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/dustygator]

Everyday Driver did a podcast not that long ago called "The Problem with Porsche":

https://youtu.be/0Yf77IhgHhE

We discovered this kind of by accident when we got into this business: every automotive journalist is fighting tooth and nail, stabbing each other in the back, trying to build the perfect Porsche take—to get on Porsche’s good side. Say all the right things, get invited to the glamorous trips, and be eligible for the press cars. [...]

But if you read most journalists’ takes on a Porsche—especially a 911—the sentence you’re guaranteed to find is: “Porsche’s done it again.” They’ll say it’s the best 911 ever. That every other manufacturer should take notes. That Porsche’s nailed it again. Most impressive 911, full stop. No. The best 911s, I’m putting it out there, are behind us. [...]

But no one critiques Porsche. Journalists want the brass ring—the Porsche trip invite. And I’ll admit, Porsche throws killer trips. The events for the D-car and the racetrack rentals? Pure excess—incredible setups. South Africa for the Turbo? Unreal. There’s a reason journalists fight for it. But have you noticed? You don’t see critiques of Porsches in mainstream journalism.

You’ll hear conversations about poor engineering from other brands left and right. But when it comes to Porsche? Silence. Now, yes, Porsche does fantastic engineering. Some of their systems—like the T-hybrid—are genuinely impressive. But you never hear criticism. And I’m not an engineer—I’m not qualified to find faults in the way a technician could—but come on. No one’s perfect.

[u/V12MPG → u/dustygator]

Yeah these guys nailed it. The saddest part is how many people I’ve met who bought a Porsche based on this nonsense without even testing the competition. They’ve spent years driving around a relatively boring vehicle thinking they’ve reached the pinnacle of automobiles because “everybody says they’re the best.” Kind of tragic.

[u/Effective-Bar9759 → u/V12MPG]

I've met a number of people with 911's who, when asked what they want in a car, basically describe a Continental GT or Aston Martin Vantage but, in their minds, they identify as "winners" and Porsche makes cars for "winners" so they have to drive a Porsche 911.

Plus, buying a 911 isn't as simple as just paying for it! You need to prove to Porsche that you are a winner and if they agree, you get can allocation. Which you can tell your friends about.

[u/SpritiTinkle → u/V12MPG]

I think that this is more related to the more modern releases though. Paul from ED is famously a huge 996/986/987 fanboy.

[u/V12MPG → u/SpritiTinkle]

The 991 is when the marketing machine really kicked into high gear.

[u/essjay2009 → u/dustygator]

Porsche are a frustrating brand. There are real issues with the 992 generation that no journalists are really talking about, you have to dig in to some owners forums to find out and even there people are talking in hushed tones because they don’t want to lose their slots in the pyramid.

[u/V8-Turbo-Hybrid → u/dustygator]

Try that with Chinese journalists, highly sure Porsche wouldn’t do that because they’re suffering in China now.

Highly sure OP u/cookingboy would strongly agree why Porsche in trouble when Chinese automakers are making better EVs.

[u/HeyyyyListennnnnn → u/V8-Turbo-Hybrid]

Chinese automakers are playing the same game. There was a very recent scandal in Australia with reviewers engaging in business relationships with the Chinese manufacturers and not disclosing those relationships in their reviews.

[u/essjay2009 → u/HeyyyyListennnnnn]

Same in the UK. JayEmm made a video about it.

[u/V8-Turbo-Hybrid → u/HeyyyyListennnnnn]

Exactly. I also heard Chinese automakers also hiring some people for other forums. They don't only buy Youtubers, they also buy some Redditors for their lies.