Consumer Reports Recommended
 

I just noticed that Consumer Reports has finally rated the FR-S and BRZ.

The FR-S got an 83 out of 100, and the BRZ got an 82 (CR said the ride was a bit better in the FR-S).

The twins were number one and two in the Best Bang for the Buck Sports Car category. The others were the Mini Cooper Hatchback Base (81) and the Ford Mustang (V6) (76).

The FR-S/BRZ also ranked 4th and 6th over all out of the 15 recommended Sports Cars.

The cars ahead of the FR-S were the Subaru Impreza STi (89) $38K, the Volkswagen GTI (85) $27K, and the Subaru Impreza WRX (84) $26K. The Ford Mustang GT Coupe (83) $36K was tied with the FR-S and just ahead of the BRZ.

The BMW 135i (97), Nissan 370Z (86), and the MazdaSpeed3 Sport (83) we're also ranked ahead, but were not recommended due to reliability issues. The BMW and Mazda received average ratings, and the Nissan received a poor rating. In contrast the predicted reliability of the FR-S/BRZ was very good

I was worried buying the car before CR reviewed it, but it looks like it's really good!

Ratings are at www.consumerreports.org, but you must be a member to view them.

I delayed signing up for consumer reports. Since you posted this, i can delay a bit longer!

Consumer Reports rating on the FR-S/BRZ would have been higher except that compared cars on features such as back seat comfort, storage capacity and general utility. On those criteria, the FR-S is inferior to the GTI. Not that I care.

I sense a few negative points for reliability in the next year's report..

How do they go about rating reliability? Isn't that kind of time frame based? This is the first year of this car without anything before it to base it on. Maybe it's based on manufacturer's reputation?

Anyway, I'm glad that the FRS/BRZ got pretty high scores. Anything that reaffirms my purchase on this car, I like. Bad video review? WURST VIDEO EVAR! LOLZ!

Probably listed as "New" which is what CR typically lists for a new vehicle / redesign.

Otherwise, ratings are based on CR subscribers completing an annual survey.

Yeah the CR "number" won't matter much unless you value the same criteria that they do (back seat comfort, storage capacity, general utility are good examples).

If you place a higher emphasis on other criteria (driving feel, performance, off-road ability, whatever etc.) then your priorities are different and the CR "number" will be near meaningless.

Truedelta is a better source for reliability data. The people who run it really use sophisticated statistical techniques. CR's method for evaluating reliability is a little unsophisticated. In the end though, they get reliable numbers.

I noticed CR said the FR-S has better headlights, which surprised me. The more reviews I read (and watch), the more I'm leaning FR-S if/when the time comes. It's the only one I've driven, and it was awesome indeed!

How so? A selling point for the BRZ is the hid headlights, typo?

Well if that's true we've known for a long time that the FR-S suspension is a little "softer" so that would make sense in ride quality.

I think for new models they do a predicted reliability based on other scores in the fleet. In this case they probably had to look at both Subaru and Toyota, but they are both generally good. We won't know the true reliability until the survey, like Septic said.

I know we see a lot of problems on the boards, but I would bet the majority of people haven't had a lot of problems. I myself have had the chirping noise, but fixed it by dropping Ethanol. No other issues, knock on wood.

Half the reviews report that the FR-S is softer, and the other half claim that the BRZ's is softer. I think it is a subjective issue. As for the headlights, HID's don't automatically mean better, just brighter. Sometimes lights can be so bright that reflections can be jarring.

I didn't see the ratings, but it's possible they rated the non-hid lights better in whatever tests they do. A standard type bulb in a good projector housing can put a lot of usable light where you need/want it.

-Justin