[Arsenic]

Mods, I couldn't find an existing thread regarding this. Feel free to delete this thread if one exists already.

Introduction

Hello all!

Most BHPians (including me!) rely on Team-BHP as their main source of automotive news, especially when it comes to the Indian car scene (I've been browsing the new Innova thread quite a bit! https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ted-india.html) - but in addition to Team-BHP, I've also used the following news sources to get some quick scoops, launch info and more!

I'd love to see some other members contribute their own additional sources here! Feel free to add websites, YouTube channels, whatever!

In India

Autocar India (https://www.autocarindia.com/#. and https://www.youtube.com/c/autocarindia1) - When I was extremely young, I remember my father having subscriptions for two automotive magazines that would eagerly read every month - Top Gear India and Autocar! After we canceled our subscription however, I didn't hear much about Autocar. That is, until the Mahindra XUV700 came out. I was scrolling through YouTube trending one fine day, and at one of the higher positions was Autocar's first drive review for the XUV. Autocar wasn't a name I had heard in years. I decided to watch the video, and was instantly impressed with Renuka Kirpalani's reviewing skills. I immediately subscribed to the channel. Finding the Autocar channel truly reignited my passion for cars, and without it, I may not even be a BHPian, or even a car enthusiast today! Apart from the video reviews, I highly recommend ACI for two things: RENDERS THAT ACTUALLY MAKE SENSE - as some members have pointed out in other threads, unlike GaadiWaadi, MotorBeam etc., ACI have only made renders based on additional information they receive on top of spy shots, unlike GaadiWaadi who were caught faking a render for the new Brezza (It was actually a Mitsubishi Outlander which they based the render on ) - and their scoops, which have become famous for just how detailed they are, although in the Innova thread someone rightly pointed out that ACI accidentally contradicted one of their previous scoops with a new one. All in all, ACI + T-BHP = All you'll ever need to stay up to date on the Indian car scene!

Abroad

AutoDeal
(https://www.autodeal.com.ph/ and https://www.youtube.com/c/AutodealPh) - This one is intriguing for me - the Filipino auto market is incredibly unique. The Filipinos are spoilt for choice - while for us, when we shop for a mid-size SUV (technically full-size in India) we have just the overpriced Fortuner, the outdated MU-X, the blingy Gloster and the likely-to-be-discontinued Alturas (the Meridian, the Kodiaq and the Tiguan are crossovers), the Philippines have the Fortuner, the Ford Everest (Endeavour for us), the Isuzu MU-X's latest gen, the Nissan Terra, the Maxus D90 (Gloster for us), the Mitsubishi Montero Sport (sold here previously as the Pajero Sport), and the Ssangyong Rexton (the Alturas for us). At the same time, there are barely any European brands there. No Renault, no Skoda, VW now only sells Chinese units in the country, no Citroen - Peugeot is the only true blue European brand in the country, and they currently only sell the 2008, the pricey 3008 and 5008, and the Traveller Premium van. Then again, we've only so far got one Citroen in India - the laughably priced C5 Aircross - but AutoDeal is also useful for us Indians to just take a look at all the Indian-sourced units that make it there! Suzuki recently launched the new Celerio, Kia are rumored to be launching the new Carens, and Suzuki have been securing high sales with the S-Presso (a car that is hilariously bashed here in India, but reviewers in PH have actually praised the car!) - but arguably my favourite thing about AutoDeal is the incredible amount of Chinese brands they cover! In the Philippines, there are currently 18 Chinese brands present (19 if you count VW!) - and with these Chinese brands, every new car is a gamble. You could either end up with something incredibly VFM and handsome, like the Geely Emgrand compact sedan, or something hilariously weird, like the Kaicene CX70, which is a Land Rover Discovery copy which looks hilarious! Plus, Caco Tirona's video reviews are simply excellent - both informative and funny!

Conclusion

This is only my second post on T-BHP, but I hope that other members enjoyed reading it and I look forward to seeing other BHPians' inputs!

[GTO]

I spend a lot of time on our forum, especially new topics. All important / noteworthy developments are covered here. But what I enjoy most are the different perspectives that members bring to a discussion. That's something an article written by a single journalist simply cannot bring. I'd rather listen to 20 enthusiasts talking, rather than 1 journalist.

