Consumer Reports Magazine

[itoy]

I was wondering why Consumer Reports magazine has a very low grades given to the Boxster, specially the 2008 model? They don't even recommend the 2010 model.

[renzop]

Consumer Reports places a great emphasis on "value" and hard, cold numbers. All Porsches are terrible values when measured that way. You canbuy a Corvette that's faster in a straight line, has shorter stopping distances, corners better, is cheaper to repair and has more US dealerships for service. There are lots of other cars that also beat the Boxster in many of these regards.

But cars are not appliances. We want to have an emotional bond with our sports cars. CR does not measure that and because of that their automobile ratings are meaningless unless you think of your car as an appliance.

When it comes to making a buying decision about a luxury purchase like a sports car, the only thing that matters is what you think and feel about it. No one can tell you that your personal choice is wrong or a "bad value" if you enjoy it.

[kls]

You guys must read a different version of Consumer Reports than what I get. The last car issue (April '09) raves about the Boxster. In the roadster category it ranks above the S2000, Mercedes SLK, Corvette, and everything else. They DO recommend it, and they rank as better than average reliabilty. They do not have reliability ratings for the '08 apparently because they did not have enough responses to the survey.

[pbanders]

Originally Posted by renzop

Consumer Reports places a great emphasis on "value" and hard, cold numbers. All Porsches are terrible values when measured that way. You canbuy a Corvette that's faster in a straight line, has shorter stopping distances, corners better, is cheaper to repair and has more US dealerships for service. There are lots of other cars that also beat the Boxster in many of these regards.

But cars are not appliances. We want to have an emotional bond with our sports cars. CR does not measure that and because of that their automobile ratings are meaningless unless you think of your car as an appliance.

When it comes to making a buying decision about a luxury purchase like a sports car, the only thing that matters is what you think and feel about it. No one can tell you that your personal choice is wrong or a "bad value" if you enjoy it.

Really excellent answer, bravo.

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by pbanders

Really excellent answer, bravo.

Except for this part:

Originally Posted by renzop

No one can tell you that your personal choice is wrong or a "bad value" if you enjoy it."

Which clearly neglects the fact that your significant other often will tell you exactly this.

[mts]

Originally Posted by renzop

Consumer Reports places a great emphasis on "value" and hard, cold numbers. All Porsches are terrible values when measured that way. You canbuy a Corvette that's faster in a straight line, has shorter stopping distances, corners better, is cheaper to repair and has more US dealerships for service. There are lots of other cars that also beat the Boxster in many of these regards.

But SOME cars are not appliances. We want to have an emotional bond with our sports cars. CR does not measure that and because of that their automobile ratings are meaningless unless you think of your car as an appliance.

When it comes to making a buying decision about a luxury purchase like a sports car, the only thing that matters is what you think and feel about it. No one can tell you that your personal choice is wrong or a "bad value" if you enjoy it.

Great post.....fixed one word for you though.

[gschotland]

Originally Posted by itoy

I was wondering why Consumer Reports magazine has a very low grades given to the Boxster, specially the 2008 model? They don't even recommend the 2010 model.

That's it, my Boxster's getting traded in for an Accord.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by gschotland

That's it, my Boxster's getting traded in for an Accord.

Make sure you have them fix the gas pedal first.

[r9i8c7k]

I recently too read a Consumer Reports review of the Porsche Boxster and they failed to recommend it due to repair issues. Yet, consumersearch.com had the opposite review of Consumer Reports.

[Quickurt]

Quite a few years ago, there was some question about Consumer Reports ownership. I DON'T KNOW for sure, but rumor had it Toyo Kogo had major ownership shares of the original magazine publishing company. Toyo Kogo is of course Toyota and a huge number of other Japanese products manufacturers parent company.
Historically, stranger things have happened, but consumer reports has been strangely Japanese products favoring since it's inception.

[landrovered]

Toyo Kogyo was actually Mazda's parent company.

I say good, I am glad consumer reports does not encourage pointy headed practical people to buy Boxsters. It keeps the riff-raff out.

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by Quickurt

Historically, stranger things have happened, but consumer reports has been strangely Japanese products favoring since it's inception.

Originally Posted by jcb986

I believe during the YUGO craze everything got screwed up. Yeah, it is amazing that most Japanese products are always at the top.

I don't see it as strange, the Japanese cars have historically been cheaper to purchase and maintain with lower part failure rates than the US or European products.

[gschotland]

Originally Posted by Adam

Make sure you have them fix the gas pedal first.

Yeah, but the sudden acceleration will remind me of my Box.