Should Hardcore Numbers Or Subjective Opinion Be The Driving Force In A New Car Review?

I would never want to rely solely on on either.

Because one car might be a track monster but be almost impossible to live with on the street.

In order to take away any personal BIASES it must be done by Hardcore Numbers! I am tired of the "touchy feely" arguments when cars like the GT-R destroy almost everything on the road but don't win comparisons because they do not have the "driver's feedback" the competition has! That is BS! You want a driver's car? buy a gokart!

The numbers matter only to those who are competing, either on the track, or to impress others by guying into the "my car has more X than yours" club. Meh.

Otherwise, reviews are subjective. One man's trash is another's treasure.

Form your own opinion based on what you value. You don't need others to do your thinking for you.

Typo: "guying" -> "buying"

Agree!

But the numbers are cut and dry and a decisive victor emerges.

The Germans tend to be black and white based on facts. Many times this is a clinical approach and leaves out the intangibles.

Think about how many times has a BMW won a comparo even though it didn't out right win in performance?

For the matter 0-60, 60-0, and cornering G's don't mean much if it all doesn't work together.. they are simply static numbers.

"Think about how many times has a BMW won a comparo even though it didn't out right win in performance?"

Agreed great example 009 or how the S6 got trounced by the E63 & M5 in almost every performance category, but still won based other intangibles/subjective areas.

mclaren428: Car and Driver mag ranked the $79,000 420 HP Audi S6 first place (213 points out of the maximum 240 points) over the second place $100,000 518 HP Mercedes E 63 AMG sedan (210 points) and third place $97,000 560 HP BMW M5 (193 points). The Audi S6 had the best scores for 11 of the 22 measures... and on everything else it was more consistently good than the other Merc or BMW were. So it's not true that the "S6 got trounced by the E63 & M5 in almost every performance category" -- the S6 was fastest to 30 mph, fastest to 60 mph, shortest braking distance. On C/D categories test results, powertrain and chassis it did not lose by more than 1-2 points or tiny amounts to the top score in almost every measure. Had the S6 had the option of a 'competition/track' package (e.g., from RS6 options such as Sports Exhaust and Dynamic Package Plus), it would scored even higher total marks over the E 63 AMG and M5. These reviewers have even lapped the cars on a track. At the end of the day, these reviewers gave first place based on OVERALL assessment. Obviously some of the numbers alone did not tell the whole story.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srqs5_aySg8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Vli2Cd3Ux0

Well I think is a personal matter , Current M5 looks better to me than the E63 AMG4Matic S, but it have better numbers than the M5 in any aspect. I am MB Fan but still M5 would be my choice. CLS63 is other stuff. Numbers are cold and I prefer them but must of us (as humans) have feelings and at the end some times they are stronger than the numbers. Pick what you like and enjoy, we only live once.

Numbers are for bragging rights at the pub, a car club or for street creed. Subjective impressions are what put or don't put a smile on your face everytime you take a ride. Would you rather have a number crunching monster with little involvement (Nissan GT-R)or one that dances in your hands and lights your fire (Cayman). Tough choice for some but I'll take the latter every time.

This is where you and I disagree, if I want to obliterate the track I would buy the GT-R but if I want to put a smile on my face I would buy a 911 and not "wannabe Porsche". Due to the reality of what I do for a living none of these cars are practical for me, so I drive an LS460.

BTW save the money on the Cayman and buy a Subaru BRZ. I assure you it "dances in your hands and lights your fire".

It's amusing to read the readers' comments in Sutcliffe's Autocar article -- they're not too impressed with Autocar's subjective reviews. And therein lies the problem. The big egos of reviewers like Sutcliffe think too much of their subjective reviews and opinions. These reviewers who rely on subjective opinions but lack the objectivity and open-mind to see what's wrong with their subjective reviews.

