One of the responsibilities of an automotive journalist that seems like a perk to outsiders is the press drive. Automakers fly you to some remote corner of the world (or, typically, SoCal), put you up in a hotel, and feed you drinks until you’re almost ready to believe that people will care that some random crossover has added 11.7% frame rigidity.
When I was younger, the promise of free track time and a chance to poke around cars was unbeatable, and I didn’t understand the elder journalists who seemed over it. I can comprehend that view a bit more these days. While I’m not entirely jaded, I have a kid and did too many of these trips as either a producer or a journalist, so I can only do a couple of these a year without losing my taste for them.
That is, of course, unless someone does a trip within 300 miles of my house, as Volkswagen did a couple of years ago. I’m all for a launch that I can casually drive to and back from on my own schedule. Dear automakers: More of this, please!
Plus, I have the option of sending Mercedes, and she’s still young and adventurous enough to squeeze every last drop of joy from them. There are a few trips coming up and, in what I think is a first for an automotive publication, I’m going to share with you what the invites are and ask you how much you care, and what you’d like to learn about them.
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Mazda first, Kia second. I have no interest in the Ford, but you should do it anyway because it looks like a hell of a lot of fun!
K4 hatch please! I might want one but need some validation!
Mazda and Kia, with Geeley if possible. Skip Ford.
I’ll be happy to take one of these events off your hands. Say…the K4
I never thought I would be ever put Kia in my top 1 of anything but of the bunch, that’s the one I’d like to see covered.
You guys should send a member to one of these, for lols.
We’re open to it!
Hey, I’ll read all of these. They do sound interesting even if I’m not the target for any of them. Although that Kia hatch could be something in the future perhaps.
But really I don’t care at all about the Explorer special edition. The Geely event is especially interesting since we don’t get to see much from them. Well, Volvo I guess but you get what I mean.
The Mazda event sounds a bit… boring? A new version of an existing CUV. But I would still be a little interested because I am loving Mazda design lately and even small improvements might make a good read.
So, top 2 are Geely and Kia. Then Mazda and Ford. In order for me.