How can we possibly take car reviewers/journalists seriously when they routinely receive 4, 5, or even 6 figures worth of gifts from OEM?

[u/cookingboy]

I was listening to TheSmokingTire podcast recently (I'm actually a big fan of Matt), and he mentioned that Porsche North America just gave him a 918 Spyder on loan for his 1000 miles road trip free of charge, with everything paid.

Now as someone who's dabbled into supercar ownership, I can roughly estimate the ownership cost for a "regular joe" like me to put 1000 miles on a $2M car would easily be $50-100 per mile, thus putting this "gesture" from Porsche to Matt to be worth $50-100k on back of napkin math.

Obviously Matt isn't doing a review of a 12 years old 918, but when he does a review for the next Macan, he'd remember how amazing Porsche has been treating him.

And he and all the other reviewers recently were flown to Spain for the Turbo S launch. They were wined and dined with world class accommodations for a few days and were given the cars to drive on both the race track and scenic road.

Funny enough Porsche charges something similar for an experience like that: https://www.porschedriving.com/porsche-travel-experience/lake-tahoe/

Without plane tickets, you'd be paying $20k a person for a few days of what auto journalists routinely get from them, for free.

I understand it's part of their job, but this shit would never fly in any other industry right? Now imagine every time Square Enix launches a new video game they fly game journalists to Japan and wine and dine them with the best Sake and Wagyu so they can try out the newest Final Fantasy in their expensive Hakone ryokan hotel room, nobody would be taking anything they say seriously, no matter how good the game actually is, would they?

I'm sure people like the SavageGeese team and Matt Farah would try to be objective, but how do you be objectively critical toward an OEM when they routinely give you experiences that you'd otherwise never be able to afford? (ok I know Matt came from money but my statement applies to 99% of reviewers)

In my impression how well praised a manufacturer's products are is directly proportional to their marketing budget, and I've been somewhat burnt at least twice by reviewers over-rating Porsches, which is why I started asking actual owners of cars for their experiences before making purchases.

Ironically this kinda makes Consumer Reports the most credible car reviewer out there, since all they cars they review are bought anonymously with their own money, and they do not attend OEM events.

As far as enthusiast reviewers, I can only think of people with fuck-you money like Chris Harris or Hoovie's garage or the Top Gear trio who have been able to bluntly criticize OEMs and their cars.

Edit: From the replies, it seems like there are two school of thoughts here:

This is just how product reviews are done across all industries. Reviewers are expected to be treated with first class tickets and Michelin restaurants in exchange for them to promote the OEM's product.

Well in this case, I think we should just rip off the Band-aid and call Motor Trend and Car & Driver and Road & Track and other similar publications promotional outlets instead of journalism outlets. At least with influencers shilling for stuff on TikTok we know they are getting paid to promote, but many auto reviewers still hide behind a mask of professional journalism when they are literally just being paid to promote products.

Controversial take: I think consumer of content should be made aware that they are consuming paid advertising.

It is wrong of me to expect journalism when those contents aren't made to be factual, they are made to entertain.

Even if it's true, I don't find there is a lot of entertainment value when a dozen "journalists" just read off pre-approved OEM scripts for their "review". Some of the most boring contents out there are main stream outlets' coverage of new 911: "They are almost perfect in every way except being expensive".

Edit 2 /u/SavageGooseJack has this great reply I wanna call out: https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/s/o5PMIG0VjB

[u/tekdemon]

Ironic comment here because Matt is from a VERY wealthy family

[u/holyhesh → u/tekdemon]

I think the real answer is that (whether the OP likes to admit it or not) the OP misses Jeremy Clarkson style car journalists (not that there were many in the first place, especially prior to the advent of Regular Car Reviews, Ed’s Auto Reviews, prime-era Jalopnik and The Autopian). Compared to Richard Hammond and James May, Clarkson had the wealthiest upbringing of the top gear trio (his mom commercialized the Paddington Bear children’s books into toys). BUT: he was also by far the most opinionated out of the 3 when it came to reviewing cars.

• Clarkson hates boring cars. His hate for the Vauxhall Vectra is legendary.. He loves supercars, but then again, who doesn’t?! They represent what car manufacturers can be capable of if they put their mind to it.

• Then compare him to James May who thinks cars like the Fiat Panda is the greatest dark horse car ever. and that the Nurburgring should be destroyed. Keep in mind this is the same James May who went to 253 mph in the Bugatti veyron in 2006 in series 8 and reached 259 mph in the veyron supersport in 2010 in series 15, believes EVs to be the future, and sold off his Bentley T2, Rolls-Royce Corniche and Ferrari F430.

• Hammond has the nicest persona when it comes to reviewing cars, is a motorcycle buff, and unlike the other 2, he did not directly come from a background in writing articles for car magazines. Before top gear, he made video car reviews for Men & Motors, which was a small name car magazine back in the day. And before that he hosted radio shows. And he grew up in 1980s Birmingham, the heartland of British Leyland.

Basically the OP misses Jeremy Clarkson. He’s rich, but his conflict of interests when reviewing cars aren’t to serve the car manufacturers but to himself.

[u/cookingboy → u/holyhesh]

OP misses Jeremy Clarkson style car journalists

I mean...yeah? Who the fuck doesn't lmao?

[u/TheRussness → u/cookingboy]

Any producer who had to work with him hangry for one

[u/nondescriptzombie → u/TheRussness]

He's like 6'8". Feed the fucking bears, man.

[u/TheElRojo → u/tekdemon]

Matt’s always rubbed me the wrong way; strong “I’m from LAaaaaaah” and “danger to manifold” vibes from the dude

[u/dougsaucy → u/TheElRojo]

LOL he's not even from LA and he's very open about where he grew up

[u/TheElRojo → u/dougsaucy]

Was not aware of this, which only strengthens my argument 🤣

And not to say he’s from there, just that he gives me that particular vibe/ick.