5 new cars to avoid: Consumer Reports

Toyota Prius C / Toyota Motor Sales

(MoneyWatch) Consumer Reports has picked popular new cars it cautions shoppers to avoid because of poor test drive results or subpar reliability. And the list contains some surprises: The Honda Civic and Prius C small hybrid.

Traditionally, Toyota and Honda vehicles have scored well with CR's test drivers and in reliability and usually have been recommended. But the testers this time found a lot to dislike with the Civic and Prius C. The rest of the top five models to avoid are more typical of past CR lists: The Jeep Liberty, Ford Edge and Dodge Grand Caravan minivan.

Here is a more detailed look at CR's critiques of these five models:

1) Honda Civic While conceding that the Civic remains reliable with good gas mileage, CR test drivers criticized Honda's 2012 redesign. "The current model suffers from a choppy ride, noisy cabin, vague steering and mediocre interior quality," they say in the September issue of the magazine, also available on the magazine website to subscribers. The magazine recommends as compact car alternatives the Subaru Impreza, Hyundai Elantra and Mazda3.

2) Toyota Prius C Starting at $19,564 and with mileage ratings of 53 MPG in city driving and 46 on the highway, this smaller extension of the Prius family has been a sales success for Toyota after its introduction this year. CR continues to recommend the full-size Prius but says that in the C "all-around quality really drops." The magazine criticizes a stiff ride, noisy cabin and slow acceleration. The Honda Fit is cited as a good alternative.

3) Jeep Liberty While acknowledging superior off-road performance typical of Jeeps, CR testers liked the Liberty a lot less when it drove out of the woods and onto the road. "On pavement the its ride is unsettled and handling clumsy," they said. "The interior is cramped and cheap-feeling and the engine is noisy and thirsty." They suggest the Toyota RAV4 and Subaru Forester as alternatives.

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4) Ford Edge The unusual boxy styling and grooved sides have their partisans among Edge owners. But CR says the styling doesn't offset the disadvantages of the Edge. They cite a jittery ride, pronounced road noise and distracting controls. The CR testers give another whack here to the MyFordTouch infotainment system, which they have consistently criticized (as have many Ford owners). They suggest as alternatives the Toyota Highlander, Nissan Murano and Mazda CX-9.

5) Dodge Grand Caravan Chrysler Group, parent of Dodge, invented the minivan and still sells a lot of them. In this case, the test drive is not the problem, with the magazine describing the vehicle as versatile, quiet, comfortable and well-equipped. Instead, it is all about reliability. CR's survey of owners turned up reports of squeaks and rattles, loose interior trim and problems with power equipment and sliding doors. CR suggests the Toyota Sienna as a more reliable minivan alternative.

[mp33100]

I am confused by the Ford Edge item. The Ford Flex has the style described (boxy and grooved sides). The Edge is a crossover and not that similar to the Flex. I would agree with the rating for the Flex, but I found the Edge pretty nice.

[del888]

I'm starting to lose confidence in some of these reports which I always counted on. Have owned 2-Explorers 2003&2005 also 2008 Edge and 2011 Edge have never had a major problem with explorers or my 2011 Edge. Had a minor computer problem with transmission with my first 2008 Edge.

My 2011 Edge I own for 2 years next month. It rides much more quietly than my 2008 Edge. It is not perfectly quiet but it is more than tolerable. It is not jittey it handles very well and rides smoothly and very comfortably. I have drove in Honda's and Toyota's that were either louder or that also squeaked.
Also I find my GPS & Sync to be very comfortable to use. If you are computer literate or have a cell phone you should be fine.
The sync since updated is much more reliable. Although it crashed once since I just reset my system and it was fine no further problems. I get free GPS with access to an operator assistance for free. With GM you would have to pay $28 a month for assistance after your contract is up.
Just don't understand the hard knock with the sync system. I don't have to leave the steering wheel to make changes on radio, climate. Pressing buttons on a radio could be just as distracting. Don't understand why such a negative rating on the Edge. Just look at customers reviews and I guess I'm right they are mostly all positive.

[Kimbakat]

I laugh at how Slow Accelleration really matters in these report..I mean really..how often do really smart saving eco conscious type people have such testosterone that they have to Peel-out at green lights to boost their ego. I'd rather save the money in the bank than worry about peeling-out at at stop light to prove to some moron I have a faster car.

Stupid.

[hypnotoad72]

"Time is money".

If we had any sense, our society would let people have time to breathe, drive at 30, not text every 2 minutes regardless of reason or excuse, not jaywalk, be nice to each other, and everything else...

[996Ducati]

You're probably one of those slow driving Hybrid owners I always seem to be passing in the fast lane. Get a clue, quit thinking about your damn bank account and get out of the fast lane!

[AmazingGrce]

Well so much for quality reporting by CR. Their complaints on each vehicle are almost completely subjective. CR through the years has increasingly become biased in reports and subjective in their evaluations. One need only look at their reporting on the MINI Cooper of 2002-2004 to see a great example. They-CR-reported below average reliablity and a wide variety of ills about he car. They only slightly considered the opinions of actual owners comments. The car was getting and continues to get rave reviews from owners while CR tried to excorate the builders. (Never mind the general CR bias against German car companies)
Now they are at it again with their pithy (No substance) attacks on these vehicles. Only one or two are cited for substandard reliabilty or substantive issues. Their primary reasons given (If the author of this article is reporting correctly) are nothing more than impressions that are highly subjective. They appear to be forgetting that many Americans are down with the overweight gas sucking cars of the past and they acknowledge that you can't have all that crome and glitz and still get good mileage and a low price.
CR needs to do some real soul searching (Assuming the have a corporate soul) and decide if they are going to become another political 'tool' or return to their roots as an unbiased consumer reporting entity.

[hypnotoad72]

So their constant ratings of Apple's products being as high as they are might be bought and paid for as well? (Sorry for the tangent, but if CR is no longer unbiased then what is claimed and proven in one area could easily be found and confirmed for another...)

[AmazingGrce]

hypnotoad72 - Who said anything about reports being bought and paid for? My point is that over the last 10 years CRs reports in a variety of areas have been skewed by subjective evaluations and in some cases complete disregard for the owner comments.

As for Apple products - I agree they get high marks from many owners. My point is how can the unknowning reader trust a report on any product when you cannot be sure that they reporters are unbiased. Sure it may be that the majority of reports are totally unbiase BUT how are you to know that if you have no experience with that product? The old phrase - you don't know what you don't know applies.
Once a company wavers from a stated principle in any area (displays corrupted behavior)then their entire organization can fairly be questioned until proven clear of that corruption.

Has there been an uprising of Prius C owner complaining about the quality of their vehicles or their performance? Not from the reading I've done on that car. And I know for a fact, as an owner of a 2002 MINI Cooper that I never heard of half the complaints that CR suggested as problem area with the car. I was an active member in the Wash DC area MINI club and other than one incident with a power steering cooling fan, I never heard of any of the complaints that CR claimed. NOW to be completely truthful, I recently received a notice of a class action suit regarding the Windshield on some MINIs but that was a problem that the dealerships were known for handling correctly IF the owners handled it in reasonable manner and had not modified their cars performance.

Long response but sticking to the point, when supposedly unbiased organization supposedly a consumer watchdog, fails to maintain unbiased reporting in any area, their entire organization can be fairly questioned.