Is Cars Guide biased?

[Transporter]

It just doesn't make a sense when the car that has NOT been crash tested gets higher safety rating than the one that scored 5 stars from the crash tests; or does it?

Head to head: Diesel vs Hybrid | News.com.au

Amazing verdict, the Prius won on price by $40.00 and it won in the Technology department despite it scored 0.5 point less than it's competitor, also returned 4.7L/100km fuel economy, while Toyota claims 3.9L/100km.
Polo claimed 4.6L/100km and in test used 4.8L/100km (close enough for me).

I'm getting the feeling that the journalist in Adelaide's Advertiser don't like VW and also that their reviews constantly favour Kia cars for some reason, almost like they have a close ties. Hmm, maybe they have, who knows? I'm not supporting them anymore; they don't deserve to be paid for that (it's not only the cars guide section that publishes the rubbish). I'm cancelling my subscription on Monday.

[Mk3 AAA]

I really don't get why a full sized spare is such a big deal, sure reduced traction... all that, but really , the spare is used so infrequently and the dead weight is just more to lug around to dull performance and economy, the old we live in Australia and we all drive 1 billion kms across the dessert to get to the goat farms we all work at spiel is irrelevant too as someone with an IQ greater than their age could equip their car accordingly.

Good on you for cancelling, never really found a local paper/site with decent reviews. Maybe Top Gear should start an Australi.... oh, almost walked right into that one.

[THE_EGG]

I really don't get why a full sized spare is such a big deal, sure reduced traction... all that, but really , the spare is used so infrequently and the dead weight is just more to lug around to dull performance and economy, the old we live in Australia and we all drive 1 billion kms across the dessert to get to the goat farms we all work at spiel is irrelevant too as someone with an IQ greater than their age could equip their car accordingly.

Good on you for cancelling, never really found a local paper/site with decent reviews. Maybe Top Gear should start an Australi.... oh, almost walked right into that one.

Agreed a full-sized spare only really matters if its an off-roader and besides, anyone who is going serious off-roading would have an exterior fitted full-size spare or two. Also when I had my polo tdi DSG it had a full-size spare only a steel wheel rather than alloy and also at 16" rather than the 17" alloys on the vehicle because of the sport-pack so I don't know why they are ranting on about not having a full-size spare.

[The_Hawk]

I don't get the scoring system:

Value
"Value" seems about the same, 6 speakers, bluetooth although Prius does get a touch screen, voice controls and reversing camera as well as capped price servicing which do give it an edge in that department. Of course being a new model there isn't much to go on for depreciation, but if it's anything like it's bigger brother resale will be ordinary.

Technology
This is an odd category as it seems to talk about what's in the engine... sure the Prius hybrid system is trick, but who cares as long as it works well. Same for the DSG, most people probably don't appreciate the DSG over an old school torque converter auto. So long as it works. It's interesting to note that the reviewer, Neil Downing, managed to get almost bang on the overall consumption figure yet the Prius was ~20% over the claimed figures! (To be fair it's still get 4.7L/100km so it's hardly bad and it may be about learning to drive more efficiently for the type of car... but then I'm sure you can probably get more out of the Polo using the same techniques). An seriously 2KM on batteries? That's only going to be good for people who live 1KM away from the shops which are downhill in both directions (to keep the battery charged of course).

Design
As always these things are very subjective. The Polo seems to score on interior space and luggage space but is considered boring? The Prius on the other hand is called ugly from all angles but the front then scores a few points for a pretty dash, highlighting the touch screen again and giving points for the same things as value??

Safety
Gotta agree on the full size spare point, why does it matter, especially for a city car. For me the big question is how available the spare tyres are (no good if you have to order them in and wait). The Prius runs 185/60R15 and Polo runs 195/55R15 and on Tire Rack they are in the same sort of price bracket (no clue what they are in Australia, most places don't give prices online ).
Again here things mentioned in value crop up again in Safety like the reversing camera, but yes camera + sensors are nice but only really good in low speed reversing not for an actual crash.

Driving
So the Polo is awesome for a spirited drive, is great in the city but has a "Diesel rattle" and is a little firmer. Although not mentioned here is has more space than the Prius too... but the Prius has "ample"... Granted it's a city car and it does that well enough but I would have thought more than 0.5 a point difference here.

