Structuring the Review
Consider your audience. People looking for a family-friendly car won't care about the same details as sports car enthusiasts. If you’re reviewing an environmentally-friendly electric car, you should include relevant information about how much C02 is being reduced per trip. If you’re writing for a car enthusiast magazine, you can probably include more details than if you were writing for a mainstream magazine or newspaper, since the car enthusiast will be more literate about cars than the average person.
Think about how to begin your review. There are many ways to being your review. The tone you adopt in your writing and the path you take when beginning your review is dependent on your audience, your experience with the car, and the outlet you’re writing for. Whatever you do in your first few sentence, make sure you summarize your experience concisely. Your audience might be receptive to or familiar with the car or manufacturer of a particular vehicle. You might want to start by addressing preconceptions, anxieties, or stereotypes. For instance, you might write, “While the GeoCar has been widely panned by critics and industry insiders, it’s everything a modern driver needs.” You could start with a quote. The quote could be from a famous person or, if it’s very memorable, from someone you know. The quote must be appropriate and relevant to your driving review. For instance, you could write, “Henry Ford wrote that ‘Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.’ Today, his company is still doing it right even as market diversification ensures that far fewer people are looking.” If the driving experience was exceptionally wonderful or terrible, come right out and say so in a powerful way. You might write of a great car, “Only word is needed to describe the new NTX 9100: ‘Wow.’”
Organize your review. Organizing a review requires identifying the major components or aspects of the car which will be useful for readers and talking about each in turn. The organization of your review depends on the car, how many words you can write, what the audience is looking for, and the editor’s preferences. Generally, you’ll start with a summary of your experience and end with a final evaluation. The middle parts of the review are highly customizable. A car review might have sections on safety features, style and design, engine specifications, technological innovations, or the car’s ability to drive on rough surfaces.
Create a system to evaluate the car based on the relevant criteria. A common ranking systems assigns a value of one to five stars to the car. You might choose a scale of one through five stars, with five stars being a perfect car. Alternatively, you could rank the car on a 1 through 100 scale, assigning a higher value to a better car. You could also choose to forego a final score and let your writing speak for itself as to your feelings about the car. In addition to an overall final rating, you could provide separate sub-ratings for various aspects of the car like its value, design, and safety. Develop a rubric to rate your car. For instance, perhaps you give three stars in the "Acceleration" category to a car that reaches sixty miles per hour in 12 seconds, four stars to cars that reach that speed in 8-11 seconds, and five stars to cars that reaches that speed in 7 seconds or less.
Determining What to Write About
Describe the basics. Be clear about the car you’re reviewing. List the manufacturer, year (assuming its a classic car), model, and price. Sometimes this information is introduced in the body of the review. Other times it is presented at the top of the review under a general heading such as, “Review: 2016 Mazda Miata (MSRP: $50,000)” or some similar layout. Your review might also list the final verdict right at the top in the form of a rating based on the five-star rating system.
Include relevant details. Focus on the facts. How fast does the car accelerate? What are the dimensions of the car? How is the fuel economy? There are also many relevant subjective (opinion-based) details. For instance, how does the car handle? Does it sport a beautiful interior and exterior? Is the steering wheel too big or too small? Use these and other related questions to stay focused when writing your review. Some details which do not directly pertain to the quality of the car can enhance your writing. The personality of the dealer who provided the car, or the history of the car’s manufacture could be of interest and add personality and depth to your review. Generally, however, you should omit details which are not relevant to the quality of the driving experience. Don’t include your personal itinerary unless using it to indicate that driving on different types of terrain such as dirt roads leads to a new insight about the quality of the vehicle.
Compare the car to other cars made by the same manufacturer. For instance, suppose you’re reviewing a new Tesla. You should think about the standard features of a Tesla -- the comfortable, modern design and smooth handling, for instance -- and identify whether or not these hallmarks are present in the new model. If they are, make note of it. You might write, for instance, “The new model is truly a Tesla thoroughbred.” If the brand’s standard design elements are absent, you should also make note of this. For instance, you could write, “Strangely, the typical features of the Tesla are missing from the new model.”
Remark upon the car’s value. The car’s value is not equivalent to its cost. Value refers to how much bang for the buck someone who purchases the car will get. For instance, if the car costs $30,000 but provides far more amenities or is overall a higher quality car than others of a similar price, it has a high value. A car of low value will offer fewer amenities or have a generally lower quality of craftsmanship when compared with others within the same price range.
