Hi Scotty! I have been watching your videos a for a few months now and have learned SO many important things from you. I was wondering who we (as consumers) are supposed to trust, if any, when it comes to “independent” companies who review cars? (JD Power, Kelley Blue Book etc.). They seem to speak so highly of certain car makes and models and give out fancy awards and titles, and in real life the cars are junk!
Word of mouth is the best. I always go online to see what issues show up in car forums. Ask mechanics that you know if possible. I never go off review websites. I'm more interested in the experiences of people who have spent their money on the car and have spent a lot more time with it than say, a weekend in the tropics like most car reviewers do.
Trust your own eyes & your own brain.
Test drive the vehicles yourself, and form your own opinions.
Most of the review websites are sponsored by the OEMs, so there’ll always be a conflict of interest.
Forget about the awards and titles and all that stuff...
Pay attention to the other stuff. They could be a good resource for lets say practicality or driving dynamics. "This cars has better steering feel than this car"
If you care about that, then you can test drive it yourself and it might have been helpful.
Also Edmunds, KBB, etc. tend to have consumer review pages and those are good resources as well.
There is this Youtube channel linked below at the bottom (Car Reviews) check "The Topher" out he makes good car reviews. (Keep in midn he doesn't review reliability but other than that its great review not biast like KBB or Autotrader).
Definitely stay away from JD power. I like to use US News and World Reports for basic overviews as well, for example if I were to want to learn whether a car was described as: "comfortable ride, good family car" or "firm ride, tiny back seat"
There are many smaller youtube channels that make nice videos generally I tend to see Autotrader and Cargurus absolutely trash talk cars like the Corolla while even KBB is overall positive about them (used).
And if you care about the reliability of the car, you have this forum! A Used Car Buying Guide is also made, linked above. All set to go!
Ask around from trusted mechanics and tow truck folks.
