Illya Verpraet

As part of Autocar’s road test team, Illya drives everything from superminis to supercars, and writes reviews, comparison tests, as well as the odd feature and news story. 

Much of his time is spent wrangling the data logger and wielding the tape measure to gather the data for one of Autocar’s eight-page road tests, which are the most rigorous in the business thanks to independent performance, fuel consumption and noise figures.

He joined Autocar in 2021 following stints at several automotive business publications at UKi Media & Events and Ultima Media, where he reported on less glamorous but equally fascinating and important sectors of the automotive industry such as logistics and tyre production. He first cut his teeth reviewing cars as news reporter at Business Car.

Illya is originally from Belgium, where he obtained an MA in English and German literature and linguistics, before moving to the UK in 2016 to study automotive journalism at Coventry University.