[bwilson4web]

Hi,

Consumer Reports has nearly a decade of Prius-phobia that leaks out of their reviews. Like a politically aligned, polling organization . . . one that uses polls to prove their point of view . . . the February 2012 issue pp. 52 is especially lame. They invented a new scoring system based upon 5 year ownership and reliability but ignoring the payload capacity of the cars. So their "Small Cars" are off the scale while pickup trucks are in the basement. But they claimed,"Small cars and family sedans deliver the most bang for the buck."

So here are the three "off the scale" models listed under "Small Cars" whose scores exceed their self-imposed limit of 2.0:

• Honda Fit (base)
• Toyota Prius Four
• Volkswagen Golf TDI (manual)

Within their own list, one is "(basic)" and the other "(manual)" ignoring the Prius which has no such limitations and only comes as an automatic. So right off the bat, two minimalist cars configurations are used instead of similar transmissions and options. But the real flaw comes when actual vehicle payload is compared:

• Fit - 91 ft{3} passenger, 21 ft{3} luggage, EPA rated compact
• VW Golf TDI - 94 ft{3} passenger 15 ft{3} luggage, EPA rated compact
• Prius - 94 ft{3} passenger 22 ft{3} luggage, EPA rated midsize

Consumer Reports continues to ignore the price-performance ratio and this latest scale is an especially poor metric.

Bob Wilson

[GeorgiaHybrid]

Bob,

It is no surprise that the auto writers don't love the hybrids. Despite what they write, they still look to performance and the 'fun" factor over economy.