A little help for m_rcus, here is the report.
Of course that raiting is unfair for Jeeps -notice that the Wrangler Unlimited is in first place (!!!???)...
"A spokeswoman for Chrysler pointed out that the Jeep and Dodge vehicles in this list were fundamentally engineered for heavy-duty off-road use and the Jeeps, in particular, have been rated highly by other publications. "


This can explain the bad position for Patriot (and also Toyota Yaris)
"reliability, off road performance and low cost of ownership, those factors are not included in Consumer Reports' basic vehicle score"

 

This mag has a clear bias against Chrysler vehicles, no matter how well they ride or are constructed.

I never read it, but suggest they stick with reviewing toasters, refrigerators & weed whackers.

 

I wish I were responsible for preparing their food...............

 

Why, on God's green earth, would they test off-road capability, and not consider it in the score?

Obviously the vehicles at the top of that list are all off-road specialists? That entire article is a sham. And Consumer Reports should be embarassed.

 

It is consumer reports... if it is not Toyota, Honda, or Hyundai... they don't like it.

 

Bet you a quid ($1.53.) that the "best" car on the market is some completely impractical toy-town machine that Elmo and his pals from Sesame St would find cramped but has a sticker on the back that says "Only sustainable forests were involved in the manufacture of this product".
There is no doubt that we really are losing it. The article actually says that the Jeep Wrangler is intended as an off-road vehicle, but that they didn't bother testing its off-road capabilities as most people drive on road!
Why bother checking whether a pencil writes, 'cos some people use it to winkle out earwax? Why bother checking whether a GAP fleece is really rain-repellant, 'cos lots of people let the cat sleep on theirs and there's no rain inside?
Read what they say about some of the other cars. This really is reviewing of the nuttiest kind.

 

I have never read more biased reports. They seem to have an agenda of their own. I started reading their reports in the 1960's and soon found a pattern of trying to find fault where there was none. they demonstrate their bias in how and what they test for. I have owned many items they judged to be of very poor quality and not worth buying but I found them to be very good quality and well worth buying. they test according to what they think people should want or need not according to what the product is designed for or what people really want. Ever so often I read one of their reports and it always is the same, they do not live in the real world. If they tested a horse as a form of transportation in the beginning, we would never have ridden them. their report would have been: they stink, they are uncomfortable, you can fall off and hurt yourself, they can bite, they eat too much, they pollute the road, If you are not careful they run away and leave you stranded and they require way too much care. they have also been found to highly misrepresent their findings to prove they are really on the side of the consumer when they really only want to increase their profits. Their nonprofit organization is really all about the money you put in your pocket and the more the better right. The test results of the Suzuki Samurai are the sum of their agenda. They almost destroyed a car company just to prove they were saving us from a unsafe product so they would be able to get funding for a new office building. They lied about their findings and were stupid enough to keep the notes, films and reports of their test drivers which proved they lied in the report they made public.

http://noolmusic.com/myspace_videos/suzuki_samurai_vs_consumer_reports.php

http://community.myride.com/_Consumer-Report-Samurai-Lie/blog/10042/3898.html

 

The Prius was on their 10 best list..

WTF???

 

Best Family sedan: Honda Accord Cost: $22,000 to $31,000
This is the sixth consecutive year that a Honda Accord has been named Consumer Reports' pick for best family sedan. The redesigned 2008 version is "a well-rounded roomy sedan with a comfortable ride, agile handling and smooth, refined powertrains," Consumer Reports says.
The Nissan Altima actually did better in Consumer Reports' tests, but affordable versions of the Altima lack Electronic Stability Control, a requirement for a Consumer Reports pick this year.

An Altima with ABS and Traction Control is only $26K... is that outside their price range?
It is so sad that a company is so horribly clueless.

They ragged on the Yaris, Aveo, and Patriot because they lacked "acceleration".... these are not sports cars, they are meant to be fuel efficient and therefore have small 4-cylinder engines.

Unless a vehicle fits the Honda Accord mold (and is actually a Honda Accord) they find no value in that vehicle whatsoever.

 

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

I am really angry. Seriously this is B.S. Not just the patriot but the unlimited is the worst car in the world? Really?

I just watched a you tube video of a rubicon unlimited driving down a waterfall. A frickin' waterfall. Really, a vehicle that can drive down A WATERFALL is the worst vehicle in the world. I have a sureally difficuclt time reconciling that in my head. Honestly, a vehicle that can drive down a waterfall should be worshipped not denegraded.

I know Jeep doesn't have any money but they should consider suing Consumer Reports for liable. This is just ridiculous.

I hate boycotts and boycotters, but I am making an exception. I encourage everyone to boycott this rag.

I don't necessary expect any Jeep to make the top ten car list, but it is complete bull that any are on the worst list. That is just irresponsible and willfully damaging to Jeep. By any objective standard no Jeep should be in the worst list especially one that can drive down a waterfall or in the patriots case a 4x4 that can carry 8 ft lumber fully inside that can close in on 30 mpg.

