The truth about automotive reviews,...

**ghosthunter** · September 9th, 2006 09:08 PM

Originally Posted by Jun aka Pekto

Someone's got to do it. He can preach ethics and objectiveness so long as he/she actually practices them.

unfortunately, he's been doing the opposite. I'm giving him the chance to prove what he wrote. Waiting for the November & December issues of TGP.

Could it be a Jerry Maguire moment for Vernon B. Sarne?

**Chip** · September 9th, 2006 09:46 PM

Originally Posted by ghosthunter

unfortunately, he's been doing the opposite. I'm giving him the chance to prove what he wrote. Waiting for the November & December issues of TGP.

Could it be a Jerry Maguire moment for Vernon B. Sarne?

Getting mauled changes a man...

**Jun aka Pekto** · September 9th, 2006 11:42 PM

Originally Posted by ghosthunter

unfortunately, he's been doing the opposite. I'm giving him the chance to prove what he wrote. Waiting for the November & December issues of TGP.

Could it be a Jerry Maguire moment for Vernon B. Sarne?

I don't know much about the guy. So for now, he gets my benefit of the doubt and a chance for him to do things right. I'm trying to figure out who have similar tendencies among US car mags......

**niky** · September 9th, 2006 11:47 PM

Hehe... actually posting Vernon's article is a proof of your objectivity, ghosthunter... and here, I thought you were one of his worst critics.

Nothing new here, but it's impressive that Vernon is actually willing to put it in print.

Airbags on a Crosswind? Geddemnit, they held out on me! :lol:

RE: Topgear, Car&Driver, etcetera... if your magazine is big enough, you can force the car companies to play ball with you instead of pandering to them like our small publications do. Kaya nga ang galing ng mga internet publications... they pull no punches, especially the really nasty and direct ones like Jalopnik or Autoextremist.

**empy** · September 9th, 2006 11:47 PM

Originally Posted by ghosthunter

unfortunately, he's been doing the opposite. I'm giving him the chance to prove what he wrote. Waiting for the November & December issues of TGP.

Could it be a Jerry Maguire moment for Vernon B. Sarne?

do you complete him :lovers: ??

**SNAKE V6** · September 10th, 2006 01:09 AM

It really helps to google reviews by the car owners themselves, since you get unbiased reviews. Publication is a business, and they do need advertisements, we just have to be wise enough to pick who to believe.

**HIFI** · September 10th, 2006 01:42 AM

One reason why I like tsikot.com. There's a lot of diversity here.

Sa dami ng opinions/reviews dito, it's way better (and perhaps more realible) than any review sa mga magazines. After all, people here aren't being paid. It's free for all.

**Jun aka Pekto** · September 10th, 2006 04:45 AM

Originally Posted by SNAKE V6

It really helps to google reviews by the car owners themselves, since you get unbiased reviews. Publication is a business, and they do need advertisements, we just have to be wise enough to pick who to believe.

One thing wrong with that approach is that each owner is biased towards his/her vehicle. It doesn't help much with comparisons unless the owner owns all the vehicles in question. Otherwise, each owner will be saying, "Mine is better".

I tend to agree with niky that some car magazines are so big that it's the car manufacturers who come to them. The sheer volume of vehicles being tested means that the journalists/staffers doing the testing don't have time to cozy up to a particular brand. It may sound impersonal and clinical. But, I feel that's the way it should be.

I tend to look at both owners' reviews and magazine reviews. With the owner's reviews, I tend to look at things such as fit and finish, ergonomics, long-term reliability, etc. Only an owner can accurately supply those information. With car magazines, I use them for comparisons and for hard performance numbers. While these numbers may vary among different magazines, the proportionality of these numbers among different car brands are fairly consistent. An obvious example is my 2006 Sonata V6. Many online car magazines have 0-60mph at 7+ sec while C/D has it at 6.6 sec and Motor Trend has it at 6.8 sec. There's a disparity in actual numbers. But, the fact those numbers are virtually identical to an A/T V6 Accord's is consistent across different magazines.

Of course, there's no way of knowing the hard numbers on my own and that's where car magazines come in the most handy since they do have the equipment to measure peformance. They're also in the best position to do comparison tests such as the not-too-old V6 midsize sedan comparisons by both C/D and MT.

Of course, you can't please everyone. C/D, in particular, had been accused in the past by vengeful domestic car owners as catering to the import brands to the point that their patriotism was being questioned. There was a big hubbub about it at the wake of Desert Storm back in the early 90's.

Personally, there's no substitute for actually going out to a dealer and test-driving cars if you really want the bottom line. Many of my friends were shocked to see me drive to work in a V6 Sonata when they were expecting to see me in either a V6 Altima or Mazda 6. They just can't believe that I (er, we) chose the Hyundai. But,we did our homework, and the Hyundai it was.

**Blackraven** · September 10th, 2006 05:32 PM

Reviews from car magazines provide good info....BUT...these alone won't suffice for me.

I agree with the guy above when he says: Get as much info as possible and from all sources available. Don't restrict your self with only one.

Go read your car magazines, visit the dealers and get a test drive (not just by looking at it), ask reviews from existing owners and of course, from various automotive websites (such as tsikot.com and motioncars among all others).

That's the safest way/method available