The guide is equally essential for used car buyers. CR maintains reliability histories for several hundred makes and models, often going back 10 to 20 years. Consumer Reports' Car Reliability FAQ
Every year, CR’s engineers put roughly 50 new vehicles through more than 50 rigorous tests at their 327-acre facility in Connecticut. These include acceleration, braking, emergency handling, fuel economy, and specialized tests like a "rock hill" to evaluate off-road capability.
This measures whether owners would "definitely" buy the same car again if they had to do it over. It captures the emotional and experiential side of ownership that road tests alone might miss. consumer reports car buying guide
This depth allows CR to catch issues that shorter press reviews might miss. For instance, they evaluate "fit and finish" by measuring panel gaps and tactile quality, and they use a "pipe box" to measure the actual usable cargo volume rather than relying on manufacturer-claimed cubic footage. Reliability: The "Used Car Verdict"
CR distills its vast amount of data into a single for each vehicle. This score is built upon four critical metrics: The guide is equally essential for used car buyers
While CR does not perform its own crash tests, it incorporates data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and the NHTSA. Bonus points are awarded for standard safety features like city-speed automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection. Methodology and Testing Rigor
This is arguably CR’s most influential metric. It is based on annual surveys of hundreds of thousands of CR members who report real-world problems they encountered in the previous 12 months across 20 potential trouble spots, ranging from engine and transmission to in-car electronics. This depth allows CR to catch issues that
What sets the Consumer Reports guide apart is its "live with it" philosophy. Before formal testing begins, staffers drive each vehicle for 2,000 "break-in" miles. Even after the official report is published, engineers continue to use the cars for daily commuting and trips to experience how they age and how over-the-air software updates affect performance.