Matt Robinson
Title: Reviews Editor
Matt grew up glued to a CRT TV often displaying old-format Top Gear/Subaru Imprezas burbling their way around World Rally Championship stages, or taking pixelated cars around an equally pixelated Laguna Seca on Gran Turismo II. This made a life and career in cars all but inevitable.
Virtual cars and 1:10-scale Tamiya R/Cs were swapped for the real thing as soon as possible, with Matt insisting on taking to the road on his 17th birthday, starting in glamorous style with his dad’s Peugeot 405 Quasar, a curiously specced car with pretty much no equipment (not even front electric windows) other than a powered sunroof.
He began his first steps into the world of motoring journalism in 2010, writing for specialist print titles including Mercedes Enthusiast, Land Rover Owner and Retro Cars. He made a full-time switch to the industry in 2013, joining Car Throttle, then in its early days as a venture capital-backed start-up.
He worked there for the best part of 10 years while the brand rapidly grew and was subsequently purchased by Dennis Publishing. This enabled a later internal move to Auto Express, where Matt spent the next year and a half in the fast-paced world of a weekly print title.
Things went full circle when he rejoined Car Throttle after its sale to a new owner, where Matt was tasked with building a new editorial team and relaunching its website, while also running popular motorcycle website Visordown.
Matt’s most recent move, as you might have gathered, was to HonestJohn.co.uk, which he joined in late 2024 as Car Reviews Editor. As HJ’s ‘man on the ground’, he’s constantly in and out of new cars, both in the UK and abroad on international launches, with the aim of answering one important question: how are our readers best off spending their hard-earned money?
What advice would you give to car buyers?
Think carefully about your needs while keeping an open mind. You might, for instance, discount EVs, thinking the range might not be enough, when in reality, the average UK driver only does around 100 miles a week.
On the other hand, you might be clocking a load of miles every year but avoid diesel cars due to them being a bit unfashionable these days, when in fact, they still make a lot of sense for high-mileage drivers.
This open-mindedness should apply to all facets of a car, not just the fuel type. Brand loyalty is worth dispensing with, for one thing, because manufacturers will frequently go from being on a roll to going off the boil. And then there’s the body type – with so much variety out there, even with the increasing ubiquity of SUVs, it’s in your interests to contemplate options beyond what you normally go for.
All of this introduces a lot of choice, which can be bewildering. But, if you’ll excuse the shameless self-promotion, that’s where HonestJohn.co.uk comes in, helping guide you to the right car.
What was your first car?
Technically, it was a 1990 Rover Mini Studio 2, but I did all of about 10 miles in that before selling it for parts (having done a horrendous rattle can respray and subsequently discovered the subframe was shot), so I don't really count that.
I think of the Peugeot 306 XS as my first car. What a great thing that was. I used it to commute to college, it moved me in and out of university flats, took me to the south of France and provided a useful backup whenever I'd spent a chunk of my student loan on something daft and unreliable like my E30 BMW 318iS whose cylinder head blew within the first few months of ownership.
What cars do you currently own?
Currently, I don’t actually own any, and the one vehicle in the family household is a van rather than a car. Specifically, a campervan converted Volkswagen Transporter T6. The last time we had a car, it was an R53 Mini Cooper S, which I loved, but the constant influx of press vehicles to test meant the poor thing sat unused in the garage most of the time. It tended to average only a few hundred miles a year - the shame of it.
What I do own is several motorbikes, including a Ducati Multistrada 950. If you’re not into bikes, all you need to know is it’s the two-wheeled equivalent of a compact, sporty SUV like the Porsche Macan.
