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March 2, 2008
Consumer Reports: 11 Worst Cars
By John
Editor
Generally, bad reviews of anything—records, restaurants, cars—are just more entertaining. Even when people are just saying, and not even hating, commentary which tears a product, or person, to shreads makes for pretty compelling copy. Why do you think buying a 12-pack of High Life without seeing a picture of Britany Spears is unlikely? But leave it to Consumer Reports to do the impossible, as the magazine’s list of 2008’s 11 worst cars is as boring as you’d expect from the consumer advocates. Reading this list is only slightly more gripping than reading my mother’s recipie for corn chowder. And I really didn’t like how the reviews dismissed off-road performance, then proceeded to trash a bunch of off-road vehicles. Bravo y’all! Of course, domestics make up the lion’s share of the field, but there are also a couple of foriegn marques in the mix. What do you think about this list?
Comments








tom
Jul 7, 2008 at 5:41 pm
all these cars suck. AMerican made cars are crap.
Brian
Mar 10, 2008 at 4:08 am
I cant believe CR liked the CVT in the Patriot! I love jeep, but if you’ve ever driven a patriot with the CVT you immediately know its one of jeeps dumbest decisions. And Scott you are right the money! lol
gtwildfire
Mar 5, 2008 at 1:48 am
I think CR is staffed by tree huggers.
Josh
Mar 3, 2008 at 11:19 pm
I have to say that the list didn’t suprise me. But, I agree with “retroman”. Cars are designed for certain things.
Scott
Mar 3, 2008 at 10:25 pm
I just had to laugh at the FJ Cruiser. High: reliability, but unfortunately Consumer Reports doesn’t consider reliability in their numerical score. Well if you follow their way of thinking, it’s better to have a broken down car in which you can’t hear traffic flying past thanks to it’s “roomy and quiet interior” then one that will go off road and you won’t have to worry about breaking down. Wow, they should really stay away from rating anymore automobiles.
kap0w
Mar 3, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Wow… they really don’t like the nitro: Highs: None. Lows: Ride, handling, braking, noise, fuel economy, fit and finish, visibility, access, reliability… is there anything else?
Eric
Mar 3, 2008 at 9:41 pm
It looks like they picked out a few winners there, mercury marquis, chevy aveo. The jeep wrangler is really for certain people so the fact that it makes the list is weird. you buy those for off road use everyone knows that, and usually you dump some cash into the suspension. the NITRO i recently saw at our local car show, WOW if this isnt the worst way to spend money then I guess you would enjoy a TRAILBLAZER. personally the H3 isnt that bad, no worse than the H2. But SUZUKI FORENZA is the epidemy of useless automobile tech. If you thought about this car please just make more money so you can afford more gas that way your not being punished everytime you drive it. And JEEP really needs to stop with this patriot, what the hell is it, honestly CHRYSLER figured out how to make a vehicle worse than the PT CRUISER.
retroman
Mar 3, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Like I said before, they’re slanted when it comes to cars. They never test the car for it’s intended purpose(ex. complaining a sports car like a Miata is too cramped and loud and doesn’t offer creature comforts then going on to complain that a Lincoln is to big, doesn’t handle, and has too many blind spots) They should really stick to toasters and washing machines and leave the car stuff up to magazines who are dedicated to car stuff. And obviously, if you can afford a Hummer, then you can afford having to fill the tank every day. A little annoying having to do that maybe, but the joys of offroading I think compensate the extra annoyance.
Anonymous
Mar 3, 2008 at 6:17 am
and the jeep patriot outranked the wrangler why?