<VV> Consumer Reports bias, was: Politics on Virtual Vairs

[Tony Underwood]

>
>In a message dated 3/11/2010 12:09:32 P.M. Pacific Standard Time,
>
>
>Consumer  Reports has had a 50+year history of bias against American  cars.
>Consumer Reports has had a 50+year history of bias against American
>everything.





I stopped paying much attention to anything CR had to say many years ago.


I actually found out that my mom (back when) had subscribed to CR, 
some deal she got from her workplace (ITT) and I went through the 
stack one day while visiting.  I checked out a variety of product 
reviews with GREAT interest.


One was a comparison of new cars.


A Mitsubishi hotrod got glowing reviews while its US badged version 
(they were both the SAME FRIKKIN CAR) got lousy reviews across the 
board.  That one drew fire from the Mopar camp, bigtime, demanding to 
know what the Hell CR had to drink the morning before that review.

Another was cameras.   CR blasted a Leica M4 variant while giving a 
house-brand (made in China but wearing a US maker's name badge) a 
"best buy" rating.   The M4 Leica is arguably (according to industry 
professionals everywhere) the finest 35mm camera ever built anywhere 
on the planet.   It was certainly the longest-lived, stayed in 
production for decades with almost no changes.


My favorite was VCRs.   I was doing a LOT of warranty work on a 
variety of brands of VCRs across the board at the time and I knew 
whose VCR was built by who.


CR slammed the RCA badged VCR as well as the Quasar badged version 
yet passed the Panasonic version with flying colors.   I know for a 
fact that all three VCRs were the SAME MACHINE.  The only difference 
was the labels, front escutcheon decor, and of course the 
badges.   Inside, identical.



I'm not going to bother even picking up a copy of CR off the news 
stand to look at the cover.





tony..