Ford and Toyota in dead heat in Consumer Reports customer survey

[Zembonez]

The Big 3 are making some real moves these days! It's nice to see the American auto industry headed for the lead again!

Ford and Toyota are in a statistical dead heat for first place in Consumer Reports’ 2011 Car Brand Perception Survey.

The survey results released at noon today come one day after the influential consumer ratings magazine delivered a blistering review of Ford’s new touch-screen control system, concluding it was distracting.

But today, the magazine said its consumer survey found that, overall, “Ford excels in the factors that consumers say matter most: safety, quality and value.”

Also, Ford’s scores have been rising while Toyota’s have been falling. Over a two-year period, Ford’s brand perception score has increased by 35 points while Toyota’s score plummeted by 46 points. In the most recent survey, Toyota’s total score was 147 while Ford’s total score was 144.

The scores in the survey reflect how consumers perceive each brand in seven categories: safety, quality, value, performance, design and style, technology and innovation, and environmentally friendly or green.

The study is based on a nationwide telephone survey of 1,721 adults conducted between Dec. 2-6 who own at least one car.

On Tuesday, Consumer Reports said it decided against recommending two Ford vehicles – the Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX crossovers – because Ford’s new touch-screen system is complicated and can create a distraction for drivers. That decision was based both on consumer surveys and Consumer Reports’ own road and performance tests.

MyFord Touch replaces traditional buttons and knobs with a five-way controller on the steering wheel, a touch-screen on the center stack that operates the radio, climate control and navigation and voice commands.

Derrick Kuzak, Ford’s group vice president of global product development, said Tuesday that MyFord Touch is designed to eliminate driver distraction.

​

 

[Tucson Z60]

Consumer reports, says it's distracting. I am not sure about the new system but the sync system kills any offerings that I have seen from anyone. Yes it's confusing at first because you don't know a damn thing about it and you have to learn how it works but after that it's like second nature. My wife tunes to things, changes between MP3, CD's and siruis with voice commands and a touch of steering wheel button......just how fWONking much more confusing can it get than that!!

Cunsumer reports are fWONking indiots if that's confusing......ohh and she can answer her phone, text or have text read back over the system also......again all with the touch of damn steering wheel button and voice commands........what's confusing is they say that is distracting.

 

[Zembonez]

I absolutely HATE Consumer Reports. They put the same little bimbos that were just evaluating cupcake pans in charge of telling us what cars to buy. Their info on vehicles is so full of errors, it is not funny. I just thought it was unlike them to publish ANYTHING saying an American car maker was even close to Toyota... their long time god.

Sadly, there are many who will listen to them even though they are purely uninformed idiots - because they are Consumer Reports!

 

[66nova]

Consumer reports, says it's distracting. I am not sure about the new system but the sync system kills any offerings that I have seen from anyone. Yes it's confusing at first because you don't know a damn thing about it and you have to learn how it works but after that it's like second nature. My wife tunes to things, changes between MP3, CD's and siruis with voice commands and a touch of steering wheel button......just how fWONking much more confusing can it get than that!!

Cunsumer reports are fWONking indiots if that's confusing......ohh and she can answer her phone, text or have text read back over the system also......again all with the touch of damn steering wheel button and voice commands........what's confusing is they say that is distracting.

I absolutely HATE Consumer Reports. They put the same little bimbos that were just evaluating cupcake pans in charge of telling us what cars to buy. Their info on vehicles is so full of errors, it is not funny. I just thought it was unlike them to publish ANYTHING saying an American car maker was even close to Toyota... their long time god.

Sadly, there are many who will listen to them even though they are purely uninformed idiots - because they are Consumer Reports!

Everyone that I have ever talked to or story I have read about the Sync system says it Fwonking rocks. It actually would make me consider a ford as a potential if I was buy new right now.

 

[Z71_Silvy]

Everyone that I have ever talked to or story I have read about the Sync system says it Fwonking rocks. It actually would make me consider a ford as a potential if I was buy new right now.

The voice recognition needs some work.

And stay away from MyFord touch until that gets fixed...seems to be buggier than a cope of Windows Millennium.

 

[Bowtie2Sierra]

I absolutely HATE Consumer Reports. They put the same little bimbos that were just evaluating cupcake pans in charge of telling us what cars to buy. Their info on vehicles is so full of errors, it is not funny. I just thought it was unlike them to publish ANYTHING saying an American car maker was even close to Toyota... their long time god.

Sadly, there are many who will listen to them even though they are purely uninformed idiots - because they are Consumer Reports!

Well put Boss. CR is a joke but its hard to convince a lot of people of that.

 

[Tucson Z60]

Everyone that I have ever talked to or story I have read about the Sync system says it Fwonking rocks. It actually would make me consider a ford as a potential if I was buy new right now.

The voice recognition needs some work.

And stay away from MyFord touch until that gets fixed...seems to be buggier than a cope of Windows Millennium.

I can't tell anything about the "new" system but the voice reconition in the wifes Mustang although not flawless I would say gets it right 90% of the time or even more than that. They tell you in the owners manual to speak clearly and natualy, I find that I have more issues with my On* than I do with the sync and my On* does not do nearly the amount of things the sync system does.

The one thing about On* that can screw you up is not wating for it command prompt to cue you to speak....it's little beep, while sync always seems to be listening.

 

[Z71_Silvy]

Everyone that I have ever talked to or story I have read about the Sync system says it Fwonking rocks. It actually would make me consider a ford as a potential if I was buy new right now.

The voice recognition needs some work.

And stay away from MyFord touch until that gets fixed...seems to be buggier than a cope of Windows Millennium.

I can't tell anything about the "new" system but the voice reconition in the wifes Mustang although not flawless I would say gets it right 90% of the time or even more than that. They tell you in the owners manual to speak clearly and natualy, I find that I have more issues with my On* than I do with the sync and my On* does not do nearly the amount of things the sync system does.

The one thing about On* that can screw you up is not wating for it command prompt to cue you to speak....it's little beep, while sync always seems to be listening.

I remember sitting in a Flex in a dealership with nobody in it ( the dealership or the Flex). It was very quiet and I said something like "radio on", and it said, "Finding Chinese food."

OnStar gets my command every time. When I accidentally hit the button, I yell "CANCCEL", and the woman says "goodbye" and goes away.

 

[Mixedbreed]

Everyone that I have ever talked to or story I have read about the Sync system says it Fwonking rocks. It actually would make me consider a ford as a potential if I was buy new right now.

The voice recognition needs some work.

And stay away from MyFord touch until that gets fixed...seems to be buggier than a cope of Windows Millennium.

I can't tell anything about the "new" system but the voice reconition in the wifes Mustang although not flawless I would say gets it right 90% of the time or even more than that. They tell you in the owners manual to speak clearly and natualy, I find that I have more issues with my On* than I do with the sync and my On* does not do nearly the amount of things the sync system does.

The one thing about On* that can screw you up is not wating for it command prompt to cue you to speak....it's little beep, while sync always seems to be listening.

I remember sitting in a Flex in a dealership with nobody in it ( the dealership or the Flex). It was very quiet and I said something like "radio on", and it said, "Finding Chinese food."

OnStar gets my command every time. When I accidentally hit the button, I yell "CANCCEL", and the woman says "goodbye" and goes away.

Of course it does. 5 minutes at a dealer is the most evaluatuon time needed to determine its worth

 

[Nick The Great]