We always thought a comparison was just that — all the cars equipped as equally as possible, with the same driver, tested in the same place, at the same time and with the same environmental conditions. Especially in a segment like Muscle Cars, where it's all about the numbers. The problem with all of these "comparisons" is none of the outlets actually tested the new 2010 Chevy Camaro alongside the 2010 Ford Mustang alongside the 2009 Dodge Challenger in the same place and at the same time for all of their testing.

Some are up front about it in the text of their reviews. Popular Mechanics, for one, says clearly:

"...this test was unlike most of our comparisons. It was a logistical puzzle that involved testing a Camaro SS in Detroit and running numbers on the Mustang GT and Challenger R/T in California. Timing was so tight, and the Camaro SS was in such high demand, we had less than three short hours to gather all three manual transmission cars together in the same place at the same time. So we were unable to compare the real-world fuel economy of the three or perform our usual handling tests. But we did manage to test the more expensive Dodge Challenger SRT8 in Michigan too, just to see if Dodge's quickest could take on the Camaro."

Edmunds does too, even going so far as to blame GM for being draconian in access to the cars:

"Unfortunately, nobody told GM. No production examples of the 2010 Chevy Camaro SS exist yet, and these circumstances dictated that our driving time was split between two preproduction cars: a red 2SS we tested at GM's Milford Proving Grounds to provide all the go-fast numbers, and an identically equipped but silver 2SS we evaluated on the streets of Southern California (pictures of both are included).

Unlike the Camaro, the Challenger and the Mustang were put through our battery of tests at our usual facility in SoCal, but as you can see from the photos, we spent the better part of a foggy cool day north of San Diego driving all three cars back-to-back."

Then there's Motor Trend. They're not entirely clear on what went on with their vehicles...saying on page one of their clickgasmic ten page story:

"So...we proudly present our exclusive, first-ever, side-by-side-by-side comparison of the new Chevrolet Camaro SS, the Dodge Challenger R/T, and the Ford Mustang GT. All the numbers, all our driving impressions...just one winner."

But MT doesn't explain in detail that there's something a bit off in normal testing procedures until page three:

"We gathered all three players together in the lightly traveled, serpentine hill country east of San Diego. Armed with a full battery of track numbers, courtesy of an instrumented test conducted just three hours earlier in Detroit and beamed to us via BlackBerry and iPhone by technical director Frank Markus, our comparo team — editor-in-chief Angus MacKenzie, senior editor Ed Loh, and yours truly — strapped in, kicked the spurs into our pony trio, and galloped into the twisties."

Even then, they don't actually say that the 'stang and Challenger weren't track-tested in Detroit with the Camaro. To be fair, MT, like the rest of the comparo-crazy mainstreamers, did get a chance to drive all three of the vehicles back-to-back-to-back in sunny SoCal, so we don't draw into question the road impressions. But it's a far cry to make the leap from road impressions all at once and with the same driver for car-to-car photo sessions to doing instrumented testing in the same place and at the same time — something every muscle car-crazed enthusiast wants to see more than any other story.

But these discrepancies aren't stopping all of them from marketing the hell out of their stories as actual comparisons despite the fact it's basically just a run-down of close-to-approximate instrumented tests — a story no different than the one we ran last week. So we really got to hand it to the "mainstream media" — they've learned from us blogs, sensationalizing a story that, basically, we'd already beaten them to the punch on. Mazel Tov guys, y'all are learning. Look at you, we're so proud you're becoming all grown up!

But the really funny thing is we were once told by a certain buff book editor (Cough! Cough! Dutch. Cough! Cough! AutoEveryOtherWeek. Cough! ) that the reason print media was better than internet auto media was print media had their "asses properly calibrated to review cars." The comment was perplexing to us and initially we thought it meant something about print media having the ability to ingest larger quantities of free food at press events to better simulate real American rear ends. But that didn't make sense. Now what we think he meant was that print media's more experienced (re: much older) than internet media. While I may disagree with that assertion as there are quite a few internet-only media with more years of experience and seat time in their niche areas than almost anyone in print (Example: Mike Levine at PickupTrucks.com). I have to say, after reading through these "comparisons," I'm now a little worried about who now has their asses appropriately calibrated to be doing comparisons. At least not the type of comparisons real muscle car enthusiasts are looking for — a test that equalizes as much as possible by putting all three 'merican muscle cars in the same place, at the same time and with the same driver. But we guess this just means there's still one more exclusive out there to be had on the new Camaro. We'll be interested to see which publication gets it first.

