The Want-o-Meter, a new rating scale for Test Driven

Introducing our new rating system for our Test Driven road test section, the Want-o-Meter (WoM). It is our way to give cars a clear rating that is both simple and relevant. I got the idea to do this from looking at review ratings from Consumer Reports and Jalopnik specifically.

To me, Consumer Reports’ ratings just seem entirely irrelevant to differing buyers in the very different market segments. Basically their scale is scaled toward people who want to spend nothing on a car that gets infinite MPG, and never breaks down. In other words, using your feet to walk places gets the highest marks of any car out there….. not sure about lifetime reliability, though, you may have to see the manufacturer about that. Their system uses the same scale for all cars, which groups all the different types of cars together, but makes distinguishing between each group in any meaningful way nearly impossible. For instance, they mark the Chevy Corvette with a big black dot under fuel economy, because their idea of good MPG is 40+. They completely ignore the fact that the Corvette gets some of the best MPG in its class, which consists entirely of high performance sports cars. So, Consumer Reports is great for comparing a Corvette to a Prius, using a scale that favors a bicycle over both of them, but for intelligent, relevant consumer advice, I find it useless. Their service is valuable in other areas, like TVs and Washing machines, but for cars they really need help.

Jalopnik’s rating system is much more intelligent from a car perspective, but I find it overly complicated and anticlimactic. They give you a number, but there is a large amount of subjectivity, and usually no poignant conclusion made by the author about the car. They do a good job of scrutinizing all the different aspects of a car, but they never tie it all together and form an overarching opinion on the car as a whole. Here’s the issue: People buy entire cars, not the parts alone, so you have to bring it all together if you are to give any sound advice to a perspective buyer. They are like a food critic that scrutinizes a bowl of stew by its individual ingredients alone, but never lets you know if the stew itself is any good altogether. Also, when Jalopnik introduced their new review scale, they said that a perfect score would be near impossible to achieve, meaning there is no “A+” to set the curve for your understanding.

The Mind Over Motor Want-o-Meter is different. It gives ratings that are purely in the proper context for each type car. Its judgements consist of aspects that are unanimously important for all types of cars. These include how well it performs its primary function, how well it performs any secondary functions, its visual appeal, its build quality, and its relative value for money. What differs between cars are the “functions” that are set as primary and secondary. Each of the five categories takes on a value between 0 and 2, for a maximum of 10 possible points. So, no matter the type of car, if it scores well on this scale of 10, then you can consider it a good purchase in its market segment. Cars are judge based on what they do, rather than what they don’t do….. we aren’t judging a Ferrari against a Prius here. All values are judged relative to a car’s purpose, and place in the market. See the scale and “function” definitions below:

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