Yesterday you saw our new feature, The Right Spec, which exists to replace Ace of Base. As a reminder of how it works, Matthew (or anyone who pens one in his absence) will take a popular model (and/or one recently reviewed here) and tell you how he thinks you should spec it.
As I edited his piece, I was reminded of the endless debate that takes place in auto-journo circles when it comes to specs on the cars we actually test.
For the uninitiated, most of the test cars we get (or drive on junkets) are top-trim and fully loaded. And many of us scribes whine because we’ve noticed that for many models, consumers tend to buy mid-level trims in greater numbers, and we think we should be testing what’s popular with buyers.
Imagine whining about driving fully loaded cars each week. But aside from the fact that us well-fed auto writers are good at complaining, the argument is actually a pretty good one. We probably should spend more time testing the most-popular configurations.
Inside baseball aside, I am also curious how you, the average buyer, specs your vehicles. Do you go full boat? A mid-trim that has just what you need and not anything more? Are base models just fine? And how do you handle automakers like Honda that don’t offer features a la carte — meaning you might have to step up to a higher trim if you want, say, heated seats, even if that means also taking on features you don’t need?
So yeah, you’re getting two QOTDs for the price of one today. It’s Friday, it’s summer, and I’m in a good mood. Heck, I will even throw in a third one: What are your must haves? I know we’ve asked that before, but it’s been a while.
Sound off below.
[Image: BlueSkyImage/Shutterstock.com]
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