It came in third of the four cars they tested in that issue. The rest were from prior issues.

 

It's also important to note that the tC's class is not clearly defined. Here, it's classed with sporty coupes and hatchbacks while many other places review the tC as "squarely aimed at the Honda Civic" while nearly all comparison reviews lump it with the likes of the RSX.

If the tC is to be lumped with the Civic and that group, the tC would clearly win. If the tC is to be lumped with the above cars, than the tC is sure to lose.

You gotta be objective about all of this. All of those cars sans the tC are not aimed at the Civic so the tC comes in doing very well for a car aimed at the Civic class. Also think of this, from the small coupe segment (non-sporty coupe.. an anachronism to be sure..) the tC does so well that it is a contender in the sporty coupe segment.

A non-sporty coupe (hah!) I would consider the Civic coupe (non-Si).

 

Irrelevant. The groups are arbitrary, based on availability of the cars and how they fit into the testing schedule. The cars are rated relative to all the cars in the category, not the group. Most of the more highly-rated cars in the category had already been tested.

If the tC happened to be in a group with an RX-8, an Impreza, and a Mini, it would have come in fourth. With a Tiburon, a GTO and a Crossfire it'd be first. That would be equally irrelevant.

RichC

 

They dont race the cars. Its just regular normal driving. They are also more intested in the usefulness of the car. You want speed and handleing then go read Car and Driver or Motortrend. They could car less about anything other than performance. You want to know if its comfortable and useful in your daily life read CR. You want to know what it can do at a track read MT or C&D.

 

Right! But what of it? The tC came in after the RSX and before the Eclipse. Do you need to know more?

Regardless of where it stands in all the cars they've ever tested, the tC still comes before the Eclipse and after the RSX. Therefore, in the comparison of the tC to the RSX to the Cobalt SS, to the Eclipse GS, the tC comes in third place. If the test involves every sporty car out there, the tC would still be before the Eclipse and after the RSX.

The groups aren't arbitrarily chosen. They're all loosely related cars and this group is entry level sporty 4 cylinder coupe.

And in this group, the tC comes in third. It comes in third relative to the other cars in this comparison test. RELATIVE, as in, a comparison test of cars relative to each other.

I honestly don't see your point. Is your point simply that the tC comes, not in third place, but in eigth place among all sporty coupes tested?

Please, I apologize that I do not quite understand where you are getting at, what precisely is the point?

 

The point is that what CU is doing is compiling their Ratings for the Annual Buying Guide and the April Auto Issue. In those ratings, these groups will disappear, because they are arbitrary. They consider the Mini to be in the same category with the tC, but they tested it already, and published the test. But when the ratings are published, the Mini ranks just above the RSX.

It's not "all the cars they've ever tested." It's "current competing models that they've tested." They test a handful of cars at a time because that's their capacity. And anyway, their magazine couldn't accommodate the results of 14 tests in one issue; they have to leave room for reports on refrigerators and TVs and hotels and health-care plans.

The list I posted earlier is their current Ratings of "sporty cars," taken from their website. You'll notice that there are no subgroups. There is no evidence of which "groups" the previously tested cars were included with. That's because it's irrelevant. The groups are arbitrary, put together for logistical and editorial reasons.

Not everyone here may know that CU doesn't get their cars from the manufacturers. They buy them, just as you or I do, without revealing to the dealer that they're from CU. When the tests are over, generally they sell the cars.

This is another factor that affects their testing schedule, and can change which cars are tested together.

RichC

 

CU is a great organization. The fact that they buy the cars means they don't get any kind of special edition car or something from the manufacturer. They also list specific I always liked the "Selling It" section at the end of the mag. I still stand by saying the review was bland, as are a lot of the reviews of the tC, especially since CU obviously still uses some subjective criteria to rank the cars. I think if the tC just came stock with a big whale-tail spoiler it would have at least avoided all the blah-blah styling comments I see in all the reviews.

 

Well..... the tC is somewhat lukewarm honestly. I don't mean that to be critical, but it's not exceptional in any particular way. Middle of the road styling, sporty, but not scintillating. It doesn't outperform or out-do anything in it's class. It's just a good all-around car with perhaps slightly above average NVH characteristics for it's price range. It does everything well but nothing extraordinary. It's actually exactly the kind of car CR *loves* to tell the truth.