![]() Read on to find out how, with a little tweaking, the Consumer Guide site could be even better. Of course, every Web site has room for improvement. As you select additional search criteria, the list of cars that match those criteria will show up on the right side of the screen, and you can then rearrange the list of cars by Consume Guide rating, price, and a number of other features. You can even filter out cars by feature in case you're looking for a car with electronic stability control or anti-lock brakes. From there, you can start to limit your search by selecting what you're looking for from the list of options on the left side of the page. Start by clicking on either the "new" or "used" car link from the Consumer Guide home page. For instance, you may be searching for a four-door sedan that gets at least 25 miles per gallon (40 kilometers per gallon) and costs less than $25,000. If you're not quite sure what model you're looking for, you can search through cars based on different vehicle attributes. The tool can be particularly useful if you've narrowed down your search to just a few models or trim packages and want to closely compare the remaining contenders. After clicking the "Compare Cars" link on the home page, users can select up to four different cars for comparison. The site also allows you to perform multivehicle comparisons for new cars. Individual vehicle reviews aren't the only way to sort through Consumer Guide information. In addition, the different testers will include their individual impressions about the car, so you'll have several different perspectives on a particular vehicle. For instance, the page may include the precise specifications of the vehicle tested, the number of miles the car was driven during the test, the vehicle's fuel economy over the course of the test and notes about any problems the testers encountered. In addition to the road-test ratings, many reviews also include a page with details and comments from the testing process. The editors also make sure to explain the rationale behind their ratings thoroughly, particularly when a car has unique features that affect the ratings. It now rates each configuration separately, meaning that if a car comes in a sport edition, for instance, you'll be able to see how that car's handling and ride quality differ from the base model. ![]() In the past, Consumer Guide only provided ratings for one configuration for a particular model. Consumer Guide makes that comparison easy by providing the high, low and average rating for each vehicle class alongside an individual car's rating.Īfter you've looked at the overview page, you can find detailed explanations behind a vehicle's category scores on the road-test page. Accordingly, you'll need to consider a car's rating in comparison to other cars in the same class. That's because Consumer Guide rates all cars on the same scale, meaning the biggest gasoline-guzzling SUVs are competing with the newest hybrids on fuel economy. They use a 110-point scale (10 points for each category) to rate cars, though even the highest-rated cars only receive scores in the 80s. More recently, the editors have added an 11th category - details - into the mix. In the past, Consumer Guide evaluated cars on 10 different categories like acceleration, ride quality, quietness and cargo room. On the overview page, you can see a car's overall rating, vehicle highlights and a quick summary of the vehicle's competition. In addition, the staff puts together buying guides, covers the car industry's biggest auto shows and posts articles about a wide range of automotive topics.Ī lot goes into making a car, so it makes perfect sense that Consumer Guide considers many different aspects when coming up with a car's rating. The editors use their combined 150 years' worth of auto reviewing experience to rate more than 200 vehicles every year, meaning you'll have a hard time finding a vehicle they haven't covered. Īs you might imagine, reviewing every new car that hits the market is quite an undertaking, which explains why Consumer Guide has a full-time staff of 10 automotive editors to handle the job. Although Consumer Guide originally published its reviews in print, it has shifted its focus to the Web since being purchased by the Convex Group in 2005. Consumer Guide has rated thousands of cars since it started in 1967. ![]() Fortunately, consumers have numerous resources at their fingertips to help guide them through the car buying process, with Consumer Guide Automotive Ratings being one of the most established. New or used, foreign or domestic, two-door or four-door - the decisions go on and on. If you've ever spent time shopping for a car, you know the process can be overwhelming. ![]()
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