Motoring journalists

I often wonder how impartial and neutral motoring journalists are when they review new cars. I notice that British motoring journalist have a tendency to favour their own British cars, but since most of the British automotive manufacturing industry is dead they seem to favour what used to be a British brand. As for the Americans they also have a tendency to side their yank tanks... and the Aussies, they have a tendency to favour their Aussie brute cars like the Holdens and Fords. The tendency to favour their own home made vehicles may not be very obvious for some but like in the case of the Aussies they just love their Aussie made V8s.
In Malaysia, I know the motoring journalists cannot give bad reviews about Proton or Perodua because it is the national car and the journalists may have his or her career cut short. The worst review they can give is neutral at best.
I used to think that Jeremy Clarkson gave very good reviews until it dawned on me that most of the cars he rated highly are 500+ hp supercars that most average person would not be able to afford. I also used to follow the Best Motoring series from Japan where the professional Japanese race car drivers would try out various types of cars on the famous Tsukuba race track but somehow their races would show that Japanese cars are better than the Europeans. A lot of viewers questioned the authenticity of the tests and whether the Japanese were deliberately trying to make their cars look good.

The motoring journalist play an important role in the marketing of the cars and how well the cars will sell in most countries. I remember many years back when Jeremy Clarkson gave a very bad review for the Ford Mondeo and the sales of the car plummeted until Ford UK wrote a stinging complain letter to the BBC to keep Jeremy Clarkson off the Top Gear program. On the flip side, motoring journalists who collectively give good reviews on certain models do help boost the sales of the car. I have to admit that if you take a comparison of car magazines (printed and online) and take note of the cars that they all similarly rate highly, the car is definitely good. The simple example I can give is the VW Golf GTi Mk5. This car was highly rated by European, Australia and American car journalist, and it won car of the year by many car magazines and car TV programs. Having driven it myself I cannot help but agree with their findings. I ended buying one myself!

I think it is almost impossible to find a 100% neutral motoring journalist who will give impartial reviews for all cars. Everyone will have their favourites and some will be more loyal towards their own home made cars.