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GM and Ford products on the comeback


Latest car introductions get high marks from Consumer Reports and J.D. Power; Chrysler still lags.


By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNNMoney.com staff writer
July 10 2007: 4:20 PM EDT
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The August issue of Consumer Reports magazine contains a rare, happy surprise for Detroit - a rave review of a General Motors SUV.

Consumer Reports is often seen as uniformly critical of vehicles from the Big 3 U.S.-based car makers. For example, not one domestic make was included in Consumer Reports' 2007 list of "Top 10 Picks," released in April.

But according to a Consumer Reports staffer, recent introductions from Ford and GM show that they are capable of making genuinely competitive vehicles.

In addition, J.D. Power surveys show that buyers appreciate the improvements in recent GM and Ford products, sometimes even more than Consumer Reports' car testers do.

With GM and Ford sales in decline, successes like these will be particularly important.

Consumer Reports is, by any measure, the single most influential magazine when it comes to the cars Americans actually buy. Much of the success of Toyota and Honda in the United States can be traced to their rise in Consumer Reports' rankings beginning in the 1970s. A 2006 Forester research study showed that car shoppers trust Consumer Reports more than any other source of automotive information.

The magazine has always maintained that it has no reason to favor or attack any particular company. Consumer Reports, published by the not-for-profit group Consumer's Union, does not run any paid advertisingandit doesn't write its reviews based on cars lent by manufacturers.

Its testers have simply not liked U.S. cars much in recent memory.

So it's all the more surprising to read this about GM's Saturn Outlook SUV: "With its roomy interior, the Outlook is an excellent alternative to a large, truck-based SUV for buyers who don't need the extra towing capacity or off-road ability of a truck. We also also liked the Outlook's agile handling, comfortable ride, and third-row seat that's hospitable for three adults."

In the placid language of Consumer Reports, that's high praise.

Jake Fisher, one of the car testers at Consumer Reports' Auto Test Center,credits GM for not just following what the Japanese car companies have done, something U.S. automakers have tended to do in the past.

With the Outlook and its cousins, the GMC Acadia and the Buick Enclave, GM has carved out a new niche: large SUVs that ride and handle like cars while getting relatively decent fuel economy - all without sacrificing interior space.

"I think Toyota and Honda are going to be in kind of a catch up mode," said Fisher.

This is part of a trend for GM and its cross-town competitor Ford, said Fisher. Ford and GM are "getting ride and handling right," he said, "and they're getting interiors right, which is a big change for GM."

Ford has recently had big scores with its Fusion sedan and its close cousins, Mercury Milan and Lincoln MKZ, said Fisher.

The Fusion earned the magazine's highest possible recommendation, signified by a check mark with a circle. Perhaps more surprisingly, the V6 version of the Fusion actually has better "predicted reliability," according to the Consumer Reports, than V6 versions of the Toyota Camry or Honda Accord.

For its part, GM has a serious contender in its Aura sedan, said Fisher, a car that bodes well for the upcoming 2008 Chevrolet Malibu due to roll out later this year. That car shares most of its engineering with the Aura. "GM's getting real serious about midsized cars," said Fisher.

Not everything these companies turn out now has been so successful. Consumer Reports is not particularly fond of the new Ford Edge, for example. "The handling is lackluster, fit and finish is s