Off Topic Any What?!?!?!?!?! Car?!?!?! readers out there

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Off Topic Any What?!?!?!?!?! Car?!?!?! readers out there

A lot of people use them to whittle down to a "shortlist" unless you're going to go to every dealership to test drive every possible option it is thereotically useful.

However honest john classifies one of the cars we own as scrap...so you know..I'm bitter.
 
I took part in a JD power survey some years ago and the questions are all subjective and ignore the type of car. We had a Ford Ka at the time, and it asked how I rated the luggage space - if we'd wanted a big boot we'd have been bright enough to buy something else! The only reliability guide I know of is the Warranty Direct one, but this will only cover older cars as the manufacturers warranty covers them for at least 5 years.
And yes, What Car winds me up too. If there's a VW or BMW in any of their group tests, they will win for sure!
 
Only Jd any good is a beverage ,they are biased full stop imho always have been against Fiat :mad: If they were that bad and unreliable i would not be on my 15th Fiat! my motto is look after your car ,service it and it looks after you,this current Punto has been faultless in the last two years since new ,as was my 500 before that ,yes in the early days my uno`s had a few minor niggles rust lol but nothing too expensive to fix ,the best place for that magazine survey is the toilet we can recycle it and save on toilet tissue :D
 
I have had a read of the website for reviews on the xc60 we are ordering. it seems OK for that and the target price they do is very helpful.

Hi Rui RUI - have you joined the Volvo forum yet ? Not quite as diverse and interesting as this one!

I've had my XC60 for just over 3 years and it's a great car - with some really good deals to be had. enjoy!
 
Reliability is one thing, but subjective matters such as space, comfort, refinement and performance are things that shouldn't be on a survey such as this.

I've got a small car, a Panda. Does it have a big boot? Er, well in comparison with a Fiesta, no, but an Up! yes it's ok. As for space, in an episode of Top Gear James May compared it to a Mini and reckoned it had at least as much cabin space as that, if not more. Personally I think there's as much leg room in the Panda as a 1 Series BMW, so how does that add up. A £20,000 BMW as opposed to a little Italian car half its price.

As for journalists, why do they try and tell us what kind of engine to have? I'll agree to being advised that a 1.2 might be more suitable for someone who drives 5,000 miles a year mainly commuting as opposed to one who travels 15,000. But who do they think they are telling us that if you buy a 500 you should specify a Twin Air and if you choose a Panda then stick with the 1.2?

Journalists put everybody else in a category and declare themselves the arbiters of all things motorised.

In Car magazine Anthony Ffrench-Constant was given a Panda Twin Air and couldn't find one good thing to write about it during his long term test. He was later given an Audi A4 Avant with a big engine and was over the moon. Say no more.
 
Reliability is one thing, but subjective matters such as space, comfort, refinement and performance are things that shouldn't be on a survey such as this.

I've got a small car, a Panda. Does it have a big boot? Er, well in comparison with a Fiesta, no, but an Up! yes it's ok. As for space, in an episode of Top Gear James May compared it to a Mini and reckoned it had at least as much cabin space as that, if not more. Personally I think there's as much leg room in the Panda as a 1 Series BMW, so how does that add up. A £20,000 BMW as opposed to a little Italian car half its price.

As for journalists, why do they try and tell us what kind of engine to have? I'll agree to being advised that a 1.2 might be more suitable for someone who drives 5,000 miles a year mainly commuting as opposed to one who travels 15,000. But who do they think they are telling us that if you buy a 500 you should specify a Twin Air and if you choose a Panda then stick with the 1.2?

Journalists put everybody else in a category and declare themselves the arbiters of all things motorised.

In Car magazine Anthony Ffrench-Constant was given a Panda Twin Air and couldn't find one good thing to write about it during his long term test. He was later given an Audi A4 Avant with a big engine and was over the moon. Say no more.
I hope you're not trying to say that What?!?!?!?!?! Car?!?!?!?!?! are influenced by who pays the most for adverts in their magazine!
 
I hope you're not trying to say that What?!?!?!?!?! Car?!?!?!?!?! are influenced by who pays the most for adverts in their magazine!
That is absolutely outrageous. How dare you accuse our fearless journalists of having any other interests other than our enlightenment and education in the quest for the ultimate car.

If you go back a bit there was a magazine called Small Car and Mini Owner which later morphed into Car magazine. There were also two other publications that it spawned: Bike, and Truck magazines.

Bike once had all Honda's advertising withdrawn because they were less than complimentary about one of their products. Bike survived and prospered, growing from a marginal, specialist publication to the UK's premier motorcycle magazine. It seems Honda forgave them.

