How Autocar tests cars
It’s common for automotive journalism brands to crow about how thoroughly they assess new cars, but only one can claim to have been doing it for a century.
The Autocar Road Test first appeared in print, so titled, in April 1928; but Autocar’s history of publishing review articles with accompanying empirical performance, handling and drivability tests is older still. And today, while our testing methods have developed and changed along with the cars they’re intended to scrutinise, the totally rigorous, fiercely independent and studiously objective approach they represent remains unequalled in the field.
Read more: The changing face of the Autocar road test
The Road Test is the most detailed test we can produce. Between road driving, track benchmarking, photography and delivery onto the page, some thirty working hours goes into every one.
Every test subject will be driven exhaustively on the road, before track testing is conducted at the Millbrook or Horiba MIRA proving grounds. Every new car will be put through acceleration, braking, limit handling and cabin noise tests; while sports and performance cars will also set benchmark circuit laptimes, in both wet and dry conditions, that can be compared with those of key rivals.
Read more: The 50 fastest cars around Autocar’s test track
Every car is weighed with a full tank of fuel and in running order - and every car is measured for useful passenger and cargo space, pedal placement, and for the extremities of its outward size. Combustion-engined cars, hybrids and battery electric cars are independently assessed for efficiency, too - during track benchmarking, UK-motorway-typical 70mph touring, and on average over the full course of our test.
For electric cars, we also have a DC rapid charging performance test, as part of which we produce a weighted average rapid charging test result that can be compared with the manufacturer’s claimed peak charge rate. That gives a more useful indication of how fast any EV can actually charge across the full breadth of its battery condition; and how long you might therefore be waiting for a fully restored range.
All of the data we generate is presented both in print and online, and it feeds into the most committed, repeatable and fair effort we can make to understand and evaluate any car before we pass judgement upon it. Autocar’s team of experienced road testers then compares impressions and agrees on a verdict that represents their combined voices, and that of the Autocar brand as a whole.
Read more: Why you can trust Autocar
Our single page and first drive reviews, meanwhile, are written by many of the same testers who produce multi-section road tests, but intended as a preliminary first impression of a new model. Typically they’re conducted on the road, sometimes on track, and without any direct performance or handling benchmarking - but they are informed by the tester’s experience of the market segment into which the new car will fit, and of its direct rivals.
Our marquee comparison tests, meanwhile, such as Britain’s Best Driver’s Car, involve in-depth back-to-back testing on both road and track; often taking several days to conduct if the field of cars is large; and usually result in a collegiate verdict arrived at by way of a judges’ scorecard.
Nobody takes the business of fitness-for-purpose-based new car assessment more seriously than we do; nobody goes to greater lengths to deliver a thorough, relevant, fair and definitive verdict; and nowhere have they been doing it for longer. Whether you want to know every detail about the performance of your next new car, or just to disappear into reverie about one you might never own or even drive, Autocar has you covered.
