'05 STS Consumer Guide Review

[jschunke]

The long awaited Consumer Guide Review of the

'05 STS is now online. I've been especially

waiting for the quietness rating which is a

respectable 8 out of 10 (same as a town car).

It's not Lexus like though...just kidding.

For

Handling/roadholding, Acceleration

Against

Rear-seat room

Ratings for the v8, RWD

Acceleration 8

Fuel Economy 5

Ride Quality 8

Steering Handling 7

Quietness 8

"Both engines emit a muted, refined growl under acceleration. Wind rush impressively quelled, but 18-inch tires transmit more road noise to cabin than standard 17s."

Instruments 7

Room 6

Comfort 5

cargo room 3

value 5

[STYES]

Consumer guide type publications and information are not worth the paper they are written on! This type of trash is largely based on consumer input. How many consumers already have 2005 STS's that they can base this off of? The toilet paper we call Consumer Reports magazine is even worse. Amongst other things, this rag reports on the CTS. This rag has combined the input from consumers on the Catera, as part of the CTS review. Not that there is anything wrong with the Catera, but it is a completely different car, than the CTS! A few well paced calls to Consumer Reports turned up this tidbit. Consumer Reports will document vehicles with as little as TEN responses! Considering the fact that almost 25,000 CTS's were judged based on a relative few makes this magazine the rag I claim it to be! Marketing research is BS! It is bascially "sales 101". I don't want to hear from one percent of consumers who have driven their NEW car 18 thousand miles! I want to know what the car is like after 70 grand! Enough said!

[jschunke]

I fully comply with your assessment of Consumer

Reports. Their publications are trash: they lack

comprehensive reviews, and have irrelevant

ratings, most of which invariably favor Japanese burners.

ConsumerGuide, on the other hand, does provide

informative, objective (in my opinion) reviews from

editors who drive the cars first hand. Are you sure

ConsumerGuide gets their information from consumer

input, rather than screened editors? For instance, here

is their assesment of the'05 STS Quietness. It appears

to be quite informative, and obviously not written by

Joe Six Pack:

"Both engines emit a muted, refined growl under acceleration.

Wind rush impressively quelled, but 18-inch tires transmit more

road noise to cabin than standard 17s."

That's pretty good information. Now know that the STS

has relatively low wind noise, and the engine doesn't make a

ruckuss, like the new Chrylsers and Dodges RWD models.