Soleman20

Here are parts of the report:

Highs: Tight turning circle, frontal-offset-crash result.
Lows: Handling, acceleration, interior noise, front-seat comfort.

For a newly introduced car, the Mitsubishi Lancer doesn't measure up to the competition. The Lancer was the slowest in this group, with no advantage in fuel economy. Handling is clumsy and ride comfort is so-so. The interior is roomy but noisy, and the seats aren't especially comfortable. The Lancer is too new for us to have reliability information.

aerialcombat

what do they know about cars, kissups. civic sux

martiandl

as for economy cars the Lancer is just average. Thats why alot of people are waiting for the EVO, because it is anything but average!!!

Tristar

iTrader: (7)

Interior noise? People always comment on how quiet my car is....Also, slowest in the group, by how much? Trust me, that Civic is not much faster. Oh well, just venting. I hated Consumer Reports from day one. The handling issue bothers me though. Does the Lancer handle that subpar????

pjal84

I'll agree with it. This thing is SLOPPY in corners. I thought my brother's Accord V6 was a boat at times but the Lancer takes it easily. However on the interior noise issue, I don't understand where CR is coming from...the car is really quiet, and just like Tristar, when toting people around (talk about slow going!) everyone has said the ride is quiet.

Tristar

iTrader: (7)

Throw an Eibach pro-kit at the thing, or for others, Tein, H and R, etc. Thing is great.

Soleman20

CR is the most trusted review out there. They are not for profit and don't accept money from car companies to hype up their cars. Why do you think you never hear "Consumer Reports best rated" on an advertisement...you don't. All you would hear is "best rated in a leading consumer magazine". Don't trust anyone else.

Another thing...keep in mind the models tested were automatics.

Here is the rating chart:

TheFreak

No offense, but if you really beleive that then your more gullible than I am. We own multiple franchises and have always noticed Consumer Reports to have there biases. For example, they would suggest that a Mazda 626 is a better quality car than the Mitsubishi Galant. Yet J.D. Power surveys show that the Mazda 626 is one of the worst rated cars in the entire industry. J.D. Power surveys are from actual customers. Who would know more about quality than the owner of these cars? Consumer Reports always had a bias against Mitsubishi for some reason, yet they always recommend Mazda's?! Mazda being the same company that was rated almost dead last in initial quality by their consumers.

I'm not saying Mitsubishi's are better quality than Mazda's or that Mazda's are a very poor quality make. What I am saying is never view some other peoples oppinion as the absolute truth, especially if they are trying to sell you something. If you think that Consumer Reports doesn't take bribes or isn't influenced in any way by outside forces then cool, but from my experience in the business I can tell you flat out they have their biases and that leads me to believe they are full of it. I'll give you three examples of how they are full of it.

In the late 80's Suzuki was selling record numbers of the Suzuki Samurai. Fords Bronco II, Chevy's Blazer, and the Jeep Wrangler were all losing market share to this relatively new company. Well Consumer Reports goes out and shows us that the Samurai flips in the moose test. Well needless to say Suzuki's sales plummetted and it took more than a decade for its sales to reach the same levels it had in 1988. Now that would have been fair had the Samurai really been prone to rolling over in the Moose test, yet NHTSA reenactments of the test proved the CR results were wrong. Needless to say Suzuki sued but it was already too late.

Now lets fastforward to the mid 1990's Isuzu's Trooper is gaining a lot of momentum in the now extremely popular near luxury SUV segment. Once again Ford Bronco(think OJ), Chevy Blazer and Jeep Grand Cherokee sales are going down somewhat due to the Trooper, Montero, and Land Cruisers sucsess. CR does the same Moose test, and suprise surprise the same results as the Samurai. Trooper sales plummet, Isuzu sues, Isuzu wins, yet the damage was already done.

Now the same thing happened to Mitsubishi last year with the full-size Montero, luckily Mitsubishi had two examples two study from and believe it or not sales of the Montero rose after the incident(I guess the saying "any publicity is good publicity" is true).

Now call me a conspiricy theorist here but those were some pretty damning testimonials of Consumer Reports' validity. Could they have been genuine in their intentions but just have gotten the results wrong... I think its possible, but at the same time those were some big companies with big pockets that they were helping out with those results... I'll let you decide if Consumer Reports is the Holy Bible of product testing.

Like I said earlier we own many franchises and Mazda and Mitsubishi are two of them, as a dealer I can honestly say that the 626 was a piece of **** that we are glad to be rid of (yet CR recommends it). As a dealer thats a hard thing to say, because that one of the products I sell but its the truth. The Mazda 6 should be no less than 1000 times better.

Soleman20

If you really think they are biased in any way, you have a lawsiut on you hands:

Consumer Reports Online is published by Consumers Union, an independent, nonprofit testing and information organization. Since 1936, CU's mission has been to test products, inform the public and protect consumers. We are a comprehensive source for unbiased advice about products and services, personal finance, health and nutrition, and other consumer concerns. Our income is derived solely from the sale of Consumer Reports (in print and online) and other services, and from nonrestrictive, noncommercial contributions, grants, and fees. Consumers Union is governed by a board of 18 directors, who are elected by CU members and meet three times a year. CU's President, James Guest, oversees a staff of more than 450.

How we test
Our National Testing and Research Center, in Yonkers, N.Y., is the largest nonprofit educational and consumer product testing center in the world. We buy all the products we test off the shelf, just as you do. We receive no special treatment. We accept no free samples. If a manufacturer sends us a free product, we return it.