Photo Credit: Popular Mechanics

What do you think? Is a GT-R sedan feasible? Will people buy it? [Motor Trend]

Thing is, it turns out the trendy payload was only skin-deep. We're thinking it was plywood, but you judge for yourself. All we know is — to hold aloft that prestigious award you don't need something as strong as steel girders. Nah, you only need it to look like it.

Curiously, Mark forgets his magazine landed not only in subscribers hands, but also on newsstands ten days early. But his warm and folksy explanation for it (something about two people giving it to two people who gave it to two people who had nothing to do with two people buying it at newsstands on diametrically opposite sides of the country) leaves us feeling like he's just a simple country boy who doesn't understand the series of tubes that are the interwebs. But that lack-of-understanding falls as flat as his attempt to pivot Truck Trend into the populist position of "little guy" to the blogosphere's "big boys" (Dude, you're a magazine — printed on paper with ink. Your tagline is "The Pickup and SUV Authority" and we bet you've got an office with a desk and a door and a real chair! Have we mentioned how much our backs hurt?).

But we'll not quibble with such trivial details. Instead, we're just happy we've been officially vindicated as the "embargo breakers" of automotive media. But one thing's certain for us after reading Mark's commentary — this buff mag addiction to embargoes is in dire need of a 12-step program. Luckily, Motor Trend has a long-haired leader with more journalistic integrity in his little finger than we've got in our entire bodies. We're sure he'll be the first to man up and make a call to action for his magazine going cold turkey. Remember, the first step is admitting you have a problem. In fact, we're already refreshing Motor Trend's blog, anxiously awaiting an opus from Angus Mackenzie following in lock-step with our arguments we've already made on the embargo issue and the anti-embargo comments made by AutoWeek's Dutch Mandel. Yup, any minute now — click, click, click, click... [Truck Trend]

Perhaps the magazine all about the Trend in all-things Motor was merely trying to game the Google system. Basically, if someone does a search for something like "2009 corvette zr1 road test," in order to figure out if they want to buy a super car like the new 2009 Corvette ZR1, and to read about what an actual road test in Zee Really fast 1 would be like, they'd end up with Motor Trend right on top of the search results. This despite not actually having a road test for the prospective reader to read on the new 'vette. Not to smack them for it — just stating what we're seeing — or are we missing something here? [Google Search]

Angus explained we're not British and therefore have no understanding of sarcasm, even of the sophomoric variety. So despite our explanation that we really don't believe the staff of his web site magazine maga-site(?) are a "sleazy bunch of d-bags," he really wanted to be like Ralph Macchio and be the man who fights for their honor. So, we want to personally apologize to any member of the Motor Trend family if any of them took what we said the wrong way. Aren't you all glad you've got a boss like Angus willing to protect you from being made fun of on the internet?

We bet Csaba Csere would have taken it as a joke.

Cadillac CTS Honored as Motor Trend's 2008 Car of the Year

Hot-selling sport sedan praised for design and technology

DETROIT - The editors at Motor Trend, one of the world's premiere automotive authorities, announced today that they have chosen the Cadillac CTS as the 2008 Motor Trend Car of the Year.

"Cadillac is truly honored to receive one of the world's most coveted automotive awards," says Jim Taylor, Cadillac general manager. "This is a very meaningful reward for our team that created the all-new 2008 CTS, and a powerful statement to consumers everywhere about Cadillac's product renaissance."

The Motor Trend Car of the Year honor highlights the wide acclaim the 2008 CTS sport sedan has earned around the world and with consumers since its launch earlier this fall. Luxury cars buyers are responding similarly, with CTS U.S. sales jumping 75% in October.

