The updated info is in the 2008 car buyer's guide that's in stores now. I thought it was a typo, so I 'borrowed' by father's subscription ID to check it online. Nope, below par there, too! That's what got me, it was in the top 10 most satisfying cars list for CR just a few months ago. Ugh, whatever. It now rates the Prius and Mazdaspeed3 at the top, and even the Chevy Malibu is rated higher. Maybe I've owned some crappy cars before, but right now it's the best thing I've ever driven.

I've completely trusted CR's judgment on things like appliances and TVs, but they've lost me here.

 

When our '99 Passat wagon was totaled in 2004, we looked at a used (CPO) Passat and the then-new Mazda6 wagon for essentially the same price. CR at the time was raving about the Mazda and down-rating the Passat (and other VWs) for reliability problems, especially the coil packs, so we purchased the Mazda. In CR auto summaries over the next few years, the VWs had somehow improved in reliability and the Mazda was getting ever-lower ratings. Hmmm. And I see that their comments about the new Passats make several references to the excellence of the previous generation. Hmmm again.

In hindsight, the Passat was one of our more satisfying cars, while the Mazda is merely OK. We've got a good Mazda dealer who's worked hard to deal with the aggravating little interior squeaks and rattles, but that car just doesn't rise above "appliance-level" for me (and it gets surprisingly poor gas mileage).

Getting back to A3's, mine so far (7K miles in my use, 32K total) is one of the highest in 35 years of car ownership on both my fun and satisfaction scales. And it approaches the Passat and Mazda for utility. Pretty amazingly cool in one car that is also remarkably inexpensive to drive and insure.

I cancelled my CR subscription several years ago, and it wasn't just because of the car ratings. I do typically buy the annual auto issue to stay informed when people ask me about car purchase recommendations.

 

I was just thinking; How accurate will these ratings prove to be in the long run? The A3 has only been out for three model years in the US, I would wager that there are few that are much past the warranty period yet. The 2.0T, which seems like a great motor at the moment, really hasn't been around long enough for anyone to have meaningful data on long-term reliability. I'm certainly not implying that the A3 is going to let us down, but I do expect these ratings to continue fluctuating past 2010.

 

Maybe there is a trend here. CR rates a vehicle high, everyone goes and buys it, then there are more people to complain thus giving the next year model a low score. Then maybe since these people go to a different car and/or manufacturer that was rated poor that rating becomes higher due to less people owning and rating the vehicle out of spite or anger? Maybe this is just silly thinking

 

How does CR do these surveys, is it from it's members or do they send something out? I've read recently the JD Power ratings are a bit suspicious.

 

Re: eger, there might be something to that. The counterpoint being that Toyotas and Hondas still sell the most cars in the U.S. yet continue top scores. Then of course consider most Honda Accord or Toyota Corolla owners don't care about driving dynamics and aren't nearly as tuned in to how their cars operate. Anything's possible.

JD Power is based completely on the first 90 days of ownership. So in theory, a Pontiac could outscore an Audi on, say, fit and finish because it hasn't had enough time to become a rattle trap yet

Of every car I've owned, the A3 is the very first that did not need some sort of tweak somewhere right after delivery. My Subaru had loose interior panels...my old Isuzu truck had to get an idle speed adjustment because it was getting 10MPG the day I took it home.

 

You hit it right on the nose with the Accord and Toyota example, Drumdork03. A large majority of those drivers that will purchase and drive the standard family sedan are generally looking for a mode of transportation that will get them from point A to B and maybe a stop at A.10. A lot of times they base their buying decisions on what most people are driving. Or on what consumer reports sayz they should buy. For the car to go into the shop for some kind of repair - it would have to obviously be a glaring issue. From what I've been noticing with the A3 drivers - they don't seem to tolerate even the littlest of things. So, if CR asks people about 'problems' - think about the kind of response they'll get from the two totally different demographics. Kind of just like the perceived drop in Porsche's quality and reliability. Or severe drop as CR seems to point to.