On the wings of the Automotive Journalist’s Association of Canada’s (AJAC) Test Fest, I was once again reminded of the very important and necessary activity of back-to-back test drives.
As an auto journalist, I’m always asked the same questions. I’ve come to accept them over the years thanks to my profession: “What’s your favourite car?” “Your least favourite?” “How do I do what you do?” and most often, “What should my next car be?” followed up with, “And can you help me make the right choice?”
Well, short of telling a few people precisely what they should buy (my father comes to mind here, and for once he listened and is now the proud owner of a Jetta TDI, but I digress), I usually give a list of 3-4 vehicles based on criteria I’ve been provided with.
Then I tell them to test drive the top three vehicles. On the same day. Back-to-back. One after the other.
To this I usually receive half nods, possibly an eye roll or excuses about how much time it would take or how far apart the dealers are.
To that I say: Make it work. I don’t care how, but make it work. And if you can’t, let us do a bit of the legwork for you.
A few weeks ago, I spent five days driving cars from all walks of vehicular status back-to-back. Categorized by vehicle segment and price, I was meant to score the vehicles I drove. Without driving them back-to-back with their direct competition, I never would have been able to properly score each vehicle. Nuances would have been lost. Small differences would have gone unnoticed. That’s the beauty of the same-day test drive.
Here at Auto123.com we don’t just put together comparison drives because we like the stress of organizing that many vehicles at one time; we do it because we know how difficult same-day testing can be for the average consumer, and we also understand how important they are.
Purchasing a car is no small thing. You’re dropping a great deal of cash on one item, and that item has to last you for at least a few years. Assuming you’re going to use said product every single day, you also have to kind of like it (at least a little), and unless you can truly measure it up against its closest competition, how will you know you’ve made the right decision?
Even spacing out test drives by a few days isn’t always a good idea. Our minds can play some serious tricks on us, especially when emotions come into play. You may have spent years dreaming about owning a MAZDASPEED3, and when you finally drive it you hate the throttle response. A few days later, you drive the Ford Fiesta ST and think to yourself, “Wow, this is a great car!” But then you remember your love of the MAZDASPEED3, and even though the Fiesta ST has much better throttle response and overall driving prowess, you drop your $$$ on the Mazda because your emotions clouded your memories.
While emotions play a key role in vehicle purchases, they can’t be the deciding factor which is where back-to-back testing comes into play, so that little voice of reason can pipe up.
As an auto journalist, I’m always asked the same questions. I’ve come to accept them over the years thanks to my profession: “What’s your favourite car?” “Your least favourite?” “How do I do what you do?” and most often, “What should my next car be?” followed up with, “And can you help me make the right choice?”
Well, short of telling a few people precisely what they should buy (my father comes to mind here, and for once he listened and is now the proud owner of a Jetta TDI, but I digress), I usually give a list of 3-4 vehicles based on criteria I’ve been provided with.
Then I tell them to test drive the top three vehicles. On the same day. Back-to-back. One after the other.
To this I usually receive half nods, possibly an eye roll or excuses about how much time it would take or how far apart the dealers are.
To that I say: Make it work. I don’t care how, but make it work. And if you can’t, let us do a bit of the legwork for you.
A few weeks ago, I spent five days driving cars from all walks of vehicular status back-to-back. Categorized by vehicle segment and price, I was meant to score the vehicles I drove. Without driving them back-to-back with their direct competition, I never would have been able to properly score each vehicle. Nuances would have been lost. Small differences would have gone unnoticed. That’s the beauty of the same-day test drive.
Here at Auto123.com we don’t just put together comparison drives because we like the stress of organizing that many vehicles at one time; we do it because we know how difficult same-day testing can be for the average consumer, and we also understand how important they are.
Purchasing a car is no small thing. You’re dropping a great deal of cash on one item, and that item has to last you for at least a few years. Assuming you’re going to use said product every single day, you also have to kind of like it (at least a little), and unless you can truly measure it up against its closest competition, how will you know you’ve made the right decision?
Even spacing out test drives by a few days isn’t always a good idea. Our minds can play some serious tricks on us, especially when emotions come into play. You may have spent years dreaming about owning a MAZDASPEED3, and when you finally drive it you hate the throttle response. A few days later, you drive the Ford Fiesta ST and think to yourself, “Wow, this is a great car!” But then you remember your love of the MAZDASPEED3, and even though the Fiesta ST has much better throttle response and overall driving prowess, you drop your $$$ on the Mazda because your emotions clouded your memories.
While emotions play a key role in vehicle purchases, they can’t be the deciding factor which is where back-to-back testing comes into play, so that little voice of reason can pipe up.
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| Photo: Miranda Lightstone |