If CR got the trucks you mentioned to filp then THEY CAN BE FLIPPED! They don't lie...I have seen the pictures. Those trucks are Top Heavy, prone to flipping pos's.

And CR does survey customers, but only for the purpose of reliability history. They take many more factors other than "quality" into the picture such as price and safety.

You may think they are biased because of contradicting findings by JD and the NHTSA but did hey, maybe their testing methods are not as rigorous as CR's are.

Soleman20

Well according to this your statement is incorrect.

Soleman20

Still think it's bull****...check this out:

lanceroz17

i read so many reviews for the lancer i dont really care what they say.one mag said the 0 to 60 was 8.9 then other mags said 9.2,9.5,9.9,and10.5. idont know what type of lancer the have but my's stock auto lancer did 9.5 and with mod i am doing 8.8,to9.1 range.my mods are weapon r intake ,rrm test pipe,and a hanabai costum exhasut system.my wheel hp has to be like 113.8to115.1.so i think the lancer is a great car with great poetenial.i heard the turbo lancer boni's is run at 185 to 195 whp range give the lancewr a couple of more years you will see it improve greatly.

i love my car have lose only twice to wrx and a rsx type s .wait intell turbo runnig at 7 to 10 psi i will eat them up with mods and all.

TheFreak

Look if you want to believe whatever they say thats fine, but like I said always be cautious about what people tell you when they are trying to sell you something. You think they are going to actually write "these test have been brought to you by Ford Motor Company ~ We build Ford Tough"?!

Anything can be flipped if you want it to be. I can flip a Modena if I want to, thats not the issue, the issue at hand is were the tests doctored? That is going to be near impossible to prove unless CR actually comes out and says they did. The fact is every other publication/government test showed these cars didn't flip in their tests. Now is that saying the cars wont flip? No, not in a million years. Any SUV given the wrong inputs will flip. So this gets back to how did Consumer Reports get these vehicles to flip when no one else could performing the same test with the same variables and constants. To think any company will admit to wrong doings is foolish.

J.D. Powers does not test cars they are just a researching firm. For example they will survey 100 new owners of each car manufactured for the first 90 days of their ownership. In those 90 days they will record every complaint from the owners. From my radio doesn't turn on to my engine just fell out of my car. They then tabulate the results and say per 100 cars in 90 days so and so car had the fewest complaints and so and so car had the most. Are they telling you if the car is of good quality or not? No... They are just relaying what customers have told them. For example the avg complaint per car for the entire industry was 133 complaints in 90 days. Keep in mind this is initial quality. There is no real acurate way to judge quality past say a few months as every driver is going to drive differently. A car in the hands of me is as good as gone in about two years with the way I drive, however a car in the hands of say my cousin could probably last 10 years with no problems what-so-ever, regardless of make.


Like I said if you want to read CR as if it were Gospel be my guest but always keep in mind that in the end the person who knows most is you.

TheFreak

You are not listening. Consumer Reports got the vehicle to flip. Then they showed the cars flipping on TV on 60 minutes or something like that. The sales of those manufacturers dropped, execpt for Mitsubishi's, then the companies filed lawsuits and won in court but the damage had already been done. People saw images of a vehicle flipping and thought well hell this must be true, but in fact the findings were found to be false. The point is Consumer Reports got them to flip but nobody else could...

Mordeth

Soleman, you have sufficiently proven your point. Consumer Reports is a reputable organization that provides unbiased advice based on comprehensive reviews. They do extensive testing, and are not influenced by the manufacturers. Let's leave it at that.

I personally think the Lancer is a great car. It has many virtues, and is an affordable, attractive automobile that fits a certain niche. It has alot of potential(which is often overlooked) and is a fun car to own/drive. If Consumer Reports decides it is just a "fair" automobile, then so be it. Let it be "fair". People that have spent their hard earned money on this vehicle will be hard pressed to admit that they made a wrong decision, and that this report proves as much. It is human nature. People like to have their decisions enforced and justified, not refuted. Especially on such a major decision as purchasing a car. As such, when a reputable organization like CR prints something contrary to a PERSONAL decision that you made, you will more than likely respond in a manner similiar to what we have already seen(denying that what they say is true even if you know it is, attacking the organization directly etc) and moreover, if you have supporters to your cause in the immediate vicinity you will be more inclined to speak out. Once again, it is human nature and I have seen it a million times. Psychology 101 my friend. So in other words, all the proof in the world that you can provide will simply not suffice.

Maybe CR is right. Maybe the car is just "fair" and maybe it doesn't stack up well against other cars in it's class. Who cares? If I owned a Lancer I know wouldn't. As Hobie always says on this site, before giving his opinion: "It only matters what YOU think". Also, TheFreak does make some good points in what he says, specifically citing the JD Powers research, and the fact that what ultimately matters is the CONSUMERS opinion. If the car is performing above and beyond the expectations of the actual OWNERS, then I think it is a good car.

Now, I personally think he is offbase and incorrect specifically about CR, but that is just my own opinion. He also applies different criteria to CR as he does to JD Powers(why not claim JD Powers is altering their research? Why just CR? Because CR disagrees with what he says and not JD?) And finally it would do his argument better if he would acknowledge the fact that he is wrong in a few areas, and bring some further credibility to his argument(just my suggestion there).

I personally appreciate the fact that you have taken the time to research this and post this information here, but ;et's just leave this report as it stands, and move on. There is no reason to get in a pissing match over it. CR thinks it's fair. I say big deal. I think it's great.

Mordeth