GS69

Are Volkswagen's Media Vehicles the Same as What You Can Buy?

When a consumer reads a road test—from any source—they want to know that the reviewer isn’t playing games with the results, such as holding back data to make 1 product gain an unfair advantage. Equally, consumers want to know that the product delivers as advertised: that the smart phone battery does last the 8 hours between charges….that the music player does hold 16 gigs of data…that the toaster does accommodate Texas Toast.

But manufacturers try and game the product review process. There have been plenty of press vehicles that the Consumer Reports Autos engineers and editors have driven that felt just a teensy bit better than the version we bought at the dealership to test. Call it our calibrated seat-of-the-pants-meter (the butt-ometer, if you will), but every once in a while a car seems to be just a bit quicker, steers more crisply or is quieter and more refined as a press car than as the anonymous off-the-assembly-line version. Heck, even Ferrari goes to lengths to game the system, according to the website Jalopnik.

Which brings me to the 2012 Volkswagen Passat. When VW dropped off an early media car this summer, I remember looking at the trunk and saying to myself “well, at least both of the cheap hinges are dressed up with plastic covers, unlike the Jetta, which just has plastic on the side with the wiring.” As you can see in these 2 photos from Car & Driver and Edmunds it appears that the Passats in VW’s press fleet have covers on the hinges.

But not that Passat you just bought. No, your new Passat isn’t as nicely finished as the press version.

Like all the vehicles we put through testing, Consumer Reports buys retail samples at a car dealership. I personally purchased the Passat TDI we’re testing. (We also bought a 2.5 SE and a 3.6 SEL Premium.) As you can see in our images, none of the Passats have the two plastic covers found on the press cars. Consumers apparently only get a cover for the wiring loom hinge; the other 1 goes bare.

Is this a big deal? One, rather than 2, plastic covers? Well, if a manufacturer will go to great lengths to put an extra plastic cover on the press version to prevent criticism, what other lengths will they go to game the system and perform better in evaluations? Tweak the suspension, flash a computer, blueprint an engine, add extra sound deadening? Based on our past experiences, all these things and more have occurred. Shame on VW and the manufacturers who deceive the public through this practice.

Garnering initial buzz based on false expectations is a short-sighted way to build a brand and foster sales. The reputation always catches up in the long run. Rest assured, Consumer Reports will remain vigilant and impartial. After all, the products Consumer Reports tests—from $20 appliances to $90,000 cars—are the same ones you buy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hzXS...layer_embedded

mmarshall

There's only so much a manufacturer can do to refine a press-car. Like it or not, these usually come off the same assembly-lines in the same plants (and built by the same workers and equipment) as production-versions.

Sure, they can put on an extra coat of wax to make the paint-job look and feel slicker, or give special attention to squeaks/rattles, but there's an old saying......you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

AShepherd

i think it is to a bit more extent than just cosmetics

LexFather

Wow, extremely poor taste VW. Really makes their recent paid off MT COTY award even more suspect.

mmarshall

Usually, though, to do that, it requires at least some re-tooling of the assembly-line, which is not likely to be done for just a single (or a couple of) media-vehicles.

However, I have a lot of respect for Consumer-Reports....I always did. If they say that they have gotten cars that were more than a little tweaked, I'm not necessarily going to disregard it.

LexFather

Mike, I disagree, you can do a billion things with the car after its rolled off the assembly line, car brands have their tricks for decades...from lowering the car for better press photos to chipped engines to different fabrics etc...

This is similar to Chris Harris reporting how Ferrari won't let mags just test cars, they babysit the car and do a trillion things to it during the review so they get the best times. Which is NOTHING similar to what happens in the real world.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

just consumer reports making a pointless flap to get some press for themselves.

DustinV

“well, at least both of the cheap hinges are dressed up with plastic covers, unlike the Jetta, which just has plastic on the side with the wiring.”

I'll be completely honest.

To me something like this is completely irrelevant.

Kostamojen

Considering CR actually buys their test cars from dealerships instead of using press cars, wouldn't this make their reviews more honest?
I wouldn't care either, but it is something that starts to throw up red flags.

Alucard

Looks like the hinge cover exists solely to cover/contain the wiring. Maybe their tester that had two covers was actually the error

KillaIS250

iTrader: (1)

True, but one has to wonder - if they are changing simple things like that, what else have they been tinkering with?!

TripleL

The article reads to me as a self promoting ad for how wonderful CR is. And I agree they are very good at what they do but seriously a piece plastic that was on a early media car that doesn't make it to the production models is not enough evidence to jump to the assumption that computers have been flashed or engines blueprinted. It's is pretty thin argument for sure.

Having said that I've often thought what do car company's do to make sure their media cars are on their game, based on this article I'd say it's still a mystery what, if anything, is done.

speedflex

All of which brings up the question. If VW does it who else does?

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Was thinking the same thing

DustinV

I think the logic behind what VW was doing here was simple: impress the reviewers with attention to detail.

And I'm sure every brand does this one way or another when they loan their cars for testing purposes. A good review from a magazine still holds credibility today (I prefer to drive the cars I am interested in first, then decide but that's a different story...).

I believe Ferrari was accused by Chris Harris of doing something similar with the cars they handed out for testing. And in the '80s many people blamed GM for fixing up the Chevrolet Citations they loaned to reviewers...