consumer reports/jd power Ram ranking??

[Cummins Cowboy]

I was wondering how the Ram diesel stacks up against Ford and GM?? Everyone in my area thinks ford is the best thing since sliced bread. but my friends and family that have owned fords in particular have been pretty unhappy and are switching to dodges. I was just wondering how they stack up against each other in the mags

 

[barbwire]

That would really be interesting to see "Consumer Reports" do a test on the major brands of diesel pickups.

 

[Blakers]

Personally, I wouldn't believe a word they say. It was consumer reports that ruined the CJ Jeeps by rigging the tests.



Blake

 

[TowPro]

Another group I avoid is that group in Owens Mills MD that does the TV Show, Is it Motor Trend? I watched them beat the heck out of a VW TDI, shifting at 4000 RPM etc, then complained about the MPG they were getting.

 

[LaxCummins]

MotorWeek. I watch it from time to time, but definitely take their opinions with the obligatory 10 lb. bag of salt.



Shoot, we get 40+ MPG in our Passat TDI doing 80 on the interstate. Love the torque... DIESEL!!!



PC

 

[barbwire]

Personally, I wouldn't believe a word they say. It was consumer reports that ruined the CJ Jeeps by rigging the tests.



Blake

I did not realise that they are biased. I guess I live a sheltered life. I guess that is why I learn too many things the hard way. You know, too late smart.

BTW, I am just curious. How did they rig the tests? Was it through their own ignorance, or could we assume there some money under the table that influenced their reporting? I did not see the reporting on this issue.

 

[J.Post]

They didn't rig anything. It was the Suzuki Samurai that they had roll over problems with. Suzuki spent about ten years in court suing them. Consumer Reports won the case last year.

 

[JensenC]

Consumer Reports isn't rigged. Someone has sour grapes because Consumer Reports test didn't tell them what they wanted to hear. They are a good resource if you want the facts on how reliable cars are. Don't go there if you want to learn about which car is most fun to drive or which truck is more capable off road.

 

[TowPro]

All of us here know how to drive diesels. . When we first got one me drove it like it was a gasser, running up the RPM's between shifts, keeping the RPM's higher, downshifting to pass someone, etc.



After we learned to drive a diesel we stopped all of the above and realized what great fuel mileage a diesel could do if you kept the RPM's lower. Heck they are even faster 0-60 if you don't rev out to the red line.



Both originazations hop into these diesel trucks and cars and rate them bad because they don't know how to drive them.

 

[ilovetrains]

Consumer Reports isn't rigged. Someone has sour grapes because Consumer Reports test didn't tell them what they wanted to hear. They are a good resource if you want the facts on how reliable cars are. Don't go there if you want to learn about which car is most fun to drive or which truck is more capable off road.

That is only half true. A report is only as good as the data involved. CR routinely lists cars that cost several thousand more with those that don't because they refuse to consider nationally advertised incentives. They (and many others) routinely put cars of different trim level then complain that one is spartan or decontented. They rarely give you enough raw data to make your own descisions. When determining reliability they often use icons to denote how reliable a car is, but do not tell you their testing sample was less than 1/10 of one percent of the vehicles sold, not very reliable, pun intended.

 

[mlewis73]

I was wondering how the Ram diesel stacks up against Ford and GM?? Everyone in my area thinks ford is the best thing since sliced bread. but my friends and family that have owned fords in particular have been pretty unhappy and are switching to dodges. I was just wondering how they stack up against each other in the mags

When I was thinking about buying a new Ram 3500 a month or so ago, I was VERY impressed with the quality inside the truck. Didn't like the cheapy grille, though. Made a very loud cracking noise when I shut the hood.



The interior of the '06 Ford SuperDuties in the trim level I'd buy (XLT vs Dodge SLT) is garbage. Extracab has ZERO room for adults, whereas I could ride comfortably in the Dodge quad cab for hours (5'10"). The seats in the extra cab ford were cheap, and materials everywhere in the truck were not as nice as the Ram.



Unfortunately... probably won't be buying this year due to finances. Being responsible sucks.



Will try to hang onto my Ford another few years, then buy a used '06 or something new in 2009. Hopefully by then Dodge will have the bugs worked out on its new engines.

 

[Diesel Dually]

If you wonder if Consumer Reports has a bias or not look up some old reports on the Toyota Corolla and the Geo Prism. They loved the Toyota and thought the Prism to be fair to poor. The funny thing is it was the exact same car except for the name badges.

