly with 34 problems, a figure that ballooned to 148 when thery were five years old - the worst of the group."" - CR


[Edited by tw on 03-05-2001 at 09:44 PM]