They also tested a Voskhod 175 which was two stroke twin from the USSR of which they commented that it couldn't brake in a straight line and the exhaust already had Gun Gum on the silencer as it came from the importer.

That's what objective journalism is all about, with emphasis on the "Objective" as opposed to the "Subjective".
 
That is absolutely outrageous. How dare you accuse our fearless journalists of having any other interests other than our enlightenment and education in the quest for the ultimate car.

If you go back a bit there was a magazine called Small Car and Mini Owner which later morphed into Car magazine. There were also two other publications that it spawned: Bike, and Truck magazines.

Bike once had all Honda's advertising withdrawn because they were less than complimentary about one of their products. Bike survived and prospered, growing from a marginal, specialist publication to the UK's premier motorcycle magazine. It seems Honda forgave them.

They also tested a Voskhod 175 which was two stroke twin from the USSR of which they commented that it couldn't brake in a straight line and the exhaust already had Gun Gum on the silencer as it came from the importer.

That's what objective journalism is all about, with emphasis on the "Objective" as opposed to the "Subjective".
Objection withdrawn ;)
 
Objection withdrawn ;)
I did use the example of Car, Bike and Truck magazines. I wasn't suggesting that What Car had quite the same high journalistic principles. Although, I always thought that What Car was perhaps the most anemic of Britain's motoring magazine, but over the last few years I feel there are almost none that really stand out, perhaps because they almost all seem to use the same editing and layout software
 
For some reason I bought what car? Today. I got it home, sat down at the kitchen table, thumbed through to the index and immediately regretted my purchase, the index is 8 pages in behind 4 double page vw ads. Somehow objectivity might be a reach for them..

Oooh just read it and ...6 out of the top 10 in the survey are vag....obviously hmm feel like I've bought an advert.
 
I seem to recall the Honda S2000 came top in the JD Power survey for several years running. Sure, it's a good car, but I often wondered if it had a vocal owners club who got together to make sure they all gave positive replies to the survey.
I fear that not enough Fiat owners are forum members for us to do the same!
 
I personally tend to ignore those surveys, and indeed journalists' reviews. For example: they dismiss the current model Punto, because the design dates back to 2005, yet it's still the best looking car in the class. The fiesta, 208 and Clio all have up to the minute styling, and all are absolute eyesores!!! Yet, the original ford Krap Automobile was in production for 12 years, and that was ok?!?!
 
I tend to agree with what's said here. I don't buy or subscribe to any motor magazines and the whole Ford, VW and Audi are the best wears very thin.

I sometimes think that VW could insert spikes in its seats and Whatcar would still find a positive slant on it.

More frustrating is the website. Has online actually read the **** they write. By that I actually mean the spelling and typos. I can't believe that they allow some of it to be published online. One can only assume they don't have a proof reader.

Here's a typical example of the kind of dribble and uneducated **** that they spout-

(when talking about their team test car the Fiat Panda Pop) "We still can't believe that this entry level model even does without a fuel cap"

Now I'm no expert (although compared to them I'm a f***ing genius) but the Panda is fitted with Easy Fuel and therefore does not need a fuel cap. No Ford with Easy Fuel has a fuel cap and if they had even bothered to do any work and actually research this they would also have noticed that the Easy, Lounge, Trekking, 4x4 and upcoming Cross also do not have a fuel cap. It is of course bloody lazy journalism and an easy write up to assume a missing cap is because it's the entry level model.

My partner thinks I get to wound up by this sort of thing but it's the biased writing that I find frustrating. I mean I've driven the new Fiesta and if I believed the journo's I'd orgasm all over myself as soon as I turned the key. Imagine my disappointment when I realised it was just another ubiquitous Ford, albeit with a very nice engine. (I'll give them that one)

Steve
 
The only motoring 'magazine' i read these days is Pistonheads although they also seem to be having a slow news couple of months, if i'm buying anything from the newsagents to read which is rare its usually car mechanics or practical classics.
 
EVO is good. IMHO Practical Classics is too fixated with boring turds like Sherpa Coupés and the like.
 
One upon a time motoring journalists, like the great LJK Setright, actually prided themselves in understanding engineering, design, taste and accuracy. I can't think of any magazine I have read over the past few years that isn't full of howlers and unconfessed prejudices.

I read many of them, certainly, and the factual contradictions, inaccuracies and bias only feed my belief that lots of test driving, by me, is the only way to get an idea of what a new car might really be like in my own real world.
 
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LJK Setright was the benchmark for intelligent and informative motoring journalism, i remember reading his articles in a magazine called fast lane back in the 80's and they were superbly written and fascinating to read.
 
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