With a combined 206 years of automotive publishing experience, the teams at Hearst Autos—Autoweek, Road & Track, and Car and Driver—know cars better than just about anyone. While the publishing landscape has changed dramatically over the decades, the automotive enthusiast still knows who to trust.
With many of the trusted magazines and newspapers geared toward auto enthusiasts replaced by search engine-hacking, algorithm-manipulating websites, the Hearst Autos Gear Team promises to deliver honest evaluations, hands-on tests, and product reviews driven by decades of knowledge and experience.
If you’re finding yourself increasingly baffled, bemused, and disappointed by the “expert” automotive reviews and opinions you see online these days, rest assured the Hearst Autos Gear Team gets our hands on almost every product, tool, and piece of gear we recommend. We take much the same approach to gear testing that our automobile testing team relies on to test cars: We evaluate gear on its own merits, compare it to the competition, and tell you the truth.
How We Select Products & Gear
All products featured are selected by the Gear Team; user reviews and rankings are a consideration, but we never rely on them. We don’t accept products in exchange for editorial placement, and we won’t take “payola” to feature any product. Ever. If we can’t get our hands on the stuff ourselves, we’ll rely on the combined wisdom of our writers and editors, as well as the reviews by, and recommendations of, experts we trust. We’ll never claim anything to be the “best” if we won’t recommend it to our friends or buy it ourselves, and we won’t tell you we’ve tested something unless we’ve put it through our own wringer.
How We Acquire Products & Gear
Like you, Hearst Autos actually buys much of the gear and products we recommend. Of course, some of it is supplied by manufacturers for testing purposes; they know we’ll be honest and forthcoming, and they don’t mind because they believe in the quality and value of the stuff they make. That’s why we’re often leery of companies that decline to offer us products to test.
Why Trust Us
Being the biggest means Hearst Autos isn’t worried about making the sale. Instead, we’re concerned with our legacy, our reputation, and the trust our readers have in Autoweek, Car and Driver, and Road & Track to deliver the goods.
The Hearst Autos Gear Team is dedicated to bringing you the very best in automotive tools, parts, and accessories, based on the expertise of the editors of Car and Driver, Road & Track, and Autoweek.
