Welcome! And thank you for visiting the new DRIVEN Car Guide.
Now in my 30th year in this industry, and similar experience with staffers David Linklater and Damien O’Carroll, we’ve first-hand seen the changes for the motoring media and automotive industry over the decades, and do our best to keep up with, ahead of and maybe occasionally set the trends.
DRIVEN Car Guide (DCG) is a reactive response and proactive initiative to that - and our brand parents NZME and NZ Herald - have put the support behind us to roll with the times, driving us (sorry about the puns) into the next generation of motoring media, where we offer you, the reader and consumer, even more helpful and relevant information about car buying.
Many of us over 30 witnessed the introduction of the internet and how it (unassumingly at the time) changed our lives and in ways we couldn’t predict, and now take for granted, along with the massive changes it created for car buyers: it took around a decade, but sometime around the mid-to-late 2000s, car brands and buyers really started to benefit from internet researching, and with YouTube launched in 2005, it stepped up again. Buyers because – and now more than ever – are better informed and researched than ever about new brands, cars and specs.
So, DRIVEN Car Guide has created an easier path to choosing your next car. We’re like the father, uncle or sister who’s the resident car expert, highlighting a way to either provide car options, or confirm your preferences. We’ve introduced subtle changes over the past few months, such as fewer numbers and overwhelming facts and figures – though they’re now more accessible than ever through our car comparison tools, along with new sections like the “Ask an Expert” and “Should I Buy?” column, where we get people to drive and give their opinion of cars they’re keen on (or not!).
This is the new DRIVEN Car Guide, evolution and revolution, change without confusion, and an easier way to digest and process researching and buying your next car.