What shapes your opinions?

[mikeyr]

(Triggered off by the amusing, if factually incorrect, Car of the year thread)

A Pistonheader said:

Does anyone really care what a magazine says (is car of the year)

Ignoring the second part of the quote I found this a little strange - what do you base your car opinions on if not the car media??? Rule out the separate "Car of the year" debate here, I'm talking purely about car reviews.

I figure that someone that has driven hundreds of cars would have a decent experience as to whether a new car is any good...and therefore seems a good baseline for considering whether a car is worth purchasing compared to its peers.

You can't test drive every car going so where would you go to whittle down your search? Do you still rely on the mainstream press, or particular journalists or is your opinion honed through the internet and the "real" reviews by "real" owners?

Over to you PH...

[marmitemania]

I base my car opinions on fact. Having been in the motor industry for nearly 1/4 of a century, 10 of those PDIing every car you could think of at a company called Eurofleet in Northamptonshire, they were all hire cars so we pdi'ed 100's in a day, also the last 3 years I was with the company I pdi'ed solely (or should I say souless)VAG products and found Skoda to be the least problematic of all the VAG brands. Moving on from that company I worked in the workshop for a civil engineering company, we also took on general public work, the company has VAG cars as company cars and I can honestly say they were troublesome to say the least. I have always said when questioned about my disdain for anything German that I have never said they are a worse product than any other, but they are certainly not any better than any other product, we have just been brainwashed into thinking that everything German is the very pinnacle of its game, and that everything made in England is ste, it mightly fkS me off to say the least.

[marmitemania]

Is there no one on here that is going to tell us why they must jump to the defence of certain car brands or car making countries?

[chibbard]

I honestly DO NOT care at all what the magazines/media think or make up. I make my decisions based on my own research and findings. If i make a mistake i only have myself to blame. It works for me and NEVER regretted a purchase yet. I have driven literally thousands of cars in my lifetime though which helps.

[falkster]

I base everything on fact and my own experiences plus whether I personally like the look of a certain car.
Oh and as long as it wasn't front wheel drive.

[so called]

I dont pay any heed to 'profesional' critics because there often appears to be a political agenda or ego.
JC and RH are perfect examples.

I do read the comments and experiences and ask questions here on PH in the appropriate forums but dilute the reliability data.
I do, after all, drive TVR's
If I had listened to all the so called experts, I certainly wouldnt have entered the TVR land of paradise.
As far as styling is concered, why listen to someone elses opinion.
I've got my own eyes and can decide for myself what I think looks good or not.

[s p a c e m a n]

I base my opinions on knowledge and I gain that by research.

[anonymous-user]

I don't read what reviews say. Just buy cars that tickle my fancy. Rally fan hence my current fleet of a Scooby and a Mini and I'm trying to use man maths to justify a MK1 Escort.... Even man maths can't help me here though.

[deltashad]

I used to almost get crushes on cars when I was a youngster. Now it depends I think on many opinions, the cars performance, if it does the job I want it to do and if its looks agree with me.
I also don't like following the trend.

[Terminator X]

I have every single copy of Evo Mag and treat their views as gospel. Their 5* cars do seem to be rather good, certainly the ones that I have sampled for myself.

TX.