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CR attempts to understand the Jeep thing

wranglerbro

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CR isn't what it used to be. I paid for a subscription last year and found their reviews, in most product categories, to be limited and/or out of date.
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Kyanche

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Just returned from a few days on the trails in Colorado. Had I been driving a Telluride I would still be on one of the trails…stranded.
To be fair, the Telluride is a minivan that tries very hard to look like a Cadillac Escalade. It would be kinda laughable to suggest someone buying a Telluride should buy a Wrangler. They would cross-shop a Grand Cherokee.
 

jimim

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Even 20 years ago when magazines were a thing there is no way I’m listening to a review company who reviews a 60k truck and then a coffee pot. Just saying.

All aside. I have never owned a truck I have had so much fun driving. I drive for my job. I’m in my Jeep all day. And everyday it’s like the first day I have owned it!
 

TheRaven

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Sorry, I cannot agree with that. The data we collect and analyze does not back that up.
Don't apologize, you don't have time. You'd better get out there and let all the world's top marketing agencies know that they've been doing auto adverts completely wrong for over 50 years.
 

SnowDog

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I mean, a Wrangler is unique in a lot of ways, and if you don't factor that into your review then I would agree it's not a great road vehicle. But when I'm climbing a narrow, rocky shelf road up to 13,800 feet like I did last weekend on Mount Antero, I know I'm doing something I couldn't do in my wife's MDX, even though her SUV is much better on pavement.
 

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TheRaven

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It's also important to remember that while to us, the Wrangler is an "off-road utility vehicle" that has no competition, to the average Joe, it's a "mid size SUV", which has lots of competition. So the average Joe compares it to other mid size SUVs. As a result, it largely depends on the character of said average Joe when it comes to the result. Some would compare the Wrangler to regular mid size SUVs and the Wrangler would look laughably inept...I mean it's missing features that the base models of its competition would include standard. But to others the Wrangler offers uniqueness and awesomeness that regular mid size SUVs cannot dream of matching.
 

Mikeoso

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What Kevin (and others) said. CR is rating the Jeep as a CAR, and it's all about comparison. Comparing is what they do. For most of us, we didn't buy it because we wanted an SUV. CR is rating it for the people who DO.

NOT an SUV? Buying for offroad/"other" uses? Yup, me too. What should CR be comparing it to and rating it against, in that case? Defender? Bronco? Land Cruiser? Scout?

And while I'm being rational (for a change), any reasonable person KNOWS that's what CR is doing, and that pretty much all of the things they say about the Jeep are true, even if they don't much matter to us. So, why do any of you actually CARE what CR says about Jeep?

Maybe we feel like CR is criticizing US? Telling us we made the wrong choice, were dumb for buying the vehicle?

OK, think about it like this: the only rifle in my house is a 10/22. That's because anything too big for a .22 AROUND HERE is either far enough away to be no problem, or close enough for a shotgun(I keep a couple of those). So, I don't have a .308 or an AR or .450 Mag. Does that mean I think people who have one are stupid? Nope.

TLDR: why get pissed off when someone says the Jeep isn't a real good mall crawler? It's not.
 

Mikeoso

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Put it another way: I'd never own a Corvette, because they don't hold enough sheets of drywall.
 

aldo98229

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Don't apologize, you don't have time. You'd better get out there and let all the world's top marketing agencies know that they've been doing auto adverts completely wrong for over 50 years.
I don’t know where you get this stuff from.

Car companies are far from infallible. Automakers that get advertising right are the exception. Toyota has been advertising the right messages, for the most part. Their ads are boring but they work.

Subaru’s “Love” campaign, as corny as it sounds, is perhaps the most brilliant ad campaign of the past 30 years. Subaru is one of only two automakers to have grown demand and sales, without discounting, in 50 years. Audi is the other, but their growth streak lasted only half as long as Subaru’s. Hyundai and Kia have been doing the same recently.

FCA advertising is all about image. Its brands are doing well, but so is everyone else in the industry. The real test will be when economy turns. I can assure FCA advertising will hold no water.

Enthusiasts make only about 10% of the buying public, but we are overrepresented inside car companies. So it is only logical that we hear people in the industry believe that “fun and excitement” is what sells.

The plain reality is fun and excitement works only for a small group of buyers. For the vast majority, it is about the boring stuff: reliability, durability, safety, efficiency and value for money.

This may seem hard to believe, being that we are on a Jeep Wrangler forum. But we are as far from the mainstream buyer as we can get.

