The idea of ranking the cars is a bit tired. On the whole, cars are developed & positioned to major on some attributes & not others. I prefer seeing a conclusion like: for space & convenience, we’d recommend A. For low running costs, B. For driving pleasure, C.
For all that is holy, please think of who the car is aimed at. Who is the expected buyer and what are they expecting.
Far too many reviews seem to think everyone is a heel toe aficionado and expected a C segment SUV to handle like a Lotus so will complain when it doesn't.
Watch youtube with ordinary people reviewing cars. That Dad Cars channel using a 7 seater with 4 children showing how it was actually weak at that primary job is not something a lot of motoring journalists would notice.
To most people cars are an appliance. It's a minority where they aren't.
We really try to think of who is the intended market, what that use will be and review it from that perspective, with our own thoughts on top. At least that's the plan.
Most cars, when driven normally, at legal speeds, in typical traffic are pretty much the same. Quite light, no real feedback, deliberately set up for the masses who need a car to do a job and just get them somewhere. Its very hard to say anything else, unless you go extreme and push beyond typical.
I may have mentioned this last time you did this talk, but one of the best bits of advice I've had is as a tester, drive all cars the same way. That way you know differences that emerge are in the cars, and not how you're driving them (i.e. aggressive in one, smooth in another).
(Also, smoothness in general is a virtue. You're never going to be able to discern say, steering feel, if as a driver you spend your life sawing away at the wheel.)
By bad review I mean calling out bad products, not reviewing badly ;-).
And to climb on an even larger soapbox: the entire space is seeing big changes. On the journalism side with evolution in media, and on the product side with dramatic shift to EVs.
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Far too many reviews seem to think everyone is a heel toe aficionado and expected a C segment SUV to handle like a Lotus so will complain when it doesn't.
Can you put yourself in the place of a family trying to use it? Are there elements that make its ownership easier/better?
These are all mundane and less sexy stuff, but if you are a consumer journo it is VITAL you learn it
To most people cars are an appliance. It's a minority where they aren't.
Modern cars all handle perfectly well for normal users.
Expert reviewers jumping between cars can feel the difference.
But normal users won't notice, nor even need that difference.
Apparently, it's a huge problem throughout the industry, not just in journalism.
A couple of days with him was the best investment I made in my (then new) career.
Most of the influencer scene can't deliver this consistently as they are hostage of access from OEMs and clicks from platform.
And to climb on an even larger soapbox: the entire space is seeing big changes. On the journalism side with evolution in media, and on the product side with dramatic shift to EVs.
Just a feeling but IMO a normal paper is bad at this but auto publications tend to be non-political.
So the space is left to lobby groups. Not ideal.
Right. Sorry for the unstructured brain dump. Hope you all have a great day!