Do journos really get to spec their long term test cars?

[Ari]

I keep seeing mention in the reports of long term test cars of "we decided to opt for the Lux pack and black leather", or "we thought we'd go for the diesel version to see how economical it is long term".

There are two mentions of choosing the spec in this months Car, one on a MINI Coupe (fugly car!) and the other a Jag. Then later the MINI chap goes on to describe a couple of options that he doesn't like, saying "MINI put those on", which is a bit contradictory.

So do they really get to spec up their own cars from scratch as they make out, or are they just press cars that they're given to run for six months or whatever and they take what they're given (seems more likely) but make out they chose it anyway?

[kambites]

It would be nice to think that they do, on the basis that at least they can then pick the options that they think their readers want to read about, rather than having to have every available option to try to improve the results of the review.