Consumer Reports can be dismissed outright... I've found the only people who care what they think are the people who already agreed with whatever they're saying this week. They're about as biased as it gets.
This comment about areas where they dropped the ball caught my eye:
"fuel economy, interior quality, and limiting noise and vibration"
Most people don't seem happy with the mileage, but for such a boxy shaped truck in this power range and the overall drivetrain configuration, it's exactly what I expected. I'm fine with it. But I've owned a whole bunch of vehicles, maybe I've gotten pretty good at knowing what to expect.
I'd personally put interior quality exactly on par with the price-point of this vehicle. I wanted something cheap. About the only complaints I have are that some of the plastic is a little too easy to scratch. They should have used that softer, more rubbery stuff like I had in my old Durango. But generally I don't see it as a huge problem. Certainly nothing that warrants highlighting in a news article.
Noise and vibration? I bought a truck, not a minivan. I damned sure didn't go looking for a junky little car-based SUV. Trucks ride a little more harshly. A cube shooting down the highway at 80 is going to generate a little turbulence and make some noise.
Are people really complaining about these specific things in large enough numbers that these are the most important things for them to focus upon? I'd be pretty sad to learn that so many folks were that utterly incapable of thinking through their purchase clearly, but I also have to say it probably wouldn't surprise me much.
Meanwhile, of greater concern is that they don't make any mention of serious quality issues we on this forum know all about -- notably the transmission problems and the stalling problems. Those are serious, and are things that suggest very, very poor testing.
They need to address the reliability issues, perhaps tweak the interiors a little, offer up a diesel, and I'd personally like to see a tiny bit of beefing up in tow capacity -- not screw up the pricing at all (it's great), and come up with some marketing that people don't find hokey. (I loved the "through the earth" commercials and so did my wife, but they seem to have been received rather poorly by the general public.)
