Here are excerpts from the latest article written about Consumer Reports about cars for reliability ratings (Oct 27, 2014, ABC News)

Toyota Tops Consumer Reports Reliability Rankings - ABC News

Japanese brands generally fared well in Consumer Reports' survey, which predicts the reliability of 2015 model year cars and trucks based on a survey of subscribers who own 1.1 million vehicles from current or prior model years.

Mazda, Honda and Subaru joined Toyota in the top ten. Audi was the highest scoring non-Japanese brand, while Buick was the only domestic brand in the top ten.

But Japanese brands don't have a complete lock on quality. The magazine isn't recommending the 2015 Honda Fit subcompact, for example, since it will be the first produced in Mexico and its quality may not match those previously made in Japan.

 

So they did not test the vehicle and the key word is "may." Honda assured there are quality control whether it's built in Jp, Euro, U.S or Mex. 3k so far has been a solid ride for my "15 FIT. Though, thanks for sharing the article.

 

No regrets here, with our Mexican built Honda Fit. Not sure I have a lot of confidence in Consumer Reports anymore, especially since they were so wrong about which refrigerator I should purchase (and it was built in the US).

 

I do not think it is unreasonable for CR to not automatically recommend the 2015 Fit. New factory, new county, new workforce, new design... Lots of things can go wrong. Hopefully in a year or two the new Fit will have proved itself and CR can recommend it. Those with higher VINs are already expressing less issues than earlier VINs

 

I caught that word "May" as well, and how in the world can CR say its not recommended when they have no data yet is beyond me. Thank you Consumer Reports, you just lost another reader for your lack of common sense, and pre judging a vehicle on a "May not" posting.

 

SR45, I think the lack of available data is precisely the reason for their reticence to recommend. It's no reflection on whether the car is or is not recommendable. I don't bother with CR anyway since they're wrong so often, especially with cars.

 

Yeah, recommending a car you've never driven, never experienced, built in a new factory, by new people with new everything else....is a great idea.

Thank you Consumer Reports, you just showcased a former reader's lack of common sense.

 

Note that use of the word "may" was not a quote from CR. That article was from ABC news. CR may be bias but the article definetly lead me to believe ABC news and/or the author of the article is bias.

 

Fu** Consumer Reports and J.D power!

Enjoy your Korean piece of trash cars in five years cars and your problematic Audi/VW.
Also keep your fat and stupid GM Chevrolet products. Obama should have let GM go under.
9 out of 10 that drive a GM product hate the President anyway.
Mazda is all new and not a part of Ford anymore, Yet they moved up? How can CR Do that?

 

You are talking about Consumers Reports here. Not exactly clear thinking all the time

 

I'm not sure what CR wrote.
Are they being neutral o excplicilty saying they don't recommend buying a Fit?

I would totally agree to CR being neutral as in 'we don't know how good the Fit will be with all the incognites present'

 

Just seems like common sense to me.

How can you recommend something that has little to no data and is not a known factor? Maybe after the dust settles, but I wouldn't go out on a limb and recommend something I have very little information on.

You guys are so defensive lol

 

Yeah... My parents both lease 2013 VW's. Dad is in a Passat, mom has a Jetta. I will never, ever, ever put one of those in my driveway. My mom had her A/C die 3 times, wiper motor has been replaced, the horn died and needed to be replaced, the lock cylinder in the ignition froze and had to be replaced. The Passat had a problem with a clutch in the transmission, the horn was replaced, and the rear window motor died. The service from the dealership was awful and corporate was not helpful at all. I tell them all the time to thank heavens they are leases.

My Fit (#12,080, 6,000 miles on it) has had none of the problems on this forum, except the second gear thing that I have posted about, which 1) hasn't been confirmed is a problem and 2) has improved greatly in the last 5,000 miles. I honestly think CR is paid advertising pretending to be information like every other piece of media. I look up reviews on almost everything I buy, and have never even thought about CR. I guess I'll just keep on with that.

 

I see nothing at all wrong with CR not recommending the Fit. They have no experience with the car and there are several red flags (new factory, new workforce, new design) that indicate the potential for problems. Anyone who reads this forum (and I don't think that FF goes completely unnoticed by CR staff) knows that the Fit launch has had considerable problems.

When the Scion that I drive was launched it also was not recommended by CR, simply because they had no experience with it. After the first year of experience the car was rated a "best buy" for several years.

Not recommending something is not a negative. It simply means that they are reserving judgement until they have enough information to render an intelligent judgement.

In fact, a CR writer recently recommended the '15 Fit over the Toyota Yaris in the following article:

Freshened 2015 Toyota Yaris Still Playing Catch-Up - Consumer Reports News

 

Than why not just say " We are reserving judgement at this time" instead of the other ? That is what I would have done.

 

We got burned by the CR sensationalism on the Suzuki Samurai back in the late 1980s. We were expecting our first child and needed something better suited to a small family. Because of the CR reports, we were unable to sell our Samurai except by practically giving it away. Turned out the CR "testing" was ginned up a bit to get the result they were looking for (as has been done in other "testing" by CR and other news media).

I drove my Samurai 'vigorously' and never once did it feel like it was going to spontaneously roll over in a slight curve. It was a fun vehicle!

CR is a business… keep that in mind when you read their "reports."

es

 

That's my fear, but the plant was designed, built, organized, and run by Honda. There's not too much leeway in manufacturing. Machines make the components, and machines assemble many of them, with help along the way from humans. I'm not worried about it. If the car hasn't fallen apart after 3,000 miles, I don't foresee any Mexican problems.

CU never recommends newly redesigned models, nor do they give a reliability rating to them.

 

Odd. When I was researching a new car a few months back, I went to CR's website and at that time, they were complimentary for the 15 Fit and it was predicted to have better than average reliability. Maybe they had a change in policy higher up? Anyhow, it's only one source for rating a car, as other commentators have noted earlier in this string.

 

First off for those who are panning Consumers Reports remember that they recommended the pre 2015 Fits. In fact it was because of their recommendations and review of the Fit that I decided to buy a Fit.

Second, Consumers Reports was burned once when the recommended a brand new first year car (I believe it was an Eagle Vision) and it turned out to have horrible reliability. As policy they will not recommend any first year vehicle.

Third, this is talking heads from ABC whose sole responsibility is to create problems when problems are not there.

Forth, The latest issue of CR (Nov 2014 page 66) has a brief review of the 2015 Fit which was over all positive. They even mentioned that the Fit brand has been one of their top-rated subcompacts. They also mention that the 2015 is also one of the safest subcompacts you can buy.

Fifth, remember Consumers Reports gets their reliability data from subscribers who fill out the yearly auto survey. I always fill it out so the data on my 2015 Fit EX w/Cvt will show next year.

So for those here who state they are canceling their CR subscriptions all you are doing is delaying CR from recommending the 2015 Fit. CR needs a certain amount of data before they feel comfortable to publish a recommendation.

 

That particular article didn't quote CR for their position on the Fit. Has anyone seen a CR article or direct quote where the Fit was discriminated against?