The road tests in magazines tell you what it is like to drive and whether the tester likes the interior. They don't tell you about the cost of spares, whether you have to dissassemble the entire front of the car to change a headlight bulb, or whether it is likely to be reliable. There is very little mention of resale value. This is where this site is extremely good. It is nice to have a car which is fun to drive but not if it is unreliable and has low resale value. Road testers enthuse about Alfas but I won't be getting one.

Buyers often purchase on image and looks. An expensive hobby.

I think magazine reviews are ok up to a point but there is a lot of bias in many of these reviews and a lot of subjectivity. Star ratings or numerical scores can be misleading as well. A car may be marked down for things like luggage space, rear passenger space, rear visibilty, resale value etc when those things may not be important to some people. Hence a car with a 3 star rating looks like a dud compared with one with 5 stars when in reality, it is every bit as good to drive. Thankfully, there are many people out there that buy with their hearts and not their brains and are willing to take a punt on something a bit different.

"Hence a car with a 3 star rating looks like a dud compared with one with 5 stars when in reality, it is every bit as good to drive."

Very true. Most Toyotas are given 2 or 3 stars by the motoring press, but very few people who buy them regret their purchase. My elder daughter had four 1.3 Yarises in a row and they were far better to drive than the road testers imply. She moved to a Hyundai i10, and is now on her second, as they are almost as good to drive and a lot cheaper.

i10s also seem to hold their value better than the What Car tables would have us believe. Admittedly against another new i10, the first one was worth enough to make the PCP monthly payments the same for the new one.

There isn't anything on that top 10 list that I feel drawn to.

I'm happy to make my own decisions on cars; I do read reviews in case they highlight problems but I don't need them to validate my choice - the fact that Whatcar gave my most recent purchase 2 stars out of 5 doesn't signify, because none of the reasons they give is really that relevant to me or what I use it for.

I might go for a VW Golf GT or equivalent Audi A3 (both in 3dr 1.4TSi [now 1.5] 150 form) if they weather the 'Dieselgate' storm and improve on the engineering quality of their other components (that engine is fine, even if it is belt-driven [better than their previous unreliable chaim cam one]) and (to me) highly variable customer service quality. The same would apply to the SEAT Leon SC equiablent (not in the top 10, but essentially nigh on the same car for a lot less money).

I mostly disregard the car maganzines nowadays - they're all trying to out-do eachother in being 'Top Gear' in their reviews, paying little attention to the long term viability (including value for money) of the cars, comfort (especially over the longer term) and post-sales customer care/service and costs and concentrating too much on looks and handling/performance. Many cars are test driven for a short time, even the longer term tests are on brand new cars over a few weeks or months - what happens after a 2-3 years when the suspension's really firmed up and the tyres aren't brand spanking new, and not driven (as many new car tests are) on lovely roads in Spain or suchlike but on pothole-riven UK roads in the rain?

I now wait until a car has at least been out in its latest guise (without major changes) for 2 - 3 years, and then I try and read reviews of people who've bought them at that age second hand. If they're still good, then great, if not (especially ride and reliability), then its a 'no'. I've found that all too many cars, especially European ones, have come to market alongside a load of hype that in the longer term doesn't amount to much.

Not sure about new cars but one day in the future I will replace my 1997 MK2 Mondeo LX with 232k on the clock. I am under pressure from the other half to 'up my game' so may go mad and aquire a high spec Ghia version next time, or if funds permit even possibly a Ghia X car. Will also for sure go newer, 1998-2001 cars seem cheap on the used market.

The Disco is a good example. Which magazines latest car guide gives the Disco Sport a score of 41% and a "Do not buy" rating for reliabilty and refinement! This shows how the same car can be at different ends of the spectrum depending on the tester and type of test.