I dropped my Subscript. years ago. To me they are just another rag with an off the wall opinion.

 

Confirmation that I have found a home here. Great post.

 

<meta http-equiv="CONTENT-TYPE" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><title></title><meta name="GENERATOR" content="OpenOffice.org 2.2 (Unix)"><meta name="AUTHOR" content="ryan patterson"><meta name="CREATED" content="20070803;21314300"><meta name="CHANGEDBY" content="ryan patterson"><meta name="CHANGED" content="20070803;21465300"><style type="text/css"> <!-- @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } --></style>We just got our copy in the mail (yes I still live with my liberal tree hugging parrents). The reviews are a joke. The F-150 and F-250 are reviewed together as if they were the same truck (f-250 adds diesel engine). The same with the Dodge and GM ½ and ¾ ton trucks, one review for both. CR complains about lack of full time all wheel drive or computer activated 4x4 options on most trucks. They also seem to think buying a vehicle without electronic stability control is a mortal sin. For the fords (f-150? F-250? both?) they actually complain about not having a **** to tune the radio. Then a sentence later the complain about reflections caused by the F-250's chrome rimmed gauges. Talk about nit picking. The fuel usage chart shows straight MPG for both gasoline and diesel even though diesel costs less. All the ratings are based on CR's universal automobile expectations. So stuff like breaking distance all the trucks rate fair or pour because they are compared against all other car CR reviews. And all the transmissions are rated excellent or very good I assume for the same reason. So basically all the ratings they assign are useless because of this. Hello CR, I don't care about comparing trucks to cars. In an article about trucks, you should only compare trucks against other trucks.

 

Maybe there are a lot of people that can't decide between a honda civic and a superduty. Consumer reports helps then make an informed decision.

 

I also read the article. Don't get me wrong, I didn't waste my money on the rag, it was at my parents house. It is a general consumer mag, thats it. Don't even concider it serious over anything over compact cars. Oh, and bash a design that set standards (f-150) in 2004, but let your favorite new japanese designed, everybody but US made parts truck come out and its the best thing since white rice! What do you think they looked at to design their truck? The article also stated that the yota has excellent reliability, how long has this thing been out??, a couple of months, and already toughting its great! Fact is, CRs car buyers are not what is already mentioned in this tread, real truck users/drivers. If you want a lowdown on trucks, u buy a truck magazine, not CR, or car and driver ect.....
Now, what about leveling the playing field. I believe(correct me if I'm wrong) Yota, nissan and all other asian based cars do not run "Union" factories, and that only Ford, GM, not sure if dodge is run by US company anymore, are unionized. U tell me, who spends more for "American" workers? Who has employed thousands of "American" workers for decades. Who at least has their parts manufactured on the same continent, again helping our families eat "HERE". So brag about asia producing cheaper cars, sweat shops, pennies for pay, using lead paint in toys. Its all gonna kill the American life anyway shortly, they dump everything in this country, with the koreas, china, and shortly Indian vehicles coming here.
For my part, I will continue to drive my American made, American designed Ford F150 2005 SC Lariat, that gets 17 mpg, holds 5 most comfortably, tows at least 3 japanese cars(at least!) and be perfectly happy with my clean bill of health...36k miles, no mechanical or electrical defects, and my wifes car, a Mercury Montego, 35K miles, 26 mpg, only one trouble code, and the rear brake thing. I know I'm flaming, sry, but that cr misport pissed me off. No asian cars for me thanks.

 

Lots of good posts here; Two points:

For good or bad, CR is a force to be reconned with. I think Ford will pay attention & improve the product so that it does better in the next CR review, without compromising the things that matter to the core customer.

It would be good to see some of these worthy FTE opinions in letters to CR in their upcoming issues.

 

Reliability on the new Tundra?? Obviously CR neglected to state the fact the Toyota recalled every new Tundra for engine failures.

There must be millions of unhappy F150 and Super Duty owners out there becuase each year Ford outsells them all.

I'm 6' tall, which is in the upper average range, and when I sat in the new Tundra 4-door model I did'nt have shoulder,head and leg room. My son is 5' tall and he could barely manage to sit in the back seat.

I'd like to see CR test the 4x4 capabilities by having the electronic shift on the fly switch either not work or stuck in 4 low. Then perhaps just maybe they will realize the importants of a reliable manual transfer case.

Towing?? I have read and seen pictures on RV.net forum of bent frames on both Toyota and Nissan while towing super light and ultra light class (~6000#) trailers.

 

This is why autos should be evaluated by Car and Driver or any Vehicle magazine with expertise. Consumer reports they report on EVERYTHING. their huge vast open field is not gonna have the same detail that a Vehicle specific publication will have and know what to look for.

 

Did any of you guys that have scripts bust there chops on the forum that is on their web site!.
I tried but you have to subscribe to register...Well guess what..I did not!

 

Bad mistake there...everyone I've ever talked with personally, that has gone with their recommendations, has regretted it badly later on...it has also been proven awile back that they are giving biased ratings to the Toys...

 

I would have to question if the F250 was running correctly. It was slower 0-60 than either the Dodge or the Chev. I see the F250 was equipped with the tow command option so should have had 4.30 gears. It should have walked all over the other two if running correctly. Be interesting to know how the other two were geared but I would suspect they were 3.73 gears. Also shows that towing a 7400 lb trailer the F250 only got about 9 MPG.