ARCHIVE :: FEBRUARY 2003 :: PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY

Online
Test Drives

For Car Shoppers, the Web
Is the Best Place to Start.

By BART ZIEGLER
STAFF REPORTER OF THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Shopping for your first car? Get online.       

The Internet is loaded with information about vehicles. In a matter of minutes you can learn about a car’s dimensions, color choices, upgrade packages and price, and compare it with other models—free of the sales pressure of a showroom. Some dealers put their entire inventory online, allowing you to search in your area for an exact model in a specific color. You can even have them e-mail you their best offer.

ILLUSTRATION: LEO ESPINOSA

Of course, there’s no substitute for kicking the tires and taking a test drive. But the Web really is the best place to start. Here is a guide to some of the most useful sites:

Autobytel.com: This site lets you compare a dozen or more vehicles (I stopped at 14) in a side-by-side chart that lists their price, features, horsepower, mileage, legroom, options and other data. You can read multiple reviews for most models and even take a 360-degree photo tour of car interiors—a nifty feature that gives you a good idea of what it looks like from the driver’s seat (though this feature didn’t always work).

Through Autobytel’s relations with thousands of dealers, you can request prices from a retailer in your area. A handy calculator tells you how much your monthly payment would be if you buy a car on credit.

Cons: Because its business is to help sell cars, the site has a strong marketing flavor. Its reviews tend to be gushy (the Chevrolet Cavalier review is headlined “America’s Sweetheart, Now Sweeter Than Before”) and light on listing shortcomings.

ConsumerGuide.com: This site is packed with specs, prices, shopping tips, a list of “best buys,” and advice on issues such as leasing vs. buying and types of financing available. Its reviews are thoughtful and comprehensive, rating such things as a vehicle’s acceleration, quietness and value within its car class. It gives a numerical score to each car so you can readily compare the lot. The reviews also give a history of each vehicle, describe upcoming models (useful if you can wait to get a car) and discuss the competition.

Cons: The site offers little information on the reliability or safety of individual models.

ConsumerReports.org: The online version of the respected, nonprofit magazine provides a bunch of information free of charge, including tips on how to narrow your choices, negotiate prices and save money on leases. If you pay to subscribe to the site ($3.95 a month, or $24 a year) you’ll get much more, including extensive test-drive reviews, the magazine’s unique reliability predictions based on readers’ experiences, safety ratings and feature stories on cars.

Cons: The best stuff will cost you. And its bland, no-nonsense reviews give you little feel for a car’s aesthetic qualities.

Edmunds.com: Along with specs, links to local dealers and the pricing data that are this guidebook company’s foundation, the full-featured site includes snappy reviews written chiefly by Edmunds’s own staff. Like some car magazines, Edmunds acquires cars for long-term testing and periodically reports on how they are faring.

Its advice section includes a very useful “10 Steps to Buying a New Car.” One unusual feature: a “town hall” message board in which consumers banter about the pros and cons of various vehicles, gossip about expected model changes and offer advice—and arguments. The site also offers driving and maintenance tips. Car freaks could spend hours here.

Cons: The site has little data on car reliability.

Autos.msn.com: Microsoft’s MSN Autos, formerly Carpoint, gives you a capsule description and history of each model. You can quickly compare two models based on more than 60 criteria. Click on the features you want and up pops the sticker price. You can then get price quotes from local dealers. The site also has reviews from its own contributors for most models, as well as financing and insurance tips.

Cons: You can’t compare the specs of more than two cars at once. And updates are slow. As recently as November, it still lacked “trim” information on various 2003 BMWs, Chevrolets and Fords, among others.

Autos.yahoo.com: The Yahoo Autos site lets you compare a car against three other models and do side-by-side comparisons of the different trim levels within a model, allowing you see, for example, what the Taurus Premium offers over the Taurus Standard. As with Autobytel, you can get a 360-degree view of a car’s interior. You also can get a price quote from dealers.

Cons: It lacks reviews for many models and much of its information comes from third parties.

Finally, check out Web sites of car magazines, such as Car and Driver, Motor Trend and Road & Track, which offer reviews, industry news and buying advice. And, of course, the Web sites of each car maker give lots of information—along with a hefty dose of hype.