KEN OATH: Hate-reading for fun

COMMENT

It's the commentary from readers that gives the game away. Following the review of a perfectly practical family car comes a torrent of abuse from people who claim they would never choose to buy that car.

It begs the obvious question, doesn't it? If you own a car that tells the world you're a motor enthusiast, and you wear that badge with pride, why would you bother reading an article about a sub-$20,000 hatch suitable for P-plate drivers, or a review of a worthy but unexceptional mid-size sedan for the semi-retired?

More to the point, why would you waste your own time commenting about that car?

The fact is most people don't.

motoring.com.au and the carsales network of auto sites' editorial readership is of a scale that even when comments number in their thousands per month, they represent the views of just a fraction of the audience. Take out the constructive comments, straight questions and remarks clearly intended to establish rapport or entertain – rather than to shock or disturb – and you're left with a tiny, miniscule proportion of the reading public. But they're the ones giving vent to their wrath.

A perfect example of this 'syndrome' hit home last week, when my review of the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer was published. The review drew fire from a vocal assembly of commenting readers because... because... well, everything.

It's not a real BMW, they argued, or I didn't score it highly enough in one particular category; it's ugly, it's too expensive, it's rated too highly for 'X' factor at 17 out of 20... The list goes on and on.

Expecting this to happen, I was ruefully amused by the comments – coming without exception from people who haven't written 430 reviews for publication over the past eight years! They apparently felt that if I don't write what they want to read, I've failed them and I'm being paid off by BMW!

Yet no one complains about the 320i being overpriced and under-equipped, despite the fact an EcoBoost Falcon G6E can match it for roadholding, deliver superior performance, similar fuel economy in the real world, roomier interior and a matching five-star ANCAP rating. The Falcon is less than two thirds the price of the BMW. Sure, people complain about the price of the 320i, but there's always a counter argument concerning its core engineering qualities, or its value against a direct competitor. The 320i is ultimately beyond reproach because it's a closer approximation of what the BMW brand means to people – and the EcoBoost Falcon is considered by the semi-informed 'cognoscenti' to be unfit for 'real drivers' (whoever they may be).

For its part, the 2 Series Active Tourer is held to a higher standard than the 320i purely because it's front-wheel drive, because it's a family hatch and because it's not conventionally beautiful.

The X factor rating is my own personal rating for the car. It doesn't have to mirror what anyone else of the seven billion inhabitants of this planet think of the BMW – because I'm the only one writing the review.

As I mentioned to a reader the other day, I'm at ground zero of the target demographic for this car. I have a wife who prefers to drive small cars and I have two teenage kids who are tall for their age and require more rear-seat legroom in any family car we buy. The BMW provides that sort of packaging without eating into the large, functional boot. The Active Tourer is comfortable, easy to drive, reasonably fuel efficient – and within our means to purchase if we don't go hog wild ticking off options.

I like cars – of all kinds... Not just the fast, powerful ones that make drivers feel more assertive/discerning/successful. As is the case with all of our team, it's my job to write for all readers, not just the so-called 'enthusiasts'.

What's the point of a snarky review of the Active Tourer, withholding a carefully considered, objective assessment of the car that hundreds of buyers are expected to purchase this year? Will those prospective buyers welcome some entertaining but scornful review that tells them little about the car they plan to buy?

Are the needs of the Active Tourer's target buyers to be dismissed so easily – or deemed any the less important than the small percentage of 'enthusiast' readers who comment... and typically would comment about two flies crawling up a wall?

Should I feel that I've failed those enthusiasts who tuned into my review expecting me to tip a bucket on a car they don't like? Undeniably I feel like I've failed them – and I'm glad.

Because at the end of the day I'm not here to validate their insecurity.