Buying Guide 2003 (Consumer Reports Buying Guide) (Paperback)

by The Editors of Consumer Reports (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This is an all-new 2003 edition to help with trusted product reviews and test results and ratings. With more than 800 product ratings plus exclusive brand repair histories for many product categories, the experts identify the best items in many areas.

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Consumer Reports (November 25, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0890439702
• ISBN-13: 978-0890439708
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,624,454 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Conflicting advice, or just not enough info?, February 27, 2003

By	Tim Stich (Austin, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

The Buying Guide lists the Hyundai Sante Fe 2001 as a "Used Car to Avoid" on page 179, yet gives consistently better than average mechanical reliability ratings in almost all areas on page 195 for the same year model. So maybe the Hyundai *will* start getting worse ratings later on. I would have *liked* to have read that comment. What good is a reliability chart if it confuses the long term service record?

A little elaboration as to why this car is to be avoided would be good, say, like a single sentence. My wife and I were considering buying this vehicle and it would have been nice if, as I had hoped, the Buyer's Guide could have given clear advice. Apparantly, it is talking out of both sides of its mouth.

I tried to point out this to their website, but of course, they have insulated themselves from their reading public. Well now they can read it here.

3.0 out of 5 stars Which Brand is the Best??, January 8, 2006

By	Bryan Carey "Bryan Carey" (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Consumer Reports has been publishing product reviews and ratings for a long time. It is a division of Consumers Union, a non- profit organization that is responsible for research on consumer products and services.

Providing this type of service is helpful, but it's also very dependant on manufacturers to provide enough information to properly evaluate a product. This Buying Guide covers a decent range of products, but some of them are quite lacking, with very few brand names to compare. Take lawn movers, for example. The rating section of this guide compares different push- type movers, but there are only about seven brand names to compare. I haven't shopped for a lawn mover in a while, but I'm fairly confident that there are more than seven manufacturers to choose from. I don't know if these omissions of different manufacturers is the result of Consumer reports failure to get the necessary units and test them, or if it's the result of the manufacturer refusing to take part in the research.

Another thing that I'm skeptical about is the reliability of Consumer Reports research. How can we be sure that the information and results are not biased in some way? I haven't heard of any negative news stories on Consumer Reports and, as far as I know, the organization does have a good reputation. But some of the ratings make me start to wonder. Maybe Consumer's Union receives money from sponsors and skews its reports in favor of them? I can't say for certain, but I think it would be a good idea to consult several different sources on product ratings before assuming that the recommendations in this guide are really accurate.

This book is written in an outline format, with bulleted paragraphs and boldface text. It's not the type of book that people will read cover to cover. It's really a reference guide. Most who pick up this guide will turn directly to the ratings section to look up specific brands and make comparisons. That was my first reaction to the guide. I flipped to the back and looked for comparisons of different DVD players. Much to my disappointment, this guide doesn't have any ratings for DVD players. They are mentioned in the front half of the book (in Home Entertainment), but there are no side- by- side manufacturer comparisons. According to the index, I would have to consult one of last year's Consumer Reports Magazines to get this information.

Overall, this is an average guide that presents some helpful advice on buying and how to shop for the best prices. If you're looking mainly for manufacturer comparisons, though, you might end up disappointed. There are plenty of ratings on automobiles and large appliances (refrigerators, stoves, dishwashers, etc.) but only a limited number of ratings in other categories. The book lists for $9.99, and you basically get what you pay for- some good general advice, but not enough ratings on products, which is the key reason for someone to buy the guide.

2 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, January 7, 2003

By	Basel Abu Ali (Kuwait) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It is a good guide and reference. You can have the most useful infomration, data and statistics of thousands of goods in the United States as well as outside the US; concernig availability, features, prices, ...etc.