Yaris & Consumer Reports

[bobby]

Originally Posted by Thirty-Nine

I've said this a million times: When it comes time to buy a car, people need to drive everything they're interested in. People interested in a subcompact car should drive the Fit, Yaris, Accent, Rio, Versa, Aveo--and I'm not talkin' around the block. I think I put more than 30 miles on my Yaris before I bought it. I wanted to be sure this was the car for me.

I think it's a bad idea for anyone interested in buying a high-dollar item (e.g. a car) and simply trusting what a publication says. We all know everyone's got an opinion. Instead of relying on what the magazines say about driving dynamics, comfort, and noise/vibration/harshness levels, people need to get out there and drive the cars for themselves. Just my opinion.

Since a large part of CR's automobile reliability data is based on owners experiance, how would one get an idea about long-term durability/reliability by simply 'getting out there and driving the cars for themselves'?

I'm not saying that CR is the ONLY publication one should research before buying a car, but I feel it would be silly NOT to figure CR's assesment--as well as data from owners--before plunking down money on a car.