We were long time CR magazine subscribers. 20+ years. But stopped about 5 years ago as the green agenda became more and more influential in their ratings. And the reporting took a nose dive too. One of the last mags we got an article about "if you haven't tried a Malibu, you're really missing out". All about how good the car was. Then 20 pages further on, their rating for the same car was less or far less than reliable.
Anyway, you do need to take their ratings with a grain of salt, especially predicted ones. They don't take industry money and buy their own stuff to test, so that's great. And their past year ratings are based on subscriber surveys, so that's pretty good stuff. But I'd be worried about "other things" creeping into their predictions.
I'm not seeing the "green" agenda affecting reliability scores, as the 2500HD does well while EVs are rated low on predicted reliability.
- 2022 Chevy Silverado 2500HD: 4/5 <-13mpg
- 2022 Rivian R1T: 2/5 <-EV
- 2022 Tesla Cybertruck: 2/5 <-EV
Oddly, back in 2013, the refreshed Ram 1500 was CR's top pick and got recommended status with a score of 78. "The Ram 1500 is surprisingly luxurious and refined — but still fully capable of doing hard work when needed," says Jake Fisher, director of
Consumer Reports Auto Test Center in East Haddam, Conn. "Continued interior and powertrain improvements make the Ram a particularly well-rounded choice." The publication says that the truck "delivers one of the best rides of any pickup, thanks to its unique coil spring rear suspension. It has a super-quiet, super-roomy crew cab, and the optional UConnect infotainment touch screen is one of the best in the business. They've also listed Ram as the third highest ranking brand when it comes to consumer satisfaction in the past.
The reliability score also is independent of their full score, as we can see the Jeep Gladiator scored only a 2/5 on predicted reliability, in spite of being one of their favorite pickups. They gave it a score of 80, which is on par with their long-term favorite pickup the Ridgeline.
I'm not sure what made them lower their predicted reliability for the Ram 1500 Classic specifically, unless they have some insider info about Ram making quality sacrifices for the sake of meeting production on what is now their "budget" truck? Toyota for example was actually open in confirming to the press just now that they have in fact lowered their quality standards in order to meet production demands among part shortages. They reported that 75% of what in the past would have been rejected as too damaged will now still be installed on their 22 MY vehicles, so if say a muffler has a big dent in it, they'll still install it anyway as long as it works. Perhaps they know of others making shortcuts or part substitutions too?
