Consumer Reports Reliability for 2010 EX

[Tasman]

I generally do not pay a lot of attention to Consumer Reports but in the April 2011 Auto issue, they rated the reliability as the lowest rating for power equipment and audio for the 2010 EX35. It was in stark contrast to the earlier years and especially the audio going from the best to the lowest rating? Does anyone have any idea of why the low rating? Were changes made to the audio in 2010 to cause that?

[TomT]

I don't see power equipment and audio listed on their web site for the EX but maybe this little note about the M37 is a clue:
"The Infiniti is entertaining to drive and has a luxurious interior. If you skip the expensive Technology Package and its overbearing electronic safety aids"
At least the EX score well overall.

[RedwinGV]

I think there were some changes with the audio system, but mainly with connecting other sources, USB, etc. I'm surprised they would rate it lowest. With this board and other sites, I never thought this was an issue. Even if it was one, maybe it would be avg at worst. I wonder what tripped it up too...

[Beetulz]

I just leased my EX last month and only have 600 miles on it so far. The car is great but I am a bit disappointed in the Bose premium sound system. I'll have to look for this edition of Consumer Reports and see what they have to say.
I'm still trying out different settings in an attempt to get some decent sound. Sometimes it sounds as if the speakers are out of phase (they're not but the lack of mid range can create that effect).
I think they should have included a 5 band equalizer or at least a mid range adjustment. Assignable settings for each input would be nice, too.
I aslo find the AM/FM receiver to be pretty weak - not very sensitive or clean.
Like I said I'm new to it and will continue to fiddle but hearing about stuff like this makes me wonder.

[RedwinGV]

I just leased my EX last month and only have 600 miles on it so far. The car is great but I am a bit disappointed in the Bose premium sound system. I'll have to look for this edition of Consumer Reports and see what they have to say.
I'm still trying out different settings in an attempt to get some decent sound. Sometimes it sounds as if the speakers are out of phase (they're not but the lack of mid range can create that effect).
I think they should have included a 5 band equalizer or at least a mid range adjustment. Assignable settings for each input would be nice, too.
I aslo find the AM/FM receiver to be pretty weak - not very sensitive or clean.
Like I said I'm new to it and will continue to fiddle but hearing about stuff like this makes me wonder.

Your points may be correct (although I don't agree with the quality of the audio output.) But that has not changed from previous years. So if that's the reason for 2010, it would apply to the earlier models as well.

Bose seams to always have issues in vehicles, but IMHO, the sound is pretty sweet in my EX.

[Tasman]

There was no specific mention of the audio system or power equipment in their very short review. I was referring to their Reliability rankings where they rate the predicted reliability for the past five model years. Perplexing as the previous two years ere great but not 2010. It was the only model in the Infiniti line that received that low rating for either audio or power equipment reliability. They do not state why.

[blfstyk]

I looked at those ratings also and what struck me was that the features of the 2008 EX which had low ratings (electrical system, suspension, brakes, squeaks & rattles, power equipment) all had the highest possible ratings in the 2009 EX (in fact all feature ratings for the 2009 were the highest possible, with the exception of power equipment, which had the next-to-highest possible rating. And then, in the 2010 model, several ratings (brakes, paint/trim, body hardware, power equipment, audio system) dropped from highest possible to average or very poor.

This makes no sense. I've never seen quality go up then down so drastically over a few model years. If anything, quality should and usually does improve going forward. Also, it seems to me that very few 2009s were made as Infiniti had a glut of 2008s to get rid of. I can't recall anyone on this board talking about their 2009 EX so I don't think there are very many out there.

This makes me really question CR's objectivity. Perhaps the ratings are more dependent on the reviewer's subjective observations than I thought. Or maybe sometimes they just happen to buy a lemon for testing and other times they buy a car made on a day when none of the quality control workers had a hangover. Or perhaps CR is just losing it, which seems possible since there are so many other places to find information about product quality these days.

[jamesstock]

Is Consumer Reports involved in some 'political' parties?