The 327 acre Consumer Reports Auto Test Center in rural CT buys, anonymously, and tests 80 or so cars each year. They drive them to and from work, on vacation, running carpools, etc. thousands of miles before the overall test score is determined. Formal testing is done at the track and on surrounding public roads.
“The evaluation regimen consists of more than 50 individual tests including:
Acceleration
Each car is timed for 0 to 30 mph, 60 mph, and quarter-mile runs. We attach an optical road-scanning device hooked to a data-logging computer, which creates precise records of time, speed, and distance.
Handling
We push all of our test cars to the limits on our track during our avoidance maneuver and a series of cornering assessments around a handling course. The avoidance maneuver is a "path-following test" in which the driver pilots the car down a lane marked off by traffic cones with a quick left-right-left sequence. That simulates swerving to avoid an obstacle in the road, then returning to the original lane to avoid oncoming traffic. The car threads through the course, without throttle or brakes, at ever-higher speeds until it can't get through without hitting any cones.”
Other categories include Braking, controls and displays and fuel economy.
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