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Wednesday, 5 December, 2012 11:27 PM
Chevrolet
Volt once again ranked highest in Consumer Reports' Owner
Satisfaction Survey
PHOTO
BY JASON RZUCIDLO / ©AMERICAJR.com
The
Chevrolet Volt is plugged in at the L.A. Auto Show.
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LOS
ANGELES -- For the second straight year, the Chevrolet
Volt was named the best vehicle, according to readers of Consumer
Reports. Ninety-two percent of those surveyed selected the
Volt in the magazine's owner-satisfaction survey. Last year, it
was chosen by 93% of readers. The Volt is a plug-in hybrid vehicle
that can travel for about 40 miles on electricity before the gas-powered
engine recharges the battery. It is priced at just below $40,000
before a $7,500 federal tax credit. Consumer Reports said owners
of about 350,000 vehicles participated in the survey.
"Usually,
you come here and there's a lot of electric vehicles, a lot of fuel
economy cars," said Jake Fisher, director of the Auto Test
Center at Consumer Reports. "We do see that here,
but really what we're seeing more of is just traditional cars getting
more fuel efficient. That is actually more important, I think, than
some of the low-volume electric cars. To have mainstream vehicles
cranking up the fuel efficiency is doing a lot more."
What are
some of the vehicles here that you recommend consumers to buy?
"There's
a lot of good choices on the market," he added. "When
it comes to family sedans or SUVs, if you look at our cars that
we recommend, it's the cars that have proven their track record.
It's the cars that have a couple good years of good reliability,
not the ones that are first in the showroom. Here, you see a lot
of new cars that are just coming out. If you're really a smart shopper,
don't get bedazzled by all of that. Go out and buy something that's
got a proven track record that you can get a discount on."
What are
some of the cars that have increased their quality over the years?
"Some
cars kind of came from the pits and got a little bit better,"
the director of the Auto Test Center explained. "A big surprise
this year when we looked at our realibility data, Audi. Audi traditionally
was at the bottom of the list. You go back 10, 20 years, bottom
of the list, electrical problems, all different types of problems.
This year, they seemed to work out a lot of the bugs and that is
really good choice for a lot of people to buy."
Here in
L.A., there are a lot of foreign cars on the road. Do you think
the Big Three are doing enough to get consumers excited?
"I
think they are, they are back in a big way," Fisher said. "A
couple of years ago, they really weren't playing ball. Now, they
are. They're coming together in terms of reliability, they're coming
ahead in terms of fuel economy, in terms of driving performance,
interior quality. They're back in the game."
On Nov.
10, AmericaJR.com was the first to announce the Chevrolet Spark
EV would be at the L.A. Auto Show. What are your thoughts on it
being GM's first true electric vehicle since the EV1 project was
scrapped?
"I've
driven the EV1, that was actually a fun car to drive," he added.
"This is interesting. It's going to be a car for a very limited
market just like the EV1. One of the interesting things about the
Spark is that it's actually the performance version. That's sticking
with what GM did before. The EV1 was a fast car. If you've got a
normal gasoline car, it's kind of a slug. If you get the electric
one, it's quick."
What do
you think of some of the other alternative energy vehicles here
at the show?
"There's
a lot of choices now," the director of the Auto Test Center
explained. "There's a lot of electric cars that have a very
limited market. You can really go 80 miles or 90 miles and that's
not the car for everybody. It's going to get real interesting with
Tesla with their extended-range electric power. If you're looking
for something alternative, there's diesels out there that are great
choices and there are hybrid vehicles that are proven technology
and really work well."
Why did
your magazine give MyFord Touch a lower reliability rating this
year?
"It's
actually what our subscribers are telling us," Fisher said.
"We do an annual questionnaire and we have data for about 1.2
million vehicles. It's a large amount of data coming in. It wasn't
our judgment that we didn't figure out how to use the system or
it broke on us. It was actually thousands and thousands of people
telling us they had problems with them."
I'm curious
to know your thoughts on the Cadillac CUE interface.
"Yes,
it's kind of another MyFord Touch," he added. "It is not
good. It's very complex, a lot of problems. I don't know if it's
going to have problems in the field. But I'm talking about the complexity
of use. They made a lot of choices that aren't wise choices. There's
a lot of dazzle, but the function is problematic."
Going back
to your auto reliability, why is Toyota ranked at the top?
"They're
problem-free," the director of the Auto Test Center explained.
"We've got thousands of thousands of data points that come
in and say they're not having problems with their cars. It's interesting,
looking at Ford, Toyota and Lexus are not simple vehicles. Lexus,
some of their vehicles, have complex controls, too. They have this
mouse controller where you move it around. It's not totally intuitive.
However, it doesn't fail so they don't have the problems there.
Also, the complex controls is not helping with their testing."
For
more information or to purchase tickets to the Los Angeles Auto
Show, visit www.laautoshow.com.
Related
Stories: Fiat
shows off three new models at 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show; Mustangs
from the 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show; Porsche
introduces 2014 Cayman and Cayman S at 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show;
Mazda
reveals the 2014 Mazda6 at 2012 Los Angeles Auto Show
PHOTO
BY JASON RZUCIDLO / ©AMERICAJR.com
The
2013 Chevrolet Volt was ranked at the top of the Consumer
Reports' Owner Satisfaction survey.
PHOTO
BY JASON RZUCIDLO / ©AMERICAJR.com
The
new model has a higher MPGe rating of 101 highway/93 city while
the 2012 model had an MPGe rating of 95/93.
PHOTO
BY JASON RZUCIDLO / ©AMERICAJR.com
The interior of the 2013 Chevrolet Volt.
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