Why are some Brit car reviews so rubbish?
Discussion
I've recently been reading articles on a few cars I'm interested in. My first stops were some well know American magazine websites but I've also ventured to a few well know British sites too. And now I remember why I stopped reading them.
Take this review for example:
http://www.topgear.com/uk/mazda/rx-8/road-test/maz...
Is it not probably one of the most pointless reviews ever published? In short it's terrible and a total waste of bandwidth, it's total tat.
Now, let me expand on that a bit. First it has no data (it says so at the top of the review), so for starters is pretty worthless from an information point of view. But the reviewer, a Mr Matt Masters then only manages a few insults. Not once do they manage to tell you how it drives and rather importantly how it drives and compares to a normal RX-8 and it's main competition.
If honest I'd probably place a wager that Mr Masters hadn't even driven the car under review!
What a shame and a total waste of effort.
And this isn't singling out a single publisher either, I've read some equal tat and pointless gibberish from a number of others too.
The motoring enthusiast, once a common site. But now...
P.S. This isn't tarring all UK mags all of the time. I know there are a few good writers and reviewers out there, so please keep fighting the good fight!
I just feel so let down after reading some really well written and constructed reviews from other countries to then spend time reading rubbish like the article linked above which managed to tell me exactly nothing about how the car drives and only that Mr Masters seemed to have a chip on their shoulder 
Take this review for example:
http://www.topgear.com/uk/mazda/rx-8/road-test/maz...
Is it not probably one of the most pointless reviews ever published? In short it's terrible and a total waste of bandwidth, it's total tat.
Now, let me expand on that a bit. First it has no data (it says so at the top of the review), so for starters is pretty worthless from an information point of view. But the reviewer, a Mr Matt Masters then only manages a few insults. Not once do they manage to tell you how it drives and rather importantly how it drives and compares to a normal RX-8 and it's main competition.
If honest I'd probably place a wager that Mr Masters hadn't even driven the car under review!
What a shame and a total waste of effort.
And this isn't singling out a single publisher either, I've read some equal tat and pointless gibberish from a number of others too.
The motoring enthusiast, once a common site. But now...
P.S. This isn't tarring all UK mags all of the time. I know there are a few good writers and reviewers out there, so please keep fighting the good fight!
I just feel so let down after reading some really well written and constructed reviews from other countries to then spend time reading rubbish like the article linked above which managed to tell me exactly nothing about how the car drives and only that Mr Masters seemed to have a chip on their shoulder Edited by 300bhp/ton on Tuesday 8th February 07:49
300bhp/ton said:
First it has no data.
Not exactly no data - it says the price and that the engine is unchanged from standard. Suspension is also covered.Its fairly typical of the 'filler articles' you find at the front (or back) of most magazines.
On the other hand I have sympathy with your view as I used to share a subscription to the Independant. They used to have (maybe still do, I don't read it anymore) a motoring feature once a week. Their writer at the time Mr Simister was shockingly bad. Every week was, without fail, dire.
I've no idea why I read it for so long.
Having read a few US car mags when visiting the US, I have to say, theirs are no better. Very little information about how well they handle, and loads of toss about skid pan figures and 0-60 times. I don't car what lateral G a car can hold, especially if exceeded it then spits you off the road.
Edited by rhinochopig on Tuesday 8th February 10:27
rhinochopig said:
Having read a few US car mags when visiting the US, I have to say, there's are no better. Very little information about how well they handle, and loads of toss about skid pan figures and 0-60 times. I don't car what lateral G a car can hold, especially if exceeded it then spits you off the road.
This is true. US mags seem all about data and rarely touch on the subjective. Something in between would be nice.doogz said:
CosworthV8 said:
Why would you use the Top Gear site if you wanted to find a car review anyway 
The magazine used to be quite good. Haven't read it for a while, but it's not the same nonsense that's on the TV.profile said:
Occupation: Automotive writer/editor
Vested interest?I like Motor Trend personally, but is this really much better than the TG review?
http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/sedans/112_030...
M.
Edited by marcosgt on Tuesday 8th February 11:01
900T-R said:
Go wash your mouth with some high octane stuff of your preference. 
Each to their own, but as a matter of interest what do you find so bad about it? I tried C&D and R&T, but didn't enjoy them as much as MT, but then I don't pay a fraction of what a subscription to TG or EVO would cost.M.
trickywoo said:
Not exactly no data - it says the price and that the engine is unchanged from standard. Suspension is also covered.
No data 
trickywoo said:
Its fairly typical of the 'filler articles' you find at the front (or back) of most magazines.
Which makes it all the more the same when I search the TG website. I was hoping for something worth reading, something that'd actually tell me something about the car, how it drove, how it felt. Was it an improvement compared to a non PZ model and how it made it compare to other sporting coupes. CosworthV8 said:
Why would you use the Top Gear site if you wanted to find a car review anyway
Can you suggest any other places to read reviews? I've read the Motor Trend and Car and Driver articles, which I have to say are fab, flipping fantastic reads. Lots of info, unbiased comments and justification on any claims made. Plus proper tests on road and track.
I've read the Evo online articles, which in fairness where ok. Not great, but the best UK ones I've read.
I read a dismal article on Autocar which seemed to consist of them making snide remarks about the vehicle and generally coming up with conclusions 100% opposite to all the other reviews I've read so far.
I was trying to think of some other places that might have a good write up and review. Google sadly turns up these pointless review sites where you get a handful of unknown owners either b
hing about a car or claiming it's the best thing ever in either 2 comments or a single paragraph and a star rating system. The Crack Fox said:
I agree with 300, there are some uterly tedious car reviews, that's why I go and drive a car I'm interested in instead of reading TG.
Fully agree and will be when the times right, although doesn't mean I don't want to do some reading too. And besides, this was while sat on the train to work this morning.
And I suppose
if only, maybe I should go test drive a Veyron rather than read about one 
unpc said:
Got to say the OP does have a point. There are genuinely very few car reviews in the UK media that tell you anything about the car but you were reading Top Gear. What did you expect from them?
My hopes where very low and it was the last place to look. But even this far exceeded expectations on how poor an article it was.It's a real shame, it's not that I want to sing the praises of other non UK car mags. As they evidently don't review all the cars we have for sale and never (or rarely) on British roads. But I do find that reading quite a number of OK articles they really are poor at conveying what the vehicle is truly like or the information many potential readers will find of use.
Places like Parkers are no good either as they are not a performance or enthusiast site and having read a fair number of things on their are usually generic or highly opinionated and usually factually wrong.
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