Describe the particular model’s technical innovations. Suppose you’re reviewing a new car. Your review should touch on unique technology. For instance, does the car have a new, more efficient GPS system? Does it accept ethanol or another alternative fuel? Can it fly? In your review, address the presence of each major technological element and evaluate whether it did its job. Was the new GPS system much better than traditional GPS? Or did you get lost while using it?
Make a final verdict. After reviewing the many aspects of the car, weigh in on what you think the final analysis tells you about the car. Sum up your experience by writing something along the lines of, “Overall, this car handles great and would be perfect for a suburban parent or young couple. While it’s not for everyone, this vehicle is an affordable alternative to other cars of its class.”
Be honest in your review. Don’t feel obligated to write a good or bad review based on what others think or believe about the quality of a car. If you liked the car -- or if you disliked the car -- explain why. An honest review is useful to the reader. Take a few days after driving the car for the first time to think about what works (and what doesn’t work) in the car’s design. Judging a car is highly subjective. Write what you think of the car using your experience and prior knowledge of cars. There are no right answers when writing your review, but you must use reason when backing up your opinion.
Stay impartial when reviewing. If you are a popular car reviewer, car companies will try to encourage you to write favorably about their vehicles with gifts like paid vacations, car rentals of your choice, and other gifts. Ethical behavior requires that you do not accept more from a given car manufacturer than is necessary to write a review. For instance, if the company offers to loan you a car, only borrow cars you intend to review, and only borrow them for as long as you need to draft your review. In some cases it’s okay to accept offers from manufacturers as long as gifts and relationships are fully disclosed.
Driving the Car You Want to Review
Choose your niche. Writing an in-depth, knowledgeable review is easier if you are familiar with other cars in the same class. For instance, do you favor electric cars? Muscle cars? Family or practical cars? Identify the type of car you know the most about and write reviews focused primarily (if not exclusively) on cars within your niche. Use your knowledge of that niche in your review to compare it to other, similar cars of its type.
Research the car before driving it. You need to know what you’re getting into. Before getting behind the wheel of a car you intend to review, ask the manufacturer, dealer, or someone who has already driven that car what it’s like. Does the car have any quirks? Does it shake when taken past a certain speed? Is the engine very loud? Researching these and other pertinent questions will help you prepare to drive the car and guide your evaluation process.
Take the car for a spin. Usually, established writers are offered the opportunity to drive new cars for the purpose of reviewing them. If you’re just starting out as an automobile reviewer, you might have to wait until the car is available for the general market in order to give it a go. Visit the car dealership of your choice to find out if you can take the new car for a test drive. The dealer might dislike the idea of you driving the car about if you don’t have any real intention of purchasing it. Call ahead of time to explain that you want to write a review of the new car. Ask if the dealer allows car reviewers to drive new cars in order to write a review. Perhaps you could work out a mutually beneficial deal with the car dealership such as advertising the dealership on your blog (directly or indirectly) in order to secure continued access to new cars. If one dealership turns you down, ask another. They all have different rules.
Bring a friend along for the ride. A passenger might pick up on things you don’t. Getting the input of another person -- preferably someone who is familiar with cars -- can give you an extra set of eyes and ears on the vehicle you intend to review.
Familiarize yourself with the car. Pop the trunk, fold down the back seats, crank the stereo, put a drink in the cup holder. Explore the car from top to bottom. In your review, draw attention to whether the car’s features are better, worse, or equal to similar cars. Make note of any irritating qualities like drink holders that are too small, or stereo speakers that fuzz out when the volume gets too loud.
Publishing Your Review
Start your own auto blog. If you’re serious about starting an auto blog, you’ll want to review the latest vehicles. There are many platforms available for starting a blog. Try sites like Tumblr, Squarespace, or WordPress to find a layout and blog style that speaks to you.
Write for an auto magazine. Autoweek, Motor Trend, and Hot Rod are just some of the many publications catering to car enthusiasts. Contact the editors at the periodical of your choice to learn how to get your car reviews published. Ask the magazine you’re interested in what kind of reviews they are looking for.
Write a review on an auto enthusiast website. There are a variety of auto enthusiast websites which welcome reader reviews. For instance, you could check the site or forums of Autotrader, Edmunds.com, or CarSurvey.org.
Edit your review carefully. Good reviews should be of fifty words or more, have accurate spelling, good grammar, and describe your ownership/driving experience. Use a spellchecker on your word processing program to ensure punctuation and spelling are correct. Avoid capitalization and exclamation marks.
Invite feedback. When you write a review, there will be many people who agree with you and many who disagree with you. By inviting others to critique your review, you keep the conversation going. At the end of your review, allow space for questions and comments. Write something like, “Have you driven this model, too? What did you think of it?” You could also invite readers to write to you directly with follow-up questions at your email address.
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