I’ve been researching new vehicles for the past three months, culminating in my purchase of the Subaru Forester last week. In my mind, there are three kinds of purchases in this world:

1. Small items that you really don’t bother researching because the category is generally inexpensive, and if you don’t ultimately like the thing, hey…that’s what kids who’ve just set up apartments for the first time are for! I’m thinking toaster, blenders, George Foreman grill’s, bathroom scales, etc. Often, you may even allow yourself to be swayed by advertising, just because you liked the cute girl demonstrating the Magic Bullet blender.

2. Hobby items that you have a profound passion for and lose all sense of proportion. It’s not so much about the product’s functionality as it is about its history, traditions, look, and the way you feel when you handle it. It may be insanely priced, but you’ve just got to have it. You know you’re getting screwed financially (there’s certainly better value-for-money available) but you want it anyway. I’m thinking Leica, Rolex, Louis Vuitton, etc. These purchases emanate from deep psychological places, filling needs that may be dormant and unfulfilled since youth. I don’t begrudge these kinds of things, instead, I look at them as psychotherapy.

3. Large functional purchases of utilitarian stuff that is guaranteed to cause you enormous grief if you make the wrong decision. There’s little emotion here (although cars may be an exception, otherwise how do you explain things like the Smart, or the Mini-Cooper?). I’m thinking heating systems, entertainment centers, computers, fridges, stoves, dishwashers, and for most of us, cars.

I only do research for the 3rd category, mainly because I’ve learned that “Good judgment is the result of experience, which is usually the result of poor judgment”. There are few things worse than having your new heating system crash when it’s minus-thirty outside (been there), nor when your dishwasher heating element malfunctions and melts all your plastic items into modern sculpture (been there too, with a new Maytag dishwasher).

But where do you go for relatively unbiased reviews and opinions? The internet can be a great resource, but fact is, the vast majority of review sites are just shills for specific manufacturers who pay the advertising. So rule #1: Never trust sites that carry any form of advertising. You are far better off paying a small sum of money for the privilege of getting a reasonably objective viewpoint (note I say “reasonably” because there is no such thing as a completely unbiased viewpoint; we all have our own built-in prejudices, a function of being human).

My personal preference is Consumer Reports, and in particular their on-line service at www.consumerreports.org. Here’s why I like them:

1. It’s a not-for-profit, public organization.

2. They scrupulously accept no form of advertising from anyone.

3. Their reviews subsume not just the opinions of their testers but hard-core laboratory test data.

4. They mine the largest database of owners in the world (who participate in their surveys) in determining levels of Owner Satisfaction. This is key because the bigger the survey pool, the more accurate the results. Owner satisfaction is a big issue because a product may actually score great on all its test parameters, but overall satisfaction may still be low because no tests can capture all the elements of what goes into creating a great ownership experience.