I am ticked off!!!!!

Everyone that sees my pat has nothing but good things to say and I have yet met anyone that just doesn't love it.

Does it have its minor flaws. Of course but nothing fundamental or that even comes close to a major problem.

They bashed my little neon that is 7 years old now and going strong when it was new to. Someone should come out with follow up issues about consumer reports that ranks there accuracy, I bet it would be quite low. My little dodge had a high unreliable score, but that was just plane wrong and inaccurate but is consumer reports responsible for how incorrect they were? Of course not.

 

I had this really great rant to post, but after reading this, I figured why bother! I hear you man!

 

By any objective standard no Jeep should be in the worst list especially one that can drive down a waterfall or in the patriots case a 4x4 that can carry 8 ft lumber fully inside that can close in on 30 mpg.

UPKEV, I wish you Yanks would get your facts straight....42miles per gallon! :smiley_thumbs_up:

Eurodiesels Rule the Road! OK

No, truth to tell, you are spot on. As a few of us have written elsewhere, the integrity of some of these magazines really has to be questioned, doesn't it?
On a similar issue:
Over here our government has begun a policy of taxing vehicles according to the CO2 that they produce. So, it costs about three times as much to road-tax an SUV as, say, a Nissan Micra. This is to "disincentivise" people from buying "climate-damaging" vehicles. Which vehicles has the U.K. always been successful at producing and selling? Oh, yeah, I remember; Jaguars, Limousines and Land Rovers. Doh! Can you, in your wildest flight of fantasy, imagine a Japanese government introducing a cockamamie scheme like that?

 

UPKEV, I wish you Yanks would get your facts straight....42miles per gallon! :smiley_thumbs_up:

Eurodiesels Rule the Road! OK

Sorry, my mistake.

 

The reviewer seems to want everything: off-road capability and fuel economy, fuel economy and acceleration, low price and a luxury interior, etc.

Car companies have been getting better at giving people everything, but in some cases, you can't have your cake and eat it too (although I hate that expression-who would wants cake if you can't eat it? What else does one do with cake?).

As UPKEV mentioned, you can't have a Jeep that drives down a waterfall and get 25 MPG.

 

Car companies have been getting better at giving people everything, but in some cases, you can't have your cake and eat it too (although I hate that expression-who would wants cake if you can't eat it? What else does one do with cake?).

Havent you ever seen American Pie:Na_Na_Na_Na:

 

Have any of you seen the interior of the new accord.

I swear you need a special license to drive one, especially with all of those goofy looking buttons and knobs all over the dash.

The accord may be a reliable car... but man is it butt ugly inside and out.

 

Don't you love the statement with the Wrangler, other publications give the Wrangler high marks,(but we still think it sucks).

 

other publications give the Wrangler high marks,(but we still think it sucks)

To restate that again:

Other people give the Wrangler high marks, but we disregard the one thing it is specialized for, and therefore it sucks.


I am still just dumbstruck that they "disregard" offroad capability in this report. They even run offroad tests. It's in their numbers. If they want to call the list the "Top 10 CARS", then fine. Diregard offroad capability, but then don't include SUV's in general in the list.

The list, as they have it is worthless. It states that the Accord is a better on-road CAR than the Wrangler. Well no s**t sherlock. The wrangler ain't made to do that. Neither is the Hummer, the Liberty, Toyota TJ, Patriot, etc.

 

Noticed that they almost all the vehicles they dissed were off-road capable vehicles? Maybe if the folks at CR ever left suburban SoCal when they test vehicles, they'd realize vehicles like ours are a good thing to have and people buy them for practical reasons.

 

Ever see an Accord do this, and get the 30+ MPG........ Didn't think so. The PAT will long outlive the hype of the Accord on and off road. This car will be with me for many years. The PAT is a great rig, and everyone who owns one will tell you that. CR needs to get their S#@! together.

 

I wonder how Ferrari's, Lambourghini's, etc. would rate in their report?
They are just as specialized as the Wrangler, just in a different direction.

Can you imagine seeing a $200,000 Lambourghini listed as the worst vehicle to buy?
It's cramped. It gets poor fuel economy. Poor vision out the back. Small trunk. Odd controls. It has great acceleration, but we chose to not include that in our report.

 

look at it this way. Chrysler is the ONLY company backing their power plants with a lifetime warranty!

Combine that with the fact that Chrysler had the fewest recalls of any major auto company last year.

If it sucked that bad, they'd lose tons of money for warranty work.

I have said it before and say it again. These testers are NOT testing the vehicle in it's intended market.

Let's see who buys a jeep patriot? It's a SMALL SUV. that means people want small for fuel economy and smaller size (agility?) and SUV for room (seats 4/5 with cargo).

It has FWD and standard traction control. This means safer for foul weather and less drive train loss so improved fuel economy which we already establed was a reason for purchasing one.

It has an option 4x4 so that covers snow and light duty off roading (beaches, camping).