The full report from Motor Trend appears in the January issue of the magazine (on newsstands in early-December) and online at www.motortrend.com. Cadillac was the first automaker ever to win Motor Trend Car of the Year in the magazine's inaugural year of 1949, and again in 1952 and 1992.

# # #

About Cadillac
Cadillac (www.cadillac.com) has been a leading luxury automotive brand since 1902. Cadillac's heritage of dramatic design and technical innovation has undergone a recent renaissance, returning it to the top-tier of luxury brands. Cadillac is a division of General Motors (NYSE: GM). Founded in 1908, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 33 countries. In 2006, nearly 9.1 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally. More information on GM can be found at www.gm.com.

Primedia Enthusiast Titles Sold for $1.2 Billion [AdAge]

Related:
Second Motor Trend Blogger Takes Swing, Same Result; Motor Trend Blogger Attacks Blogosphere, Hits Self [internal]

"World Exclusive!" Yeah. Right. [Motor Trend Blog]

Related:
Motor Trend Blogger Attacks Blogosphere, Hits Self [internal]

How many bloggers does it take to plug in a president? [Motor Trend Blog]

Related:
Detroit News Tells Tall Tale On Bush, Blames Blogs [internal]

OK, so the spy photographer who snapped those pictures of the Corvette powertrain mule and posted them all over the internet is NOT in jail, and our sources at the General now confirm they've taken no legal action "themselves" against anyone. The General also hasn't pushed for anyone to take down their photos — which is good, because as you can see in the photogallery below, we weren't planning on pulling them down any time soon. But since speculation is what the name of the game is about on this whole Super-Duper (blue) devil of a Corvette — we figure we should be spending some time speculatin' about the next gen of the 'vette — the 7th. Motor Authority is claiming that in this next issue of MotorTrend magazine (which we've not confirmed as we've not yet received), they've got an exclusive interview with GM's veep of global product development Jim Queen, who they're claiming says:

"the next-generation C7 Corvette will retain a naturally aspirated V8 engine but will develop up to 700hp in flagship form. Also, rumors of an AWD version are said to be false..."

"...The major focus of the project will be to increase the efficiency of the drivetrain. "We're working hard to get that power onto the pavement," Queen said, adding that weight and weight distribution are the keys. Most of GM's upcoming large RWD cars are moving to its new Zeta architecture, however, the new Corvette and its Cadillac XLR sibling will be based on a unique platform. "

Next-gen C7 Corvette gets 700HP

Related:
Corvette SS Spy Photographer Now NOT In Jail?; Corvette SS Spy Photographer Now In Jail!; Spy Photos: I Am The Corvette SS Powertrain Mule [internal]

We write many items in the space of a week. We know what burnout is like. We know how easy it is to fall back on time-tested gems like "notgonnahappen.com" and "the answer to the question that absolutely nobody is asking." Or alternately crap about Detroit that nobody but Detroiters would care about, like the Ham Center. (Which, to be fair, is actually in Warren.) And well, we feel like the Autoextremist has fallen into retread mode: once again, he's bashing Motor Trend's Car/Truck/SUV/Skateboard/Unicycle of the Year award. That said, his deconstruction is good, and we're very much opposed to the sorts of synergies the Sweeter Peter is on about here.

Out of touch and out of time - thank goodness for the "New and Improved" Motor Trend. [Autoextremist]

Related:
Sweet Peet D. On Chrysler's Great Leap Backward [Internal]

Of all the sleazy little quid pro quos practiced by the mainstream automotive press — undeclared first-class junketeering, advertising that looks like editorial, editorial that looks like advertising — the long-term test car is the most offensive. I'm sure editors can think of 500 reasons why it's OK to "test" a Ford GT for a year. I can think of one good reason why they shouldn't: It clouds their editorial judgment. IRS auditors note: Buff books like Motor Trend are some to the worst offenders. They've assembled entire fleets of freebies; erstwhile journalists dip into the company key bowl like sex-mad suburban swingers. And when it's time to "update" readers on the writers' favorite perk, what's the chance they'll pull their punches?

