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I like Savage Geese, Redline Reviews some of Doug Demuro content and others. They tend to be more honest and realistic about their reviews.
One major problem with the majority of these guys is that they tend to lean towards sporty “fun” driving cars and put down ones that are comfortable or relaxing. Not all the time, but I’ve noticed that in many of their videos. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a smooth, quiet soft riding vehicle, especially if one lives in a city with terrible road conditions.
Also they generally over praise certain models that I see as basic or below average. I’m very keen when it comes to interior quality and materials used, body construction and hardware quality. And just recently I was at an international auto show that had just about every new model on display to check out and sit in, I found that Toyota and Honda’s quality has dropped big time on their interiors, and Hyundai has overtaken them. Too much flimsy plastic and rough loosely fitted surfaces in many new cars that you wonder if the car was made straight up by Rubbermaid. That’s how cheap and crappy many of these vehicles felt inside. Hard ass seats in all.
Unless you’re buying the top trim and leather is wrapped on everything, then that’s different, but most people buy mid level trim vehicles and they simply aren’t as nice inside. Still way too many vehicles have cheap hard plastic lower door trims that easily get scratched up, while back in the early to mid 90’s Toyota’s and Honda’s had padded lower door panels that were soft vinyl.
It’s the little things I pay attention too that maybe most other people overlook or don’t really care about.
I take auto reviews with a grain of salt. Media press events are hype and staged for the vehicle to look good. I never believe em. The best review IMO on any test drive that will gauge how well a car or truck drives is to drive on the worst pavement in town and see how much you get jolted around in your seat. Listen for squeaks or rattles, popping noises, road noise, and seat comfort. Because you will be living with this vehicle for years and you want to make sure that you’ll be comfortable day n and day out.
Many of the channels are driving enthusiasts so they do get a bit bored with the Rogues and Leafs of the world. Check out Alex on Autos and Matt Maran channels for quality content on practical cars. Andie The Lab is a great niche channel that you may enjoy as well.
Has it ever occurred to you that the majority of new vehicle test drives are usually a planned outing in a nice area to lure and seduce the tester/writer in the majority of all these online vehicle websites by making sure that the author has “mostly” high praise for whatever vehicle that they are test driving?
How can anyone trust and believe what is written these days online or in magazines, from many of the major media sites when this has seemingly become a common practice in auto journalism.
Also, do you ever notice when a test drive occurs, it’s always for the most part driven in cities or rural towns where the roads are perfectly paved? How does one honestly gauge the ride quality and absolute comfort when the pavement is as smooth as glass? Why don’t they ever bother to have the journalist test drive the vehicles in urban/suburban environments where the infrastructure is literally falling apart with pot holes as large as sink holes like in most American cities are across this country? I feel this would be a better reflection and honest reporting rather be forced to basically drive in a false world where most people don’t live.
It’s almost as if these reviews are dishonest on behalf of the auto manufacturers because of these planned and controlled type media events to usually showcase their top of line trim/model which is the most expensive and lavish model to give a great “first impression” per say which I understand, but the general public probably cares more about low-mid trim models used in these test since this is where most of the sales come from.
How do you feel about these test drives, and do you consider them even credible?
You do know that a dealer test drive is also predetermined to take you on the smoothest least intrusive driving route.
What difference does it make? Will you buy a car because you saw a magazine article?
According to a lot of posters on this very forum, they buy cars sight unseen due to their online research, which presumably includes magazine articles, and don't test drive the cars themselves.
If a person lives where the roads are not maintained, where there are potholes and snow and ice and the snow plows don't run, that person is not interested in a car review where someone had driven a car for a couple of hours. They buy the cars that their neighbors have had good luck with.
They want the "reviews" done by the people who live with the bad road conditions every day.
People who buy because of written reviews are people who live with normal road conditions and drive their cars in an every day normal fashion.
Even the people who live in the city and drive in the city, but go "into the wild" to ski or mountain bike, will use recommendations of the other people who use their cars in the same way.
Car reviews are not being written for the people who need a tough vehicle, so no real need to drive them rough in order to do a review.
If a person lives where the roads are not maintained, where there are potholes and snow and ice and the snow plows don't run, that person is not interested in a car review where someone had driven a car for a couple of hours. They buy the cars that their neighbors have had good luck with.
They want the "reviews" done by the people who live with the bad road conditions every day.
People who buy because of written reviews are people who live with normal road conditions and drive their cars in an every day normal fashion.
Even the people who live in the city and drive in the city, but go "into the wild" to ski or mountain bike, will use recommendations of the other people who use their cars in the same way.
Car reviews are not being written for the people who need a tough vehicle, so no real need to drive them rough in order to do a review.
Each person has his or her own criteria. My wife has health problems (spinal problems and arthritis in the knees). She wants a smooth ride, easy to get in and out, and relatively fuel efficient. She settled on the Hyundai Kona. I wanted a compact class vehicle for commuting to and from work with decent fuel economy and settled on the Hyundai Elantra. A co-worker wants a big car and so he’s getting a Dodge Charger with the V8 engine (not SRT nor Hellcat).
I’ve stopped reading such reviews decades ago, except for occasional entertainment, but for precisely the opposite reason, to that cited by most posters here. I use my vehicles as sporting-tools, and not a quotidian transportation. It’s irrelevant to me, how comfortable is the ride, or what’s the seating-capacity, or even the gas mileage. I ask one question: “How well can it dance”? That question rarely gets answered, even in sports-car reviews.
They never tell me where to go.
More often than not, they don't even go with me.
Dealers around here have predetermined routes. Some dealers used to let you take the car by yourself but now don’t allow you without a sales guy riding along. Maybe it’s regional
Dealers around here have predetermined routes. Some dealers used to let you take the car by yourself but now don’t allow you without a sales guy riding along. Maybe it’s regional
If the dealer won't allow me to drive the car where I want to take it (perfectly OK to have the salesman riding along), then I'm not going to be buying from them. This has only happened to me once.
Lately most dealers toss me the keys and don't even want to ride along. They have a Xerox copy of my drivers license, so it's not like I could steal it easily. If I wreck it they have insurance.
I have to say, I've never used a magazine/internet review of a vehicle's driving characteristics to guide my buying choices. Usually my impressions are quite different from theirs.
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That’s how cheap and crappy many of these vehicles felt inside. Hard ass seats in all.
