What are your ‘go to’ sites for car/truck reviews? I’m not really all that hip with Consumer Reports anymore. Magazine site like Car & Driver can seem pretty biased too. Plus, they hardly ever call a piece of shit a piece of shit. Forums can be hit and miss as well. It seems that some folks just can’t admit that they bought a clunker. So, oh wise ones, where does one go for the best car and truck reviews? I’m looking at a wide variety of vehicles; I haven’t decided yet, so I want to look at all sources. Thanks all, and have a great weekend.
I share your "not all that hip" sentiment of Consumer Reports myself... I don't know of any places unbiased honestly besides speaking directly to some of the service techs/mechanics for whatever you may be shopping for. Wish I could be of help or someone comes along with the answer.
www.DaveKshitboxreview.com The scale that site uses is exactly what you’re looking for. From “piece of shit” to “like riding on top of a Pegasus down the autobahn screaming in German”.
Check out Alex on Autos on youtube. That guy has a high speed teleprompter imbedded in his brain. Good for insomnia too.
SavageGeese on YouTube. Unbiased to the point he said that FCA might not be sending him cars anymore.
Thx guys. What I’d really like to see are long term reviews of cars and trucks. I say that because even a piece of crap car or truck will seem decent when it’s brand new. Let’s see how these vehicle are holding up after a year or two. For example, I was really interested in a Chevy ZR2, but the problems that have arisen after a year or two of ownership have kept me from seriously considering it. Consumer Reports does have some history for various vehicles, but overall, I wonder how accurate that is.
But, but...JD Power says Chevys are the best up to 90 days after leaving the showroom! (If you haven't seen the satire vids on YouTube, they're hilarious - "If real people commercials were real life."
Exactly! The ZR2 might be great for the first 90 days, but if Quality is not built into it, days 91+ can be awful. Even if you maintain a vehicle like the ZR2 to an absolute T, if quality isn’t built into it from the get go, it’s not gonna last. On the flip side, you could probably NOT maintain a Tacoma or Tundra (or most Japanese vehicles), and even abuse it, and it’ll last and last and last.
Agreed 100%! We’ve had a couple murican made cars/trucks from new, and meticulously maintained them and were POS’s in no time flat........and had either Toyota’s and 2 Nissan’s for work trucks that got over abused but never missed a tick well beyond 300K miles.
OMG!! I laughing so hard at these! It’s like Mark Wahlberg taking a break in between scenes while filing Ted decides to do commercials.
When I'm am interested in a particular vehicle I find a good forum for them. That seems to give you the most real world info in the long term.
That's not always true. I wouldn't go looking at the Porsche forums for honesty in reliability. Most of their response are clouded by the $150k plus price tag and long term ownership in most cases can be measure like the age of small child. Their 18 month old car is due to be traded at any moment becasue they love it and it's perfect so that's why they can't wait to trade it in on the next one. THere are some nuggets of truth running around t but you have to look hard through a pretty good bullshit filter. The big 3 forums might be better as those are generally kept longer and used more often. Here's the most profound statement I have heard about modern cars and it came from SavageGeese. Some companies build things to last. Everyone else builds things to lease. That's about as clear cut as I've seen it. If you are looking to car companies that focus more on leasing then you kind of have an indicator of what to expect for their reliability.
Interesting comment. I wonder if "fleet" vehicles are built to a different standard, you know, things like a Ford Super Duty? Would quality be better, worse or the same as comparably packaged "public" offerings? Are they built at a different facility, have their own production line, source components from "other" distributors? Either way, right or wrong, I'm of the opinion that the fewer bells-n-whistles, the less chance there is of overall quality shortcomings. Add to that, one-off special orders, or "sold" orders. Is there a difference in the end product as opposed to buying something for which a dealer has selected multiple copies of the same packaged options? Asked and answered.
A problem with forums is that some guys just can’t admit that they have a shitty vehicle. It’s like their pride is in question for making a bad decision. To use my ZR2 example again, I’ve seen guys who gloss over major issues and problems (the type that require either extensive repair or time at the dealer if it’s under warranty) and point out superfluous stuff like how cool it looks or sounds. Or they’ll rave about a feature or part that even GM couldn’t screw up, like cup holders.