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Indeed - to this day, I've never seen a negative car review from a local newspaper! To them, all cars are at least good, except for German cars (especially BMWs), which are BRILLIANT!
To be honest, the same goes for film reviews in tabloid newspapers - IMO they only ever give poor reviews to genres they personally don't care about seeing and are 'forced to' go by their editors, and gush over ones they want freebies/expensive paid-for junkets to posh places, getting into exclusive clubs etc.. IMO its amazing at how often the user (us) reviews are to those of the so-called 'professional reviewers' (film/TV critics and most motoring journos).
Less and less actual 'news' and factural reporting in newspapers, magazines and online media outlets these days - more disguised ads and opinion/gossip/propaganda dressed up as fact.
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I have found most of the motoring press to be juvenile when it comes to reviews. When I was the recipient of company cars I would always read current reviews on models I wanted. What a waste of time that was. They never had a decent word to say about the Honda Accord, Toyota Avensis, Ford Mondeo etc etc. They were just dismissed as bland, non event motoring. Completely missing the point that what the vast majority wanted was a decent looking car that was reliable, transport for the family, a few bells and whistles and decent fuel economy. Most models gave me that in spades and were decent to drive. But because the 'reviewers' could not rag the tyres off it, or corner a hairpin bend at 60mph in 2nd gear, or the steering did not give enough 'feedback' they rubbished the cars. I was a typical motorist and to be honest couldn't give a roasted f*** about 'feedback', I was not into formulae 1 I was into good relaxed motoring. I also noticed that most reviews seem to be about cars that few of us mere mortals would buy. Not very many reviews in the 18 to 25K areas where most do their shopping. Ah well, come the revolution brothers!!!!
Cheers Concrete
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...and what's with the obsession of reviewers with hard plastics? Appreciate that most cars these days are an almagamation of standard parts from various suppliers so it's hard to write anything different about them, but all I want from a dashboard is non-reflection and I only touch it to clean it occasionally. Don't care about "soft touch" materials on parts I don't touch regularly
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Indeed - to this day, I've never seen a negative car review from a local newspaper! To them, all cars are at least good, ....
In absolute terms I think that is true - they don't often break down, and are not often seriously uncomfortable. But all of us here know that some cars are better than others. On the other hand I guess it's unlikely (a) that a journo will be given a lemon to test, and (b) he/she is unlikely to drive it long enough to find many of the flaws which only become apparent after a month or two.
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The power of the motoring industry, their lobbying ability, their control of the publications and the advertising budgets they have is truly frightening. It's always been the case, go back 50 or 60 years to the Ralph Nader GM era, the Ford Pinto debacle etc, the ability of the big companies to manipulate, control and influence opinion is unsurpassed. We are seeing it even today, right now with the emissions debacle! So it's not suprising to see blatant bias in the tin pot rags, just another form of advertising. I find I take no notice of mainstream reviews, this site is as good as any for getting at real detail, there are some other good US based sites too, in fact the US consumer is much more savvy and hard-nosed than us Brits.
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I was never a huge fan of Top Gear, nor of Clarkson in particular. I'd much rather watch someone telling me how to fix my car than how to drive it. His refusal to conform to PC mores didn't bother me, and in fact I found that side of his public persona quite refreshing, given the preponderance on TV of cyborgs and cardboard cutouts who are programmed never to say anything remotely controversial.
Although its obviously dangerous to try to emulate something unique, I do find it odd that his blisteringly ironic style of reviewing hasn't found more currency amongst his peers. As said above, much of this stuff is so bland and uninformative that it might as well have been written in invisible ink.
I'd much rather come here for such information, and although in doing so I won't be able to watch some shiny young thing tearing around a Tuscan village at unlikely speeds, at least I might find out whether the gearbox is likely to fall out of the bottom of the car before she gets to vineyard where her billionaire uncle is waiting to welcome her.
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One of the 'old boys' (not sure, but I think it was Auto Express) truly took top prize a couple of years ago.
A multi-car road trip. An Audi A4, BMW 3 series, Merc C class, and the Jag XE. Driving from Spain back to the UK.
The Jag went into 'limp-home' mode on 3 occasions. They actually got Jag to swap it for a different car. Which then broke down.
At the end, they gave the Jag second place.
Edited by RobJP on 03/11/2017 at 10:09
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What do others think of reports by the likes of Which?
I've never found them that useful, TBH - not for toasters TVs or cars.
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I gave up on Which a few years ago. You could pretty much guess what their recommendations would be : TV Panasonic, car VW etc. Not necessarily wrong but oh so predictable. They also used to feature campaigns on, say, swimming pool safety or whatever that were of no interest to me. Car reviews seemed to give weight to things that didnt concern me and had nothing like the insight that a young HJ was providing at the time.
Having said all that the last thing we bought on their recommendation was a Zanussi washing machine for about £180 and its never seen a repairman in the 15 years or so we've had it.
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Which? is not as good as it was a few years ago. One tends to find words like " not much fun to drive" creeping in, which is hardly objective, in what should be a completely objective review. Their specific reliability/failure data is also quite vague. ON the subject of other things, they're quite a useful resource but one can be a bit misled by their listing of things like a Macbook Pro as best buy, when clearly it is only that if one has the readies to splurge. I do take note of their feedback on things like insurance companies/brokers etc. But recently I bought their Best Buy toothbrush and it is rubbish! So overall a useful resource but not perfect.
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Which? is not as good as it was a few years ago.
Nothing ever is .... :-)
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There's a site where you can post owner's reviews: think it might be What Car.
I find that quite interesting because contributors have no real stake in sweetening an obviously bad pill, or giving false praise where condemnation is due. I posted one review myself when we owned our Meriva, poor old thing, and I might even have ventured a few words about the Focus.
Of course these are mainly reviews for second hand cars so not absolutely relevant to the matter being discussed, but as someone who will probably never own a new car its the nearest I can get.
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There are quite a few sites that you can review your own car, including this one. I know there have been some reviews on the forum, but there is a proper section for owners reviews. Yes, you can review your own car on what car, also autotrader and Parkers. I'm sure there are others, but those are the 1st to spring forth from the murky depths of my memory(!)
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I must admit that i've never watched Top Gear on the TV. I've read that they trash cars to prove something and that makers have protested.
Having said that I picked up a Top Gear magazine, subscribers edition, in the dentist last week. The journo was reviewing a car, I don't remember which, and he wrote about the headlights that were lazer and lit the road up like a firework display without causing dazzle to oncoming drivers. The journo is obviously not a driver him/her self. That meant that I would never buy a Top Gear magazine.
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Only reviews I place much value on are located right here on the HJ site. I don't always agree but they do tend to be more honest and in keeping with ordinary Joe Punters requirements rather than just blasting cars round a track testing its ultimate handling limits which are largely irrelevant on most road cars.
I do often disagree with the advice given to people looking for used car buying advice but then that's just me being a stubborn know it all.
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