I don't consider Steve Sutcliffe a credible voice on the inconsistencies of road test reports. First, there are numbers -- lots and lots of numbers -- motivating Sutcliffe. He is desperate to keep his job as Autocar's circulation is dropping, so he wants you to believe that the British test reports are better by forcing you to chose between the 'British way' (i.e., Autocars' way) and the 'German/Teutonic way' -- while geteting more people to read Autocar by putting out this article. The old British car magazines like his are losing advertsing revenue, readers, circulation and website hits to Germany's biggest car mags -- which are alos Europe's largest car mags. For example, Autocar has average circulation is only 40,000, Evo 52,000, Car Mag 54,000, What Car 70,000, Top Gear, 150,000 -- in most cases their circulation has been dropping in recent years. In Germany alone, the paid circulation of German car mags: Autobild is 600,000, Auto Motor und Sport 410,000, Auto Zeitung 210,000, Sport Auto 60,000. Britain has 63 million people, while Germany has 80 million people. [e.g., Autobild's website has 5 million visits each month. Auto Bild is the highest circulated car magazine in the world, published in 30 countries, selling more than 7 million copies. Autobild's British edition Auto Express is the third largest car mag in Britain with 55,000 circulation].

Second, Steve Sutcliffe & his Autocar team's incompetence, biases and subjective tests have contributed to the problem of inconsistent test reports. For example, if you read the test reports of Autocar and Pistonheads on the RS6, it appears that the incompetent Autocar reviewer didn't use and set the RS6's Drive Select system to 'comfort' for the suspension, which would be better for British roads (the Pistonhead reviewers had the brains to use the Drive Select system).
http://www.pistonheads.com/roadtests/doc.asp?c=47&i=28069
http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/audi/rs6

It appears that Autocar's test car did not come with Dynamic Steering and Ceramic Brakes (both are on the Dynamic Package Plus option, which also has the sports suspension plus with DRC) or the sports exhaust option. These two options on the RS6 can make a huge difference to car testers who crave such attributes. Autoblog's Matt Davis -- co-chair of the World Car Awards -- was smitten with the properly optioned RS6 that he tested: "Buyers of the RS6 Avant can get the stock setup limited to 155 mph, or they can grab the Dynamic package that takes things to 174 mph. My test car... includes the Dynamic Package Plus – cue the

Sutcliffe: "Over here, though, we crunch the numbers just as vigorously as they do over there"
Lol, they don't. The reason I liked to read German car test reports was originally because I their tire tests were more thorough and valid compared to the British or American reports and recommendations. For 15 years I've used their reports to buy the best possible tires for summer and winter (the only problem I face is that we don't get the latest best tires as early as the Europeans do).

There is a reason why Germany has several great car companies while the British do not. The Germans are not making better cars because it's in their genetics. A key reason is because they are simply better at gathering data, analyzing data, including subjective opinions, and keeping everything in perspective in the big picture... without trying to raionalize a result they want to hear.

Sutcliffe disingenuously stereotypes Germans as "don’t 'do' subjective impressions. Instead, they generate numbers – lots and lots of numbers – and then they crunch those numbers until they produce a verdict... mind-numbing series of numbers, followed by a clinical but hard-to-argue-against final result?" He should know better that the different German car mags are each slightly different in their approach to car testing. But Sutcliffe wants you to see the Germans as clinical number crunchers who have no opinions.

Read sample reports from German car mags below to get a flavor of their tests.. Autobild's (especially) and Auto Motor und Sport's website reports are partial summaries of the full reports in their magazine (these are teasers to get you to buy and downlaod the full reports). Auto Zeitung gives the most numbers, but they also have their own test track. I like Sport Auto's supertests (by Horst von Saurma) the best, because he is an expert supercar tester and Nurburgring driver, he tests the cars on two tracks and gives his subjective opinions. So I've given more Sport Auto supertests for those interested. Unfortunately these car mags are in German, and Google Translate often loses the precision of what they intend to say.