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From: haapanen@watdcsu.UUCP (Tom Haapanen [DCS])
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Automobile Protection Association Ratings
Message-ID: <558@watdcsu.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 26-Oct-84 15:31:33 EDT
Article-I.D.: watdcsu.558
Posted: Fri Oct 26 15:31:33 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 27-Oct-84 03:14:52 EDT
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 65

< Nami nami nami .... >

On Wednesday, the Automobile Protection Association released its
annual new car ratings.  Cars in several categories (subcompact,
compact, midsize, large and sports (!)) were ranked "Recommended",
"Acceptable" or "Unacceptable".  These rankings were published in most
large daily newspapers.

<<< FLAME ON >>>

It is totally irresponsible for APA to release rankings of close to
100 vehicles, crudely ranked into three categories without elaborating
*why* they belong in that category.  Consider some of the selections
(my picks, I thought these would provoke some flames:

Recommended: Chevrolet Chevette

Acceptable: Hyundai Pony, VW Scirocco

Not Recommended: VW Golf, VW Jetta, Chrysler Omni/Horizon/Charger,
Renault Fuego, Chrysler Laser/Daytona, lots more...

[sorry, I ignored the rankings of the big boats like Firechickens]

Recommending a chevette?!?!  This sounds like a Consumer Reports/Ralph
Nader plot (How's K-Mart's selection these days, Ralph?) to get rid of
any even mildly exciting cars on the market.  It's also interesting to
note that two years ago the Lada (yes, the russkimobile) was
Recommended, but it then dropped to Not Recommended...

I've been told that the reason the Scirocco is ranked higher than Golf
and Jetta is that the latter two are new models, and APA *never*
recommends new models.  Well, well, well!  The Golf and Jetta, even if
new models, are based on proven technology, and I can see no reason
for ranking them lower than a Scirocco.  Even more, NEW MODELS SHOULD
NOT BE RANKED "NOT RECOMMENDED".  You say, "We don't know if these are
s__tboxes".  Well, I say, DON'T RANK THEM!  It is said that one should
not judge a book by its cover (in Finland, one should also not  judge
a dog by its hairs...), and I don't think there's any excuse for
saying that new models are not going to be any good.

In any case, these rankings are based on the number of complaints APA
has received from owners, and by Wednesday, I'm sure they had not
received a single complaint from a Golf owner!  Golfs only went on
sale this month!

<<< FLAME OFF >>>

I hope newspapers would practice more responsible journalism and
require (a) that APA indicate the problem areas in the non-recommended
models, and (b) that they establish a new, fourth, category, "Unranked",
for new models that have just come on the market.

Whew!  Finally got it out of my system...


Tom Haapanen		University of Waterloo		(519) 744-2468

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