Editor’s Letter: Our EV of the Year Coverage Awaits Your Feedback

From the September 2022 issue of Car and Driver.

To know the Car and Driver reader—to really understand the people who get this magazine in the mail, seek it out at the Paradies newsstand at Palm Beach International, or visit our website every morning—all you have to do is read their letters and comments. Collectively, y’all are a witty, insightful, and sharp-tongued monolith of sass and knowledge.

We respect you more than you know, and not just because you essentially write Backfires, the funniest part of the magazine. You direct us, you correct us, and you threaten to walk out the door. We get it.

Like you, we all once sat on the receiving end of C/D, ready to set pen to paper to tell the editors that the 1997 Volkswagen Jetta III GLX should’ve finished higher in its comparison test because the VR6 rips. [typing intensifies] You, editors, are biased, paid off, stupid, too old, too young. SpIDeR gRaPHs! The cars you cover are boring, not boring enough, too expensive, too cheap. Oh, and another thing, the font is way too small and there’s ink on my fingers from the Corvette photo, which was too dark, and I couldn’t see the wheels because the car was in motion. SEND.

I write to you, dear reader, because you will soon be crafting emails and comments in response to the EV of the Year. I promise to read them. We’re making inroads in this relationship and following your advice. That 29-page EV section that begins on page 26 of the print issue: Notice that it’s grouped together to make it easier to tear out. That one’s for you, Randy Flick of Sellersburg, Illinois. (All of you reading online, you’ll just have to tear it out in your imagination.)

We listened. But know that just because we cover EVs, it doesn’t mean we’re sold on them. We cover all that’s new in the car world. In the past year, four of every 10 new vehicle launches were for an electrified vehicle. Don’t confuse coverage with infatuation.

Like many of you, we aren’t yet convinced about an electric’s ability to completely replace the 93-octane rumbler in the garage. In one piece you can see what happened when senior editor Elana Scherr set out to drive a BMW i4 around Michigan using the plugs of Jane and John Doe. Flip around and you’ll see if technical editor David Beard—behind the wheel of a Lucid—beat our 1000-mile road-trip time set in a Tesla last year.

Those tests, like all of our tests, are informed by skepticism. Curiosity is why we push things to the limit and then rush back to our cubes to share our findings with you. That’s why you read C/D—well, that and Ed. responses.

So, we vow to amuse, educate, challenge, and deliver to you what’s new, what’s coming, how things work, and what’s good or just plain stupid—whether it runs on gas, diesel, hydrogen, electrons, or grandiose plans. You’ll be a better expert as a result. And keep telling us how we’re doing, because that’s what C/D runs on.