Internationally, I am on https://www.reddit.com/r/cars/top/?t=week (top of the week) and Jalopnik. But Reddit, really . Big, big fan. My most visited website after Team-BHP.

[Jeroen]

Obviously, TeamBHP!

I am on a number of International Car forums, specifically to my cars:

https://www.alfabb.com/forums/spider...-1966-1994.12/

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/xj-xj8-xjr-x308-27/

https://www.jeepforum.com/forums/xj-...ical-forum.11/

I am also an avid reader of car magazines. I have a subscription on two Dutch Classic car magazines. I buy the UK version of Topgear and Octane every month.
Also, various other monthly classic car magazines such as Practical Cars&Classic,
Thoroughbred&Classic cars, classic and Sports cars etc.

Now with COVID under control (long may it last) car exhibitions are starting up again. I will visit many classic car shows every year, all over Europe. Earlier this year we flew to Birmingham UK, for the day, for the wonderful Practical classic and restoration show. I have been to two classic car show in Belgium and two in the Netherlands. Many more to come, I hope to visit at least 3-5 more car events abroad later this year.

Clubs that keep good contacts with their local brand representatives can organise interesting events. Many years ago, the Dutch Alfa Romeo Spider Register got hold of the newest Spider for a test drive, before the dealers had even seen it.

Reddit I find, as GTO, quite an interesting place to watch for the more modern car related items. Flipboard does a decent car news section too.

I am a member of various car clubs. Especially the specific brand clubs, such as Jaguar tend to have interesting articles in their respective club magazines on the latest and greatest of their respective brands.

Here in Europe you often get the opportunity to visit car factories, or car related manufacturing places. Either as part of general public event or by knowing somebody that is willing/capable of getting you inside. My latest visit was to the Donkervoort Factory here in the Netherlands. I have been to Morgan, Vredestein, PALV just to name a few. Most of these visits are very interesting and you learn a lot what goes on behind the scene so to speak.

As part of my “fiddling with cars” hobby I am always on the lookout for people and organisations/companies that can help me with my cars.

During the covid lockdown I found a tiny Dutch company that does very specialised overhaul repair on steering boxes. Took my MercedesW123 Steering box to them. Well, not them, but a him. One man band, but he designed complete suspension and steering set ups for Rally and Racing cars, had them produced in the USA and sold them here in Europe. I spend about six hours in his work shop listening to his stories. Both on the business side as well as technical side of his inventions. Hugely interesting!

Jeroen

[amol4184]

In India I used to be big fan of Overdrive in early days but it has been replaced by Autocar now. Abroad I never actually subscribed to any magazine.

My daily dose of auto news comes from Reddit (apart from tbhp of course).
Jalopnik at one time was on my bookmark bar at the very first place but since then the site is on decline. They used to have INCREDIBLE wallpapers and quirky articles (a la Doug style) but the wallpapers are gone completely and authors of those superb articles have left Jalop. For me the beginning of the end was when they moved their comments section to a new format which made reading/replying to comments a massive chore.

In general though, nothing beats Reddit and opinions from the community there.

[Durango Dude]

My interest in cars started with the Auto India and Autocar India and then of course TBHP. There was a time when I used to go to the book stall like an excited kid and bought, ACI, OD and Top Gear and used to read it avidly way back in early 2000's...I wouldn't subscribe as the subscribers issue used to take time to reach me, I used to get issues "hot" of the newsstand as and when they arrived...With the advent of the internet I read most online...and of course hang around in TBHP forum...

[Dwaipayan26]

My primary source of information about cars in India has to come from Team BHP. Especially in the past couple of years where I have started to enjoy reading reviews more than watching them in video format.

But other than our forum, reddit does serve as a pretty unbiased source of information.

When it comes to the Video format, it has to be Autocar India and Powerdrift for me. Also, really appreciate Mr. Karthikeya Singhee on Zigwheels and have been following him since his Autocar days.

Outside India, really enjoy the reviews by Mat Watson on Carwow. He definitely puts a smile on your face with some of the ridiculous stuff that he does. Also, quite enjoy the reviews by the Throttle House boys. They are based out of Canada and are more into supercar content.

Cheers,
D

[Dr.AD]

I primarily read only TeamBHP to get all my automotive news. TeamBHP is is my primary source to get an overview of all automotive news. And sometimes when I see an external link posted in TeamBHP discussion that sounds interesting enough, I click on that and read that article from that respective external forum. But primarily, on my own, do not visit any other automotive news site.

