I'm sure some will call me a VW fanboy
VW drivers have always rated their cars very highly. regardless of issue that they may or may not have had.
I concur. Unless a person looks at his/her vehicle purely as an appliance, there must be some degree of passion to it. Thus, if that person does not think of the vehicle highly, it would have been purchased at the first place. It is just logics.
I still don't quite understand why some folks still have quibs over CR's data. I am not a statistician so I can't common on the reliability on the results. I had filled up the survey before when CR still attached a copy in Canadian edition of the mag. Most of the questions were hard stat like the number of transmission related repair you have in the year. Of course, the owner satisfaction question is always on the subjective side. It is the case for CR, and it is the same case for any organizations handing out customer satisfaction survey. "Satisfaction" is not science; it is mostly rooted from one's emotion towards the objective. So what you get about owner satisfaction from CR is as good as other similar studies, including JD Power.
Another thing worth keeping in mind is the demongraphics of CR subscribers. They are a educated and concerned group. They care about their well being and the qualities of things they own. The chance of having them BSing on the survey may be lower than just fetching anyone on the street. Going back to our context, having spent my own money on the subscription for at least 10 years, I am still convinced that CR's data is still as reliable as you can ever find. Logically, it should be more reliable than JD powers, which just surveys every new car owner.