consumer reports

Consumer Reports isn't wearing quite as rosy a pair of sunglass as the federal government is about the savings prospects for US drivers once stricter fuel economy standards take effect in model year 2017. Still, the publication says drivers will save a few thousand dollars worth of gas during the ...

Hidden inside the fast and sleek Tesla Model S electric-powered sedan is the beginnings of a family EV, a sprout that we'll see in full bloom in the upcoming Model X. Anyone who ordered a Model S without the third row kid seats, Consumer Reports explains that it's not too difficult to get them ...

Last month, Consumer Reports decidedly panned the Mitsubishi i after a test drive of the small electric vehicle. The magazine doesn't dislike everything little and battery powered, though, and was quite a bit kinder to the Fiat 500e, saying it is "actually kind of a cool little car." CR released ...

Last year, Ford claimed that its Fusion Hybrid sedan was one of the company's many models that beat the magic 40 miles per gallon fuel-efficiency figure, but Consumer Reports discovered that the automaker is just dreaming, Green Car Reports says. Consumer Reports tested the mid-sized sedan and ...

Lucky them. That's our opinion of Consumer Reports, which really took one for the team by taking delivery of its Tesla Model S last week. The organization is noted for purchasing most of the vehicles it tests rather than reviewing ones loaned to them by manufacturers. The institute groused about ...

Smaller car, fewer problems. The Toyota Prius C compact hybrid topped Consumer Reports' list of reliable 2012 model-year vehicles, leading a group of Toyota-made cars near the top of the list. Consumer Reports based its list on subscriber experiences with 1.2 million vehicles, though Consumer ...

It's not a surprise that Consumer Reports doesn't like the Fisker Karma. The tester vehicle that the magazine straight-up purchased died before it went 200 miles. Then CR really figured out what was wrong with the plug-in hybrid. So, is it really a surprise that CR's test results found the ...

Those crusaders of shopping empowerment over at Consumer Reports have put together a list of five cars to avoid, even if their sales numbers suggest otherwise. CR points out that just because a vehicle is making a lot of buzz and ringing cash registers, that doesn't necessarily make it a wise ...

The first 2012 Ford Focus Electric hatchbacks started trickling into dealerships a couple months ago and the other day, Consumer Reports was finally able to pick up one for its very own. The logistics of that purchase, though, caused the first complaint. The publication, which buys rather than ...

Say what you will about the EPA, but when it comes to measuring single-charge ranges of the Mitsubishi i and Nissan Leaf battery-electric vehicles, they seemed to get it right. Consumer Reports, whose editors have been driving both an i and a Leaf since the beginning of the year, says it's been ...

Cars.com has evidently taken issue with a Consumer Reports video review featured on Autoblog advising consumers that they would be better off buying a used "regular" Prius instead of a 2012 Prius C. Consumer Reports shouldn't have passed on recommending the Prius C, Cars.com argues: "CR's low ...

Consumer Reports has panned the 2012 Toyota Prius C in a new video review that urges car shoppers to get a used regular Prius over the new baby model, "it's a much better car overall," said Mike Quincy in the review. The problems Toyota ran into in creating the Prius C appear to be in making it ...

The good people at Consumer Reports appear to have a dim view of fuel-economy packages on small cars. The organization recently tested the Ford Focus SFE, Chevrolet Cruze Eco and Honda Civic HF to determine whether the cars' annual fuel savings actually offset the additional cost of opting for ...

It seems like it was just a few years ago that car manufacturers used to laugh at us when we'd ask why a new model didn't get any better fuel economy than its outgoing predecessor. "Car buyers don't care about fuel economy," was the refrain, "They certainly won't pay for it." A few years of ...

When it comes to battery-electric versions of existing gas-powered vehicles, it's tough for those leopards to change their spots. That's a conclusion from Consumer Reports, which says that the Ford Focus Electric and Chevrolet Volt are among plug-in vehicles marred by design compromises because ...

You can buy a bunch of information for $107,000. Consumer Reports is learning all sorts of things about the Fisker Karma now that it has purchased one for testing, only to have it die with less than 200 miles on the odometer. After 48 hours in the dealer's repair shop – under warranty ...

Like pretty much any driver, we've had our share of car trouble over the years, both with vehicles loaned to us for review by automakers and our own private rides. What we haven't experienced is being the first media outlet to plunk down over $100,000 for a luxury plug-in hybrid, only to have it ...

More than three-quarters of the American public say limited driving range is a point of concern when considering an electric vehicle, while almost 30 percent indicated that they thought EVs were more dangerous than conventional vehicles, Consumer Reports said, citing responses to its 2012 Car ...

Consumer advocates said Thursday that the U.S. public is generally in favor of the stricter fuel-economy standards the federal government proposed last year for 2025 and that the average driver would typically save money in the form of lower refueling costs, even if vehicle prices rise as a ...

"Considering all factors (price, reliability, comfort, enjoyment, etc.), would you get this car if you had it to do all over again?" Perhaps no other question could produce a result as indicative of overall vehicle satisfaction, and so it's no surprise that's the query Consumer Reports poses to ...