It has a trail rated option so that covers medium duty to light-heavy off roading. Let's face it, you're not going to be doing heavy duty off roading in a patriot (ala rock crawling).

I will put any of my chrysler products up against any of it's competition with a smile on my face. My patriot is my 4th chrysler vehicle and I have nothing but good memories and experiences with any of them.

I have never seen a CRV, Rav4, pilot when I go seriously offroading on my fishing trips. I don't think they could make it through the stream crossing.

This is exactly why I stopped reading consumer reports and car and driver.

People may think I'm a biased jeep owner. They can have that opinion of me but they are not allowed to call me that to my face until after they can follow me up around the north GA mountains for a weekend - hope their suspension can take it!! I'm not towing them out when they break down, that's what AAA is for

- Dan M

 

This all serves to illustrate the fact that a brief, generalized review is worse than no review at all. Vehicles (I'm not going to say"cars") are now so diverse that a "one size fits all'' approach won't do. You can't review a vehicle in two paragraphs anymore.
All you (old) outdoors guys will remember the argument about sleeping-bags. "Which one will I go for, the feather/down or the man-made fibre?" Remember? The answer was, that they're two completely different things. Will you be using it in rainy damp conditions? Then you want man-made, 'cos the duck-down will go like wet toilet paper. Will you be using it in extremely low temperatures, like up in the mountains? Steer clear of man-made; only the real thing will keep you warm.
Isn't it like that with vehicles? You want a car to collect your grandmother from the nursing-home and take her to church? You're going fishing on a lake in the woods in Sweden and it's forty-six miles from the main road? How in all the seven hundred halls of hell can one vehicle score full marks on both of those questions. OK, you're right; Scotty's transporter beam would. All we need to do is wait...

Rocal

 

further proof...

10 best
honda accord is rated best family sedan...

there's a disclaimer.

The Nissan Altima actually did better in Consumer Reports' tests, but affordable versions of the Altima lack Electronic Stability Control, a requirement for a Consumer Reports pick this year.


And the toyota rav 4 was rated best small SUV
The V6-powered version accelerates to 60 miles per hour almost as quickly as the Mazda MX-5 sports car, the magazine says. The 4-cylinder version, meanwhile, is the most fuel-efficient non-hybrid SUV on the market.

fueleconomy.gov says 09 2 wd 4 cyl is 22/28 while the 09 2.0L patriot is 23/27 and the 2.4L patriot is 23/28

hmm rav 4 is the most fuel efficient non hybrid suv on the market you say? no according to the EPA estimates!!


- Dan M

 

Never read the “expert” car reviews. These are based on a very limited experience with the vehicle in question and with a cookie cutter checklist. I give more weight to user reviews (you know people who own the product) since their experiences and opinions are formulated over a longer period of time. Now this review seems to be a bit weird, the reviewers tested then ignored some of the benefits of the Pat (low cost, off road ability) and a few of the negatives are based on personal preferences (engine noise- which I like, and the comfort of the seats- I drove the Pat back and forth from Connecticut to Vermont 3 times the past month and was comfortable). Listing the Wrangler as the worst vehicle out there is a joke, but then again in the real world the Wrangler was here before and will still be sold long after any of these other pretenders will exist.

 

Same as the JD Power "initial quality" rankings. Absolutely worthless information made out to be gospel.

 

Emit Brown's Delorian

Hard starting, unreliable, odd doors, and vanishes without a trace at 85MPH......
It also travels through time but since it doesn't have ESC we chose to ignore the time traveling aspect of this vehicle.

 

LOL

I think I'm going to start using that line for other obvious stuff.

e.g.
Officer, I know what the speed limit is, but I chose to ignore it for this drive.
Honey, I know it's valentines day and I didn't get you anything, but I chose to ignore it for this year.

 

This again show off CR's negative bias towards Jeeps & other specialty built cars. In the CR's buyers guide, Jeep Patriot received a lot of red circles (top marks) for their rated categories, it even ranked above average in reliability.
With the improved 2009 interior, it should certainly rank higher than many other small SUVs. (currently using a rental Kia Rondo in the Orlando area) I can tell you it is very disappointing driving it. The suspension is soft, & tracks exceptionally poor! IMO, cannot compare to the Patriot.
As with the other highly ranked small-utes, like CRV & RAV 4, all i can say is to each it's own, (had an 2004 CRV, very reliable, no character, no fun to drive, got rid of it when lease is up.) as they lack character, & fun, not to mention "DO NOT TAKE IT OFF-ROAD" unless you want to get stuck.
That is why with every reviews or ratings, you have to take it with a grain of salt. The reviewers might very well have less driving experience (ie: off road or appreciate some of the finer points in a Jeep) than some of the members here.

 

if the pat and compass was a p.o.s.,why would they come with a lifetime piowertrain warranty???. i rest my case

 

The problem with these "know it all" reviewers are they think all American made vehicles are p.o.s. They closed their eyes, shut their ears & uses the "force" to guide them.