Consumer DEports

["Al Powell" <APOWELL@agcom.tamu.edu>]

The estimable Dr. Myers writes (in commenting on earlier posts) - 

>> And there's Comsumer Reports. I found whan CR whims, A LOT of 
>> people would follow with more blind faith than their religions. Of 
>> course, when [snip] 

> A large part of the problem is that CR regards an automobile merely as an
> appliance.  The purpose of that appliance is to get you and 1.3 passengers
> from point a to point b safely and economically.
> 
> Well, duh.  What happened to considerations of performance and handling and
> emergency response, etc.?  It doesn't figure into their equation.
> 
> If you just want a cheap car which is reasonably safe under mild driving
> conditions then their recommendation is probably pretty decent.  If, on the
> other hand, you tend to drive a bit spiritedly then stay away from CR's
> recommendation.

You've got it, Bob.  I subscribe to Consumer Ree-ports myself 'coz 
they do a great job with toasters, appliances and such.  And MOST of 
the time, they seem to regard cars as toasters with wheels.

I think my favorite quotation about them came from the father of one 
of my best friends, who sold Chevys for almost 50 years:  "The only 
time I pay attention to one of thse reviews is when they say 
something GOOD about a car I sell."

I have owned and enjoyed a 1977 Chevy Monza Spyder (305 V-8, 4-speed 
and positrack) which I still have at 120K miles, and a 1981 Chevy 
Citation V-6 4-speed with sport suspension (no longer have it).  If 
you believed Consumer Deports, it was instant death to set foot in 
either one!  Heck, I ran these cars thru auto-x's, and even drove the 
Citation through  a 2-day Bondurant school at Sears Point in 1983 
(and they were surprised at what it would do...).

BUT - you gotta admit - the vast majority of the driving public 
regard cars as comfortable toasters with wheels.  They only want to 
turn the key and get where they're going, looking no more than 60 
feet in front of them regardless of the speed they travel, paying no 
attention to the ebb and flow of traffic around them, forgetting to 
turn on their headlights at dusk because it never occurs to them that 
the lights help someone ELSE see THEM, and - of course - regarding 
turn signal levers as something from which to hang their High Skule 
graduation tassels.  If they see an crash (remember, this is 
within 60 feet of them, since they never look down the road...) they 
consistently lock up all four brakes and slide directly into the pile 
(unless they have anti-lock, in which case they will complain to the
manufacturer that it didn't keep them from having an accident, when 
it was not an accident - it was a crash caused by driver 
incompetence).

And so it goeth.......

********** A Washington State Cougar in Aggieland (aTm) ************

Al Powell                           Voice:  409/845-2807
Ag Communications                   Fax:    409/862-1202
107 Reed McDonald Bldg.             Email:  a-powell1@tamu.edu 
College Station, TX  77843-2112
W3 page - http://agcomwww.tamu.edu/agcom/rpe/alpage.htm
            "The doctors X-rayed my head and found nothing."  
        Dizzy Dean, after a beanball in the 1934 World Series. 
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