Verdict

It’s not just about the fuel consumption. Prius fits easily into city life but doesn’t make much sense in the open road, while Polo excels there. On price, features, space and tech, the Prius wins.

I can't argue on features, there are more toys in the Prius out of the box.

But the rest... Ummm what? Didn't they say the Polo has more space? And while the Prius was still 0.1L/ 100km better than the Polo didn't it suck far more juice than claimed? The price difference is SFA, although capped price servicing is nice. Tech in this instance is a stupid category, it's like saying which test car is more blue when given a blue Prius and Red Polo...

And of course no mention of when you need to and how much it's going to cost replace those batteries...


Bottom line for me, while the price looks like it's coming down and it has a few nice toys I don't see it as a greener option than the Polo, it's no more fuel efficient and it's useless for longer drives. I won't be trading into one of these any time soon.

[hooba]

To help answer your question regarding bias, Carsguide is produced by News Limited, and funded by a joint venture between News Limited and 650 car dealers.

[elephino]

While not specifically defending Cars Guide, what's printed doesn't always match what's reviewed. I've seen this before with other reviews where reviewers defend decisions on information not published. Whether this is the fault of the reviewer or editor depends on the publication.

[Ideo]

I love it when fanboys jump up and down when their own car doesn't win a test.

[Transporter]

I love it when fanboys jump up and down when their own car doesn't win a test.

I've never owned Polo. It's just something I've noticed.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

[kaanage]

An seriously 2KM on batteries? That's only going to be good for people who live 1KM away from the shops which are downhill in both directions (to keep the battery charged of course).

The Priuses aren't plug-in hybrids - think of them as having KERS.

I think the general media are infatuated with hybrids due to heavy lobbying by the Japanese.

[Ideo]

I've never owned Polo. It's just something I've noticed.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2

And the Holden fanboys jump up and down saying the fairfax press is biased because they like VWs.

If you require outside validation, or think that one car manufacturer is best in every single way and no one can ever beat it, well, good for you.

I will laugh at the crying though.

[The_Hawk]

The Priuses aren't plug-in hybrids - think of them as having KERS.

I think the general media are infatuated with hybrids due to heavy lobbying by the Japanese.

Yep I know that, it just seems like a very low number almost making the electric part pointless? Assuming you can run even 5km on batteries over a 30km trek (assuming it regains power as it goes) is a 16% reduction in fuel powered driving worth lugging about the additional electric engine and all that?

[Spyda]

Why dont they mention that the batteries in the prius need to be replaced, at a masive cost (at about a third the cost of the car) and are not recyclable? All hybrids are a full of it in regards to economy and being environmentaly friendly.

[kaanage]

Yep I know that, it just seems like a very low number almost making the electric part pointless? Assuming you can run even 5km on batteries over a 30km trek (assuming it regains power as it goes) is a 16% reduction in fuel powered driving worth lugging about the additional electric engine and all that?

Not really. I hate the Prius (and Lexus hybrids) but it does work well in traffic where you start/stop a lot and the battery acts as a sort of speed averaging device for engine loading. It does require that you actively use the brakes a lot to kick in the energy recovery so you have to drive in a rather choppy manner to get the best out of it (the "Engine Braking" B mode isn't as efficient if you continually select that for gently coasting down the way you would do with a normal car).

If you look at an F1 car, KERS would provide bugger all drive on its own but is useful as a short term boost.

The batteries should be as recyclable as any other lithium-ion battery.

[Greg Roles]

Don't know about reporter bias, but I can report that an extended 2 week stint on the poxy space saver spare, including one very slow trip an hour west to Toowoomba, showed me that apart from being speed limited and noisy, the space saver is a lot better than you would think! Does excellent single spinner burnouts too!

[THE_EGG]

Don't know about reporter bias, but I can report that an extended 2 week stint on the poxy space saver spare, including one very slow trip an hour west to Toowoomba, showed me that apart from being speed limited and noisy, the space saver is a lot better than you would think! Does excellent single spinner burnouts too!

lol...