Consumer Reports rates seven-seat family-sized SUVs
Honda's Pilot is the proven leader in seven-seat, family-sized SUVs, Cadillac's SRX has edged out the Acura MDX for second spot on the list, and the trendy Volvo XC90 is deemed by its owners to have ''poor'' reliability and is therefore not recommended.
Those are the key findings of Consumer Reports magazine, which uses its own tests and the experiences of new vehicle owners to create a comparative study of this and other segments.
Such studies by Consumer Reports (CR) are widely known throughout the auto industry to be the most trusted by buyers, who tend to believe CR because the US magazine buys the vehicles it tests (and keeps their identity a secret while doing so) and has no advertising from any company of any kind.
The ratings involve an evaluation of the purchased vehicle by CR staffers and a compilation of real world owner experiences when the vehicle's been on the market long enough.
When the feedback from the owners and the CR evaluations are both positive, the Connecticut-based magazine recommends a vehicle. If the owner feedback on vehicle reliability is bad -- such as it is with the Volvo XC90, the Ford Expedition and the Chevrolet Trailblazer EXT in this category -- CR declines a recommendation and that puts future buyers on alert.
CR recently tested the Cadillac SRX, the Lexus GX470, the Nissan Pathfinder Armada and the Dodge Durango, with the sleek Caddy being the only model to gain a rating of ''excellent.''
Even if two vehicles are in the same category (there are five categories -- excellent, very good, good, fair and poor), it doesn't mean that CR judges them to be equal, so they are rated from top to bottom. It's best to review the entire study to see where they all shake out.
Having said that, and with the four new models included, CR's rating of seven-seat family-sized SUVs is as follows:
Excellent
1: Honda Pilot -- recommended
2: Cadillac SRX -- too new to rate
3: Acura MDX -- recommended
Very Good
4: Lexus GX470 -- recommended
5: Toyota Land Cruiser -- recommended
6: Chrysler Pacifica -- too new to rate
7: Volvo XC90 -- not recommended
8: Nissan Pathfinder Armada -- too new to rate
9: Toyota Sequoia -- recommended
10: Chevrolet Suburban -- recommended
11: Ford Explorer -- recommended
12: Ford Expedition -- not recommended
13: Dodge Durango -- too new to rate
14: Buick Rendezvous -- recommended
15: Chevrolet Tahoe -- recommended
16: Mitsubishi Montero -- not recommended
Good
17: Chevrolet Trailblazer EXT -- not recommended
Poor
18: Ford Excursion -- fair but not recommended.
The reviews of the four SUVs and more details on the survey are available in the March issue of Consumer Reports. There's a website at www.consumerreports.org but most of its best features are reserved for subscribers to the magazine.