For me, the biggest attraction about cars is about actual driving, travels, and road trip stories. I am more of a "driving/road tripping" enthusiast than a pure "car enthusiast". A news article describing a car in the showroom does not attract me as much as a story by a fellow member about how he/she drove that car on a road and their day-to-day driving experiences and travelogues. TeamBHP is the only source that connects me to the real-world driving experiences of fellow members, and that is my primary addiction, if I may so. These fellow member stories are treasure trove of information as well as inspiration. No other automotive site/news site even remotely comes close to offering such content. And that is why I usually do not visit the other sites.

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by Dwaipayan26

Also, quite enjoy the reviews by the Throttle House boys. They are based out of Canada and are more into supercar content.

May be you know these other channels that I am talking about. But if you like Throttle House, you will also like Every day driver, Straight Pipes and Savage Geese. For more of regular car reviews. (Though, Throttle also review peasant spec cars).

Straight Pipes are more cheery while Savage are serious. If praise comes from Savage Geese it typically means the car is doing something very good, those guys are hard to please.
They also take cars to garage, lift it on hydraulic ramp and show the underbody, suspension components and talk tech/mechanical details like no other channel. I typically watch Straight Pipes first then Savage for same car's review.
If you are more into SUV/Off-road reviews, DrivingSport.tv is a reasonably good channel too.

[MaheshY1]

My list includes:
- Carwale
- Bikewale
- Jalop (rarely)
- Fortnine (Youtube)
- Revzilla (Youtube)

Previously:

- Zigwheels: I started visiting in 2008 but stopped sometime in 2020-21 after they started prioritizing model pages, ads and promotions on the homepage instead of the usual content. I guess they reverted the homepage design to improve fresh content visibility. But I haven't bothered visiting to even check.

To get vehicle-related info for research, I prefer manufacturer websites. They're fairly polished these days. A few years ago, the aggregators offered a more consistent and easy UX. Although the info was somewhat accurate at best. So, I prefer getting the details straight from the horse's mouth.

[Thilak29]

I prefer:

Autocar (India and Global version)
Team BHP (Reviews and user pulse)
Talking Cars YT channel (In depth analysis, perspectives, humour)

I avoid:
Cartoq (speculative and click baits)
Gaadwadi (speculative and fillers with recycled content)
Rushlane(similar to above)

[kunal_0505]

I spend quite of time of our forum; Apart from this I regularly visit Cartoq, Motorbeam, ACI, Carwale and Motoroctane (Youtube)

[ashking101]

Preferred sources will be Autocar and overdrive web sites, other than our team-BHP. Moreover, I was one of the avid follower of BBC-TopGear show in the past. Other notable automotive weekly TV shows I follow are NDTV CNB (primarily for SVP), Autocar India and Overdrive.

[Sran]

None except T-Bhp. Used to frequent various car and automotive subreddits regularly but having moderated various subreddits for quite a few years I know how they prop things and comments even on cars and automotive subreddits let alone other subreddits, so stopped completely trusting anything said on that site. I now no longer even use that site.

I like here because it's a real user generated site plus heavily moderated and I have full trust in GTO and each and every moderator to not let bots enter or any user with malicious(read advertisment) guys enter the forum.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Here in Europe you often get the opportunity to visit car factories, or car related manufacturing places. Either as part of general public event or by knowing somebody that is willing/capable of getting you inside.

I don't know about what happens now but a decade plus back you could easily enter and take an unguided tour in Bajaj, Tata(Mercedes), Kinetic, Force motors etc. in Akurdi, Bhosari and Pimpri areas in Pune. Few of us with our Production, metallurgical engg. friends used to visit.

[CafeRacer16]

For news & automotive content, I primarily come to team-bhp but I also like to read, watch multiple sources to build my understanding. Following are my usual go-to sources,
- Teambhp.com
- Autocar India Youtube channel
- Follow auto journalists like Sirish, Kartikeya for reviews
- Since I have an affinity towards base models of cars, generally watch walk around videos as well
- I have recently found FB car groups to be somewhat useful as I get to know about issues & some mods people doing
- Follow CarWow for any international car reviews

[nishsingh]

I love to read stories of the man/woman behind the machine. This is why I love ownership threads and car buying threads. Also, this means I search for a lot of fresh ownership videos on bikes and cars on YouTube.