[GTO]

How a Team-BHP Official Review is born . Drove the S-Presso over the weekend and took it on a highway run too. Lots of voice notes on our Sony voice recorder & my smartphone which are then transferred to MS Word. Just my rough draft is ~4,000 words and 10 pages long. This is before Blackwasp completes his driving, shooting & captions:

[GTO]

We're pulling out of all the upcoming media drives (Honda City, Hyundai Creta etc.) which entail flying, as no one in the team wants to take a flight. Way too risky.

[sai_ace]

A good time to rope in existing BHPians in closest to car in question and get them involved in the Review?

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by sai_ace

A good time to rope in existing BHPians in closest to car in question and get them involved in the Review?

It is not just flying. It also involves sharing test drive cars, and staying in hotel rooms, attending briefings, with 30+ journos from all over the country.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by GTO

We're pulling out of all the upcoming media drives (Honda City, Hyundai Creta etc.) which entail flying, as no one in the team wants to take a flight. Way too risky.

Sensible decision. In fact I am surprised media drives are going ahead as scheduled. Was expecting them to be cancelled. Sharing space with strangers isn't a good idea at this point of time. Pretty bad time for new cars getting launched when everyone is living in fear and the focus is entirely on staying safe. Hopefully we get TD impressions once cars are available in showrooms to drive.

[msiva75]

Originally Posted by GTO

We're pulling out of all the upcoming media drives (Honda City, Hyundai Creta etc.) which entail flying, as no one in the team wants to take a flight. Way too risky.

Appreciate the decision. Our safety is important before everything else.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by harry10

Sensible decision.

Idea was Samurai's. He suggested this, and all Mods agreed.

In fact I am surprised media drives are going ahead as scheduled

I am surprised too.

Originally Posted by sai_ace

A good time to rope in existing BHPians in closest to car in question and get them involved in the Review?

There is a full orientation procedure & thorough checklist before officially reviewing a car. Even with a new Mod, it's usually better to have him accompany someone experienced on a couple of drives & reviews, before doing their own review.

[sai_ace]

Originally Posted by Samurai

It is not just flying. It also involves sharing test drive cars, and staying in hotel rooms, attending briefings, with 30+ journos from all over the country.

True, I was referring more to non media drive - stand alone test drives if the manufacturers agree to it. Eg: A mod or two + couple of DBhpians from chennai could look at the new creta owing to their proximity - thus avoiding any dependence on flying, hotels etc.

I do agree that in the current scenario, any meeting like this will still raise a few eyebrows.

Originally Posted by GTO

There is a full orientation procedure & thorough checklist before officially reviewing a car. Even with a new Mod, it's usually better to have him accompany someone experienced on a couple of drives & reviews, before doing their own review.

Absolutely - not implying that we do anything that can even slightly affect the quality of reviews that everyone here has come to expect from TBhp. Idea is to probably look for workarounds around travelling media drives etc and yet deliver top class reviews.

However looking at the panic levels we are hurtling towards - every day seems worse than the previous.

[GTO]

Honda wisely cancels the City media drives due to coronavirus.

The media preview & drive of the 5th-gen Honda City was scheduled for this coming week in Goa. However, with the coronavirus situation worsening, Honda has now cancelled the media drives. I fully support Honda in this smart & sensible decision. Well done, safety first!

Because the virus situation is uncertain, I don't think the drives would be hosted in the near future. Best guess = the demos would be sent to the metro cities so that Team-BHP & others can individually review the cars.

This car, along with the next-gen Hyundai Creta, are highly anticipated models that are (or have been) the top sellers in their respective segments. Both are ready to launch.

[GTO]

Ever wonder why manufacturer test-drive events are usually so short? After reviewing about 200 cars, I think I have the answer. The major positives of a car are obvious within the first hour itself. However, the bad things take time to pop out. The negatives keep coming even after 3 - 4 days with the car. You cannot imagine the number of cons we have noticed when we got the car in Bombay, but not at the media drive.

[romeomidhun]

Originally Posted by GTO

Ever wonder why manufacturer test-drive events are usually so short? After reviewing about 200 cars, I think I have the answer. The major positives of a car are obvious within the first hour itself. However, the bad things take time to pop out. The negatives keep coming even after 3 - 4 days with the car. You cannot imagine the number of cons we have noticed when we got the car in Bombay, but not at the media drive.

Very good point. In that case, there should be a section at the end of the test drive reports for "Pros and Cons identified at a later stage" which can be updated regularly.

Team-BHP ko pakadna mushkil hai.

[GTO]

Trivia: This is the first car that we still have down the house (due to the lockdown) and have completed the review of. Because of our detailed reviews & the sheer effort it takes in compilation, the Official Review usually goes live 6 – 8 weeks after the car is gone. This was so convenient. If we needed to replace a picture, simply walk down and shoot it .

Link (Kia Carnival : Official Review)

[GTO]

Don't know if I've shared this earlier, but the PR teams sometimes "lose" cars. It's like you forgetting your phone in an Uber.

- One brand called me, and the voice was so full of anxiety. "Hey, our xxxx car is still with you, right?". I said no, we were done with the shoot a while back and the car was already returned. Turns out, they forgot who the car is with and called everyone on the media list to check .

- Another time, we're done with the car and informed the PR team to have it picked up. For some reason (maybe too many cars on the front side), that car was parked on the backside of the building which I rarely visit. After a week (or maybe 2), I walked to the back of the building for some work and saw the car still parked there . The manufacturer simply forgot to pick it up.

[shravan2k2]

Originally Posted by GTO

Don't know if I've shared this earlier, but the PR teams sometimes "lose" cars. It's like you forgetting your phone in an Uber.



- One brand called me, and the voice was so full of anxiety. "Hey, our xxxx car is still with you, right?". I said no, we were done with the shoot a while back and the car was already returned. Turns out, they forgot who the car is with and called everyone on the media list to check .



- Another time, we're done with the car and informed the PR team to have it picked up. For some reason (maybe too many cars on the front side), that car was parked on the backside of the building which I rarely visit. After a week (or maybe 2), I walked to the back of the building for some work and saw the car still parked there . The manufacturer simply forgot to pick it up.

The same happened with me. Had a press vehicle for a week. Did the testing, shoot etc and informed the PR guy, but for some reason it wasn't picked up for a long time.

And then there are the PR guys who I approach for a car for almost (5 months) but would always say cars are not available and instead give to some other known guys, thinking I am a fool (Indian brand starting with a T or should I say openly say Tata)

[blackwasp]

I was cleaning up my laptop and moving old / unused data to archive when I stumbled upon this. Yes, these folders consist of all the pictures, voice notes, owner's manual, product brochures etc. for a particular car. On an average there about about 3000 pictures for each model, of which the best go into our review.