I don’t think a single day has gone by that someone hasn’t asked me, “out of all the cars you’ve driven, what is your favourite car?” Oh no, not this question, not again. I usually answer; “Have you got five hours to spare? ‘Cause that’s how long it will take to respond!”.
I’ll ask you a simple question, when you’re going to buy a car, what’s the first thing you do? Come online and research it. Simple, however you won’t believe how hard this concept has been for us to emphasis to manufacturers. Some simply believe the internet is a fad and one that will disappear.

If you’ve noticed, we rarely feature any reviews on Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Citroen, Ferrari and Maserati. This is not because we don’t like them (we love them), but because the agency responsible (same agency for all brands) for the press cars doesn’t believe in new-age media such as CarAdvice. Although, ironically, its marketing department disagrees and you may well have seen constant advertisements for Alfa Romeo on CarAdvice in recent months. Somewhat bizarre!
The internet is still a new concept to some but given the financial turmoil some of these companies are in, I imagine this will change sooner, rather than later.
The reason I mentioned this is because I am going to go over some of the highlights of the past year and some of the cars that really changed my attitude to brands and car culture in general. Unfortunately I can’t honestly say I’ve experienced all cars, for the reason already mentioned, but here is what I can tell you.

The car that changed my perception of an entire brand. If you read my Volvo C30 T5 review, you may in fact realise that just a week before I wrote it, I had this deep hatred for Volvo as a whole. Yes, hate is the appropriate word as it was true.
Honestly, how many of you out there dislike Volvo? Don’t deny it, you know it’s true, you can’t even imagine driving a Volvo, you can’t ever imagine answering “Oh, what do I drive? Umm … a … uh … Volvo”. Unfortunately for the Swedish manufacturer cool is simply not a word that can be associated with its brand.

Well, I tell you what. The perception and conception is completely wrong. Here I was, going flat out, keeping up with Anthony in the Aston Martin DB9 around twisty mountain roads and I felt sick. Sick because I realised that I’d been so wrong. Sick because I realised I’d been propagating this anti-Volvo stereotype for years (something of which I am still guilty).

You see the Volvo C30 T5 is a brilliant car, it’s a good $3000 more expensive than it ought to be and the list of options is extensive but it’s still brilliant. It looks good and it goes like a rocket. Then there is the Volvo S80, the car that convinced me that Volvo can be cool.
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