I really disagree with your comment. As a motoring journalist, you should never start with a review biased about a brand/model. I'm intrested in reviews from people who actually have experience with a lot of different cars. She's the kind of person that's blown away by Tesla acceleration...I actually disagree about it being a crap review. I found it refreshingly honnest from someone who is not a fanatic about these cars. She didn't have a clue what a GRY was so it was nice to get her first impressions as a complete outsider to the car.
Everyone on here knows just about everything about them. They own one and are eager to find out the latest scrap of detail on the new MK2.
She wasn't doing that. She had never driven one so she was looking at a £46k small hot hatch that said Yaris on the back. I think she said she was a Golf fan so will be used to much nicer / quality cabins which is fair enough.
She clearly wasn't impressed in those first few minutes and I agree that the new dash does look cheap and plasticky. I think Mk1 looks nicer.
She wasn't brought up with it and full of all the hype we have been and probably still are. She said what she thought and i generally agree as we all know that this car is all about the driving and not the cosmetics.
As time went by she started to giggle and laugh and I knew then that she had realised what this car is all about and nothing to do with the name and plastics. She said it needed an exhaust so she joined the club there. She started spotting the important things about it.
After a short drive she said she understood why people buy into this car so it didn't take long for her to say she was starting to understand all the fuss.
We see too many reviews and comments from people who are already obsessed with it. People who love it so much they won't accept someone saying not nice things about it.
I smiled watching her get converted. A normal driver meeting it for the first time and being won over by it. That was nice to watch her being slowly converted for the right reasons ------- fun!
I tend to agree about auto gearbox comments regarding local stop start commuting and manual for more fun but that is more opinion than a technical fact.
For once I watched the thoughts of a "normal" car fan who was seeing it for the first time rather than the endless well known influencers trying to make points over others. How many reviews do we watch where after One minute you think Oh, just the same old comments.
It was like letting my neighbour who keeps looking at it go out and have a go for the first time. He would probably say the same - a bit disappointing cabin quality for a £46k car but what a car to drive - I now get it why you have one. It re-enforces my belief that at £30k+ for the Mk1 - what a bargain we got as she and many of us wouldn't really see much difference other than about £15k+
I hope to see one next weekend when I am at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