Chevy promised great things from its new-for-2005 Malibu. The premise was that GM needed a car that could legitimately take on Camry and Accord, which long ago assumed the roles of America's best-loved and best-selling family sedans. The aptly named Maxx sportswagon variant- something the others don't offer- is intended to help eke out some extra volume. The appeal is more rear legroom and cargo space than in a conventional sedan, without it being a crossover or conventional sport/utility. Our well-equipped example cost $27,045 all in and included other rear cabin accoutrements such as a glass roof and DVD system.

Anyway, anyone other than GM PR Supremo Steve Harris and his camp (not to say effeminate) followers will immediately recognize this lead as a withering indictment of The General's ambitions. Actually, reminding readers that GM positioned the Malibu as an Accord and Camry-killer takes us well beyond the realm of rebuke, into the province of a good old-fashioned bitch slapping. Unfortunately, the writer fails to go the distance and make the implicit explicit— although the phrase "eke out some extra volume" is classic groin-kicking BTL.

I'm equally amused (but not amazed) by MT's report that "their" loaded-to-the-gunnels Malibu Maxx "cost" $27,045 all-in. What would it have cost MT to put a small disclaimer in or near this two-page spread? "Chevrolet loaned the Malibu Maxx to Motor Trend for a one-year period." Anything less is nothing at all. And while nothing at all tells us everything we need to know about MT's ethics, it seriously misleads their less media-savvy readers.

The Maxx wasn't the car our staff lusted after for high school reunion duty, but it seldom spent a night in the garage. "I have stuff to pick up from the hardware store this weekend, so I'll take the Malibu," or "I need to schlep people to the airport- is the Maxx available?" It also served as a support vehicle on road tests and photo shoots.

In fact, I feel sorry for MT's Malibu-driving groundlings who watched the aforementioned hoi-polloi pull away in the seriously good stuff. But my heart really goes out to the poor bastard who had to write this drivel, balancing a report on the Maxx's execrable reality with, well, lies. The rules of the game are clear: For every carefully couched or creative diss there must be an equal and opposite hosanna.

The Sigma platform architecture and "high value" V-6 powertrain didn't rock our world, but got the job done. The Mr. Roboto styling isn't my favorite design trend," commented one editor, "and the 3.5-liter V-6 has all the aural charm of a jigsaw." But there are Malibu characteristics we have warmed to. The structure is as solid as some BMW's or Mercedes, and as a result, the modest tire-wearing Malibu slices through urban/suburban territory with its head held high, managing a decent ride in the process.

The Malibu Maxx's steering is "as numb as an electric train controller" but "the brakes fared better." The engine is rough, but it "will probably run fine for decades." The four speed autobox isn't "state of the art" but its ratios are "well matched to the engine's power curve." The interior is "awash in plastics of just-average quality" but "they withstood our abuse well." The radio reception "wasn't good in mountainous areas" but "the unit spent so much time set to XM it mattered little."

How much more of this can you stand? How about one more paragraph: the conclusion.

Make no mistake: this is a utilitarian piece. If you're about style and/or driving excitement, shop elsewhere. GM can't match the Japanese-brand titans in terms of materials quality or powertrain performance and refinement, but compensates, with some success, by offering more creature features and a slightly lower price. Although it's hardly an emotion stirrer, we did get solid, reliable, useful experience out of our Maxx. If it suits their needs, most buyers will as well.

If a magazine wants to report on the long-term utility and reliability of a modern motor, they should rely on owner surveys and empirical data. MT and the rest of the automotive press shouldn't accept ANY free long-term loans from ANY manufacturer. The practice undermines their integrity. Accepting free cars on a long-term basis brings dishonor to the magazine and automotive journalism in general.

[by Robert Farago]

[Jalopnik's Between the Lines column parses the rhetoric of the automotive industry, and the media that covers it, from the point of view of that kid at the back of the class with ADD, a genius IQ and a thirst for mayhem.]

Related:
Between the Lines: Motor Trend on the Cadillac BLS [internal]