Audi has won once again won the prestigious Internet Auto Awards in Europe. The awards are based on a study by the automotive marketplace AutoScout24 a leading online portal based in Germany.
It would be interesting to see if the results would be the same in North America with a leading marketplace like Auto Trader conducting the study. Read the rest of this entry »
I was just patiently reading Motor Trend this weekend, as I was preparing to re-enter the shortened workweek. The long weekend has allowed me to collect my thoughts and focus on some fine literature such as this wonderful InterLink Media publication.
The root of my concern is the Handling Test that was conducted in the current October 2008 issue of Motor Trend. I think it is completely biased and the authors are full of shit. The following vehicles were tested in terms of handling:
The persons responsible for picking out the top 5 should have read up on performance and handling before attempting this magazine writing business.
The results were as follows:
I applaud Randy Pobst, who found something positive to say about the Mazda RX-8, which came out 4th in rankings in front of the Porsche 911 Turbo and the Dodge Viper ACR. This truly proves that any magazine opinion can be bought and sold for dinners, track rentals, testing facilities and that the general commentary in these magazines is usually BS.
I guess, I should mention that Mazda North America generously donated time at the Mazda Raceway in Laguna-Seca, where the testing was conducted. This propelled the RX-8 to fourth overall position, even when the test driver commented it was “slow” in terms of lap-times, lacked lateral grip and let’s not even speak of the figure eight numbers.
I guess the general readership should be lucky a Mazda 3 did not get entered in the competition instead of the RX-8, otherwise that would’ve beaten out the 911 Turbo and Viper.
Publishers should be ashamed to print this garbage they call journalist opinion and they should call it “personal favoritism” instead of an unbiased “handling test”.
I’m not sure what is next for Motor Trend, but hopefully Kia doesn’t start sponsoring them, otherwise the Rio might have the potential to be the Best Handling Car of America in the coming years.
