There's clearly some wacky thinking or weird editorial agenda these days at CR. I just had another category of items from them that made no sense.
In the past, they got so many things right. I remember when they first put Panasonic air conditioners at the top of their list. I bought one, and they were absolutely right. Quietest, most reliable window unit ever. It didn't save Panasonic from exiting this market, sadly enough, but the pick was spot-on. Lots of other examples. Then a few years ago, they seemed to start weighting factors that weren't as important to me, at least, in a lot of their ratings. And reducing the helpful narrative on each item. So ultimately I have less and less confidence in that whole group, and eventually the publication will be useless to me and I will just cancel.
The Champion 4? Really??? It used to be that sample defects and ease of repairs were a BIG part of their reviews. I guess not anymore. Interestingly, many of the Champion reader reviews at CR mention significant manufacturing defects. Some people bomb the toilet for that reason. Others accept it, sadly. One guy said it worked fine but that the plumber told him that his floor was perfectly level but the toilet was slanted because it was made that way and defective. He solve the problem by adding some foam to shim the tank lid to make it look level, and gave the toilet a good review. Sigh. That's what AS is getting away with. Others mentioned serious glazing defects. (HELLO?! Send the damn thing back under the warranty! Sheesh! But if you pay someone $300 to install it, I guess many people don't want to pay that to replace it, and instead just make do. Makes me very sad.)
PS I was amused that the flush-lever complainer on here got his pissy review of the Drake published on the CR web site, and complained that he bought the Drake with those oh-so-awful flush handles based on Terry Love's recommendation. If CR will let him mention you in a negative review, I thought I would see if they passed my positive one that also mentions Terry. The review starts off talking about their flawed previous testing of the Drake and then mentions Terry twice. Hopefully, the review readers will let this pass, because I didn't reference the web site per se.