Getting back to Consumer Reports: as Wranglers become increasingly mainstream, a growing number of Wrangler owners will care about the stuff Consumer Reports babbles about. Still, I don’t believe it will enough for any of us to worry about in our lifetimes.
 

Bmeister

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...Enthusiasts make only about 10% of the buying public, but we are overrepresented inside car companies. So it is only logical that we hear people in the industry believe that “fun and excitement” is what sells...
You're right about enthusiasts over-represented in the auto industry's executive suites and their PR agencies (not sure where that "10%" stat derives from, though). I've been there a number of years ago. Execs focus on enthusiasts because the general public are swayed by these unofficial "experts" who picked and actually use the brand. As long as the product is the real deal, and the Wrangler most certainly is, the idea works very well. High used-Wrangler values attest to that.
 

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TheRaven

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I don’t know where you get this stuff from.

Car companies are far from infallible. Automakers that get advertising right are the exception. Toyota has been advertising the right messages, for the most part. Their ads are boring but they work.

Subaru’s “Love” campaign, as corny as it sounds, is perhaps the most brilliant ad campaign of the past 30 years. Subaru is one of only two automakers to have grown demand and sales, without discounting, in 50 years. Audi is the other, but their growth streak lasted only half as long as Subaru’s. Hyundai and Kia have been doing the same recently.

FCA advertising is all about image. Its brands are doing well, but so is everyone else in the industry. The real test will be when economy turns. I can assure FCA advertising will hold no water.
Yet every single one of the brands you mention advertises their vehicles the same way. The first thing you see is the car doing what it does in a beautiful location. Image. Then you see the price or special deal being offered. Rarely is quality or reliability even mentioned.

Actually, Toyota offers probably the most glaring example of this in my lifetime - the 2007 Tundra. They wanted to go up against Chevy and Ford in full size trucks...so naturally they marketed the crap out of "Toyota quality" right? Hell no. All their ads showed the Tundra pulling some ridiculous towing/hauling stunt in ridiculous conditions. Never once was quality or reliability mentioned.

Sorry but reality trumps studies and statistics every time. The things that make up the concept we describe with the word "image" are tough to pin down and thus impossible to quantify. Advertisers have found what works through trial and error, and you can easily see what clearly works now because EVERYONE is doing the same things. It's price and image that sells a car. Everything else - quality, dependability, efficiency...are all a distant second.
 

aldo98229

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You're right about enthusiasts over-represented in the auto industry's executive suites and their PR agencies (not sure where that "10%" stat derives from, though). I've been there a number of years ago. Execs focus on enthusiasts because the general public are swayed by these unofficial "experts" who picked and actually use the brand. As long as the product is the real deal, and the Wrangler most certainly is, the idea works very well. High used-Wrangler values attest to that.
Very true. They feed off each other "enthusiasm" in the executive suites.

The 10% "enthusiast" comes from consumer research we have done over the years. But it is on a scale, so in reality there are varying degrees of "enthusiast."

I agree with you: as long as Wrangler stays focused on off-road capability, it should continue to do well. The "image" seekers will adapt to the inconveniences of owning an off-road vehicle for the sake of obtaining the image they want.
 

entropy

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The plain reality is fun and excitement works only for a small group of buyers. For the vast majority, it is about the boring stuff: reliability, durability, safety, efficiency and value for money.
And I understand this. Cars are expensive, dangerous, they break, yet they are a necessity in most places. I appreciate sport cars, I appreciate taking one on a track and how challenging and fun they are to drive on track. But for mundane life (grocery,commute,taking the family out) I've come to realize I need something that is very comfortable, somewhat elegant, cheap, safe, and reliable. Something that I just see as a car, a tool, a machine that takes me from point A and point B. I had a Corolla, but that wasn't elegant, it wasnt very comfortable, and didn't feel that safe honestly. So I traded for a 2020 Camry and I absolutely love that car, because it meets all my needs and it just sits there and I don't have to worry about it. Amazing family car. Midsize sedans are pure comfort.

But I love the outdoors, I love wheeling, I love Jeeps. It is a toy. Sports car tend to get boring after the novelty wanes off, unless taken to a track and used as intended often. Jeeps never get boring, at least not to me.
 

aldo98229

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Sports car tend to get boring after the novelty wanes off, unless taken to a track and used as intended often. Jeeps never get boring, at least not to me.
Yes, I found this to be the case with me as well. After so many burnouts and speeding tickets, I am done with 500 HP and 0-60 in 4 seconds.

Wrangler's idea of fun and excitement is much more long-lasting. This is something a growing number of buyers are finding out, but apparently is still rocket science for the dimwits at Consumer Reports.
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