There are many user review sites on the Web; Consumer Opinions is different.

"User reviews": What are they?
Ever since the invention of garden fences, people have leaned over them to swap recipes, argue sports, and occasionally talk cars. The Internet made this information exchange even easier, and user reviews were born. User review Web sites allow consumers to rank and review a wide range of products, including automobiles. If you've ever browsed for books or music online, or visited an auction site, you've probably seen user reviews. Reading the opinions of others can help consumers decide which product or service best meets their needs.

When purchasing something as important as a car, finding out what other people think can make the choice seem easier. But while user reviews can be very helpful, they can also be misleading. Over a fence, you know the person you're talking to. Online, it's not so clear. A car might get an average ranking of 3 out of 5 stars, but who are the people sharing their opinions?

The user-review challenge
Imagine you put up a sign in a mall that reads "Tell me about your car". The people who stop to talk are probably different from people who don't: They are likely to either really like or really dislike their cars. People are less likely to offer an opinion about a car they find simply "OK."

Individually, each opinion can be useful to the right reader. For example, tall people find there's not enough leg room in a particular car, or parents find a given vehicle is great for toting around the kids. If you lump all the opinions together, you're not only missing out on important details, you're also getting a skewed overall picture of the car from a sample that doesn't represent all owners of that car. If 90 percent of the owners of a particular model think the car is OK, you may never hear from them. Most product review sites won't tell you this.

What makes Consumer Opinions different?
Consumer Opinions is ConsumerReports.org's answer to user reviews. You can use it to round out your research by checking in with what other consumers have to say about their cars. And, if you like, you can join in and post an opinion about your car, too.

We don't combine opinion rankings for a final score, because that's not good science. Instead, we allow you to filter opinions according to characteristics of the author. For example, if you're tall and you're buying a small sports car, you can select opinions by tall people only. If you have children, find out what other parents have to say. We invite you to use Consumer Opinions to find the information that best suit your needs.