If that doesn'tshow a bias it shows major flaws (perhaps those already mentioned) in their "testing".

 

[Ol'TrailDog]

then buy a used '06 or something new in 2009

Or a 05 NV5600...



Shhhhhh... . that's my top secret plan tooo. Now you've just cranked up the prices. :-laf

 

[JJuday]

CR and motor trend both seem to be biased against anything SUV and anything not GM or foriegn. And I think they hate diesels most of all! Read the report that truck trend did on the Jeep Liberty diesel, Ford Escape Hybrid and the lowly RAV 4. Waaaaaaaa, :{ the Jeep sounded like a small tractor they said, and they also said it did the worst in the MPG game. 31 MPG for the Jeep is a small sacrifice to pay considering that it cleaned house in the off road trials, though that was barely noteworthy to them. The little Lib. had three tires on terra firma and looked like it was getting around like a well seasoned mountian goat, while the Escape and the RAV 4 stuck to the kiddie pool sized mud puddles. ! :-laf I'll save a few bucks and stick with the TDR! Better people on here anyway.

 

[Blakers]

They didn't rig anything. It was the Suzuki Samurai that they had roll over problems with. Suzuki spent about ten years in court suing them. Consumer Reports won the case last year.

Yes, they did the same to the Samurai several years after the CJ. They later were proven wrong with the CJ test, but that was after the fact that they killed it.

 

[cojhl2]

Regarding those rollover tests,, I often wondered how much the outriggers contributed to the rollover because of gyroscopic effects.



Of course all test vehicles had the same disadvantage I guess.

 

[billyfury]

consumer reports

Every time consumer reports ran an article about a product that I really knew something about I found myself disagreeing with their judgements. Thats when I quit paying attention to the articles on products I knew nothing about.



billyfury 70-71 Plymouth Fury collector (24 and counting)

 

[DWeiler]

Dorve one of thos Suzuki's for ten years,never rolled it,but came close,two weeks after purchase a lady ran a stop sign and i t-boned her,hit her so hard a did 2-360 degree turns befor stopping,infront of a busy pedestian street. People thought it was going to go over but i managed to keep it upright,hit her so hard on the passenger rear end i de-tached the rear diff from the car on one side,it was pushed out behind the car,popped all the windows except for the front. Drove it up until i purchased my 98 dodge gasser. Cheap on gas,only had 64 HP and 120FP of torque. If i hit a head wind all it could do was 50mph,tailwind would get me up to 65mph. Man, i look back now and can't beleave i drove one for nearly ten years,Chics like it when the top was off,and i liked it when theirs was off- EH . Once Consumer Reports ran that story there wasn"t a day that someone would ask if i rolled it yet. For how ridiculous it was back then you will never forget your first set of wheels cause it "BEATS WALKING"---My 2-cents--DW

 

[TowPro]

I had one I used to car pool 3 200lb + guys 60 miles per day, it was a dog. I got mine used with a hole in the block. I put a Jap core engine in it. Later I found a kit to put a VW diesel but I had already done the gas engine so it was to late.

Cheap on gas,only had 64 HP and 120FP of torque. If i hit a head wind all it could do was 50mph,tailwind would get me up to 65mph. DW

 

[FATCAT]

CR and motor trend both seem to be biased against anything SUV and anything not GM or foriegn. And I think they hate diesels most of all! Read the report that truck trend did on the Jeep Liberty diesel, Ford Escape Hybrid and the lowly RAV 4. Waaaaaaaa, :{ the Jeep sounded like a small tractor they said, and they also said it did the worst in the MPG game. 31 MPG for the Jeep is a small sacrifice to pay considering that it cleaned house in the off road trials, though that was barely noteworthy to them. The little Lib. had three tires on terra firma and looked like it was getting around like a well seasoned mountian goat, while the Escape and the RAV 4 stuck to the kiddie pool sized mud puddles. ! :-laf I'll save a few bucks and stick with the TDR! Better people on here anyway.

How true, how true about Communist Reports. I use to subscribe to them many years ago. As for autos/trucks ... if it ain't Toyota or Honda, they bash them. They HATE any type of truck or SUV because THEY believe we should not be allowed to buy them.



I had finally had it with them back in the Klinton admin. when their Editor wrote out a long article about why we must implement Hillary Health Care. They are definitely a Liberal mouthpiece.



I would love to see them be completely objective, but since people are involved it will never happen ... I would also love to see them do a comparrison between medium and heavy duty trucks: Kenworth vs. Pete vs. Freightliner vs. Mack ... that would be interesting.