carsurvey.org

Author's product rating:   

Advantages:	Very useful
Disadvantages:	None

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

¤•¤•¤•¤•¤•¤•¤•¤• www.carsurvey.org ¤•¤•¤•¤•¤•¤•¤•¤•

The above has proved an extremely useful site in my continuing quest for find a new car * sigh * :( I’m getting VERY bored but at the same time knowledgeable about many makes of car – I think I could confidently apply for a job on Top Gear or whatever it’s called these days. I’d certainly give Tiff Needel a run for his money; and I have a NORMAL name??!! ;o)

CRACKING ON ...

On a recent fact-finding mission I came across the above site on AOL search and here’s my opinion.

Having decided on a few models I liked; Renault Megan Scenic & Toyota Previa, I have been scouring the net and press to glean as much info about these cars as is humanly possible – I'm not parting which my hard saved cash until I have done all my homework, that’s for sure, LOL.

On CarSurvey.Org you can find the latest reviews on practically any vehicle that has ever come off the production line, I didn’t reaslise there were so many car manufacturers!

¤•¤•¤• On the Home Page ¤•¤•¤•

(Apparently, there are around 30000 reviews on this site).

There are the latest views listed, today these were; Volkswagen Polo, Toyota Corolla, Renault Scenic (which is where I come in), Nissan 2 X 4 Truck, Jeep Comanche

There is a Site Links section and FAQ. Reviews by region are also accessible.

On the Home Page they list the cars by manufacturer – this makes it easier to review the vehicles you are interested in.

There is also a Members page. This area of the website offers extra facilities to people who create a free account.

The current Members facilities are:

The ability to read reviews as soon as they are submitted, before they have been approved.

In return for the above, account holders are asked to rate the unapproved reviews in the Members area.

There is also a word of warning on the page..

“Please note that as reviews in this section have not been pre-approved, some will be offensive in nature. In this case the action you should take is to rate them as such. Please do not create an account if you do not feel comfortable with this situation.”

The ratings given to each review will apparently be used to decide if it should appear on the main web site.

The account opening form is then available for completion, if you wish to become a member. It asks for all the usual info so nothing untoward here. You can also pick regions that you do not wish to see reviews from such as North America, New Zealand, UK, Ireland & Australia.

¤•¤•¤• Ease of Use ¤•¤•¤•

Having decided on Renault & Toyota as my preferred manufacturers I firstly hit the Renault link - it threw up (not literally) all the available models manufactered by Renault and after each it shows the number of reviews for that model.

I clicked the Scenic link and it informed me that 72 reviews were written on the Scenic range. The latest Scenic reviews are posted in the left hand column and on the right are the best written reviews, after which there is a link which will take you to any further reviews for that model. It’s as simple as that!

I found these reviews very useful as (exactly like Ciao reviews) they are written by ‘Joe/Jo Public’ who has had hands-on experience with the model you are interested in. You get an honest, no-frills, down to earth opinion on the model you specify.

With the use of ‘smiley’ faces you are able to see which are the good, so-so or positively unhappy experiences of that car’s owner.

After reading the very short review – 100 words on average – you are able to ‘vote’ for how well written the reviews was, in your opinion. You can also comment on the review if you so wish.

There are also links to search for any model, Search for new and used models of your choice available in the UK and obtain an insurance quote online.

The site is bright & colourful, fast and easy to use. It has been a useful tool in gaining valuable information on the model I am intested in.

Oh, and just as an aside there is also an Airlines Survey link which lists every airline in existence (??). I think this link is something I will be using in the future to check out the airline I have been allocated for my next hols.

The CarSurvey.Org site is written and maintained by Steven Jackson, and very well I might add :)

Hope this information proves useful to someone.

Thanks for reading. K:) xx