Having been involved in modified car magazines for while, I take for granted facts that most readers are not aware of. Reader misconceptions crop up frequently, so rather than deal with them one by one in the AutoSpeed Members' Feedback Forum, I thought that I'd discuss them here.
And if some people perceive the following as simply a list of excuses, so be it!
Firstly, readers of car magazines often think that new road test cars are available simply by making a phone call to the car company. Unfortunately, this is simply not so. Perhaps the top new car test magazine in each country has a fair degree of clout, but all other magazines have to beg, scrape, bow and plead to gain access to cars. Especially if the magazine is predicated around modified performance cars. And even more especially if the magazine is Web-based....
I'll give you an example. I contacted by email the PR department chief of a major car manufacturer with a view to gaining cars for road tests. He seemed positive, replying that while he hadn't seen AutoSpeed, it sounded good. A few more emails followed and then I rang him, expecting basically to discuss what model and trim level of car we could have. Instead, once I had introduced myself, he barked: "What's the demographics of your readership? What external audit figures have you got? And anyway, we don't cater for any Web magazines!"
When I pointed out that, of the automotive web sites in Australia, we generally ranked far higher on independent listings of popularity than the car manufacturer's own Australian site, he listened a bit harder. But it was still a major, uphill battle to get him to even consider lending us a car. Not that I blame him - he has a job to do, and, as he said, all sorts of people try things on. One print journalist, he suggested, even wanted to drive every paint colour of their mainstream model!
So, while you do see new car tests in AutoSpeed, sourcing the most expensive or most sporty of any model is not something that's just a phone call away....
A problem that's peculiar to AutoSpeed is that our readers come from all over the world. "Pulling over to the left" in Australia might mean that you're about to stop to admire the view, but in the US it might mean that you want to very publicly commit suicide! Stories on what the police can and can't do, how to import a car into Australia, laws regarding headlights or tyres, the price depreciation on certain cars, etc, have a very narrow readership focus. Obviously we often do feature stories that a reader in South Africa is going to find much less relevant that one in Australia, but where possible, we try to take as wide a view as we can. And, to understate it somewhat, researching a single story that takes into account the local laws of many countries would take weeks and weeks.... remember, we produce more than one AutoSpeed story each day!
Readers love product reviews. "Check this one out!" comes an email with an attached URL. Or, "Why don't you do a comparison of mufflers, or cat converters, or intercoolers, or.....". We have done some comparos and product tests (and we have more in the pipeline), but there are major difficulties.
Firstly, sourcing the product. Buying a dozen mufflers or ten sets of tyres or four different types of supercharger is simply way beyond our budget. So what about borrowing them? Many products (eg mufflers and tyres) are obviously secondhand after they have been tested, making the return of them a bit of a problem... So why not ask the companies to supply them for nothing? Well, the companies simply refuse! But why? - surely they'd want the publicity?
Here's a few facts. (1) Many companies have not tested their own products, let alone tested them in comparison with competitors' products. Thus the thought of someone else doing that frightens the hell out of them. (2) Large companies often threaten legal action before, during and then after comparison tests are carried out. Legal action (even unsuccessful) that's mounted by a major company could bankrupt any magazine. No test that I have been involved in over the years has yet gone to court, but some have got very, very heavy. (3) Even if a company agrees before a comparo that the test procedure is fair and reasonable, after the test has been carried out and their product fared badly, they totally change their mind!
The next point is in determining the testing procedure to be used. Any product - from mufflers to ignition coils - can be tested. But how? Don't laugh - it's an extraordinarily complex question. For example, some people reckon that an automotive airfilter can be tested just by seeing how much power an engine makes on the dyno when using it! Hello? Aren't filters supposed to catch dust? Yes? So how do you test that? The short answer is that you need a fully-dedicated lab, the specially-calibrated test dust (no, I'm not joking) and about a week of time. How do you test oils? How do you test cat converters? When you really start thinking about it, the complexities rise and rise.
So, comparison testing is expensive, time-consuming, stressful and difficult. And before you write to me and tell me about other magazine's comparison tests, look at how good the testing methodology was, how winners and losers were named (often they aren't!), and whether the comparo is supported by major advertising from just one of the companies represented in the test... perhaps the winner!
And note that our Buyers' Guides are not product comparisons. When we do a round-up story on seats, or programmable ECUs, or steering wheels, or tyres, we're simply showing you a variety of what's on the market. In this type of article there are no winners or losers, just information on product and features.
A final misconception is that we get to drive the modified cars that we feature in AutoSpeed. People say, "Why don't you tell us what it was like to drive?" when some owners won't even take us for a ride, let alone hand over the keys. The rare exceptions come when an owner feels particularly generous (or rich), and/or when they have confidence in us because the modified car is of a similar type to the cars that Deputy Editor Michael Knowling (Subaru Liberty RS) or I (Skyline GT-R) own. So in recent times we have driven modified WRXs and last issue's R33 Skyline GT-R. But rest assured, we would love to drive every feature car... keep that in mind if we ever run a feature on your car!
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