I believe I’ve expressed before that the entire concept of a ‘press trip’ is sort of strange. Theoretically designed to allow carmakers to efficiently get a bunch of ‘journalists’ to drive a car, in practice they often turn into huge junkets wherein people who may-or-may-not work for major automotive outlets get lavished with fancy dinners, first class trips, and experiences they otherwise would not get to enjoy.
There are some who go on these trips to try and make a freelance living as a writer, there are others who make a lifestyle out of going on as many of these trips as possible. Even when I was EIC at the old site I only went on these trips occasionally. When I left Jalopnik I took a job with a video/film/tv production company responsible for making a lot of the b-roll video and photo packages handed out for reviews, which meant I’d arrive a few days before everything got started. Usually, I was gone by the time the journalists arrived.
It was interesting to see both sides of it. The PR and event staff who produce these things have to do gargantuan amounts of work to logistically make these trips happen. You can’t just throw a bunch of writers (of various driving skill) onto a random road with a crossover and hope all goes well. I was friends with a producer for a PR agency whose main job was to help find these roads. She’d sometimes spend a week driving hundreds of miles confirming the route wasn’t crawling with cops, under construction, contained good photo opportunities, and didn’t have any obvious no-nos (strip clubs, nuclear towers) that would make for too enticing of a backdrop for photographers.
Generally speaking, I never have an issue with the marketing or public relations professionals who put on these events. They work hard and it’s their whole job to try and keep writers safe/fed/supported for a few days. Sure, they want to make their bosses/cars look good, but that’s basically all jobs. There are a few hall-of-famers (Geoff Day when he was at Mercedes) who went out of their way to throw the most ridiculous, over-the-top fancy junkets, but I mostly appreciate when automaker PR folks create the best opportunities to experience the car, no matter where that is.
Bad weather sucks on a press trip and creates all sorts of travel hassles, so many of these events happen in SoCal, Arizona, or Austin. If a junket is in Miami I naturally assume the car is not a great vehicle to drive, unless there’s a track component. It’s a great place to be but a horrible place to drive.
I don’t want to seem ungrateful. It’s cool to be able to go to Hawaii or the French Riviera or wherever, but I mostly just want to talk to engineers/product planners and get seat time in a place with a variety of roads suited to the vehicle. The 2024 Volkswagen Atlas launch was my first one as a journalist in probably six years. I thought it was a great event, and they put us up in this place called Autocamp Catkills where most of the rooms are retrofitted Airstream trailers. Check this out:
That’s a full-sized bathroom! The roads in the Catskills also gave me a decent chance to evaluate the Atlas.
But, because it was my first trip in a while, I immediately made the biggest mistake you can make. A total rookie move. Part of the reason I decided to do this trip, other than it was super close and it would be silly for anyone else to go, was to catch up with people I haven’t seen in a while. Like a chump, I arrived a little late and hadn’t already arranged for a driving partner.
You see, even though I rarely have any issue with the the automaker people there, there are some, ahem, journalists I absolutely do not want to be stuck in a car with for some very obvious reasons. First, some drivers are just unsafe. I’ve personally witnessed driver behavior that was, well, less than ideal. I’d say that most press trip attendees are fine, but increasingly there are inexperienced drivers, influencers, et cetera, who have no idea what they’re doing.
I was one of these! My second time out on a race track was in a high-powered car and, though I’d memorized the track in Forza Motorsports and had some experience driving cars, I wouldn’t have necessarily wanted to be my passenger. I took it easy, learned from other drivers/instructors, and did my best, but not everyone is as thoughtful. There’s the famous story of the guy who’d never driven on a race track and took their first lap in a high-powered car in the rain. They immediately hit a wall.
Even if someone isn’t unsafe, there are people who have bad habits. There’s one particular person who shows up to a lot of these events and has just straight up abandoned people on the side of the road who were getting photos/video. For hours. More than once.
Then there are the lifestylers. These are people who write for outlets you’ve never heard of and yet, somehow, are the most demanding. I’ve seen one of these individuals at an airport, after a delay, yell at a random member of the janitorial staff and threaten to have them fired if they didn’t open the gate (something they definitely were not allowed to do). These are the same people who brag, loudly, about the airline status they earned on trips they didn’t pay for.
And I’ll be honest. I’m sure there are people who wouldn’t want me as a partner. We could be a little harsh at the old site and, while I often forget the harshness, other people have specific memories. I talk a lot. Nonstop. I have big opinions about things even though I work at this site that is, still, a relative upstart.
That’s even more of a reason why I should have checked to see who else was going on the trip so I could pre-select a good driving partner. Alas, when I arrived there was plenty of free food to be had, but the sign-up sheet for co-pilots was already full and the many, many people who were there that I like and respect and would otherwise happily drive with had already paired up.
It was a total Forest Gump “Seat’s taken” situation and I wasn’t sure what would happen. Some of the other journalists tried to strategize a way to avoid a worst case scenario, but I thought I’d toss it to fate and just didn’t sign up at all.
I woke up the next morning and went to the list hoping there was someone I missed. There was not, but there was a guy, Stephen Rivers, from Carscoops who seemed like he wasn’t serial killer, and I’m a Carscoops fan. Plus, it’s a Volkswagen Atlas. What’s the worst that could happen?
While it would be fun to say he was a total lunatic and I had to call the cops, I actually lucked out this time. Stephen is an ex-OppositeLocker who actually got his start when Stef Schrader encouraged him to write more. We had a great time talking about the car, the industry, and how hard it is out there for freelancers.
He was totally cool with stopping to get photos at this architecturally interesting soon-to-be-converted church and, more importantly, he didn’t try to make lunch 900 hours long by ordering 16 things off the menu. Hopefully, he didn’t have too bad of a time driving with me!
[Editor’s Note: Once, on a Hyundai trip, my driving partner was a Korean journalist who spoke no English, and I, a career idiot, spoke no Korean. We got on just fine until I went to take a drink out of my water bottle only to find he had discarded his cigarette in there, which I then drank. I felt weeeeiiiiiirrrrrrddd the rest of that trip. Kinda nauseous. Kinda clinically relaxed. Oy.
That said, I love press trips, generally, the further away and weirder, the better. Because then I can explore all the odd local car stuff. That’s how I found the Southernmost Junkyard In The World, after all! It’s all the stuff around the event that makes them great. – JT]
JUNKET REPORT SCORECARD
- Fanciest Thing I Ate: A homemade granola bar that was like those too-good-to-be-healthy Quaker Oats chocolate chippy boys.
- Best Thing I Drank: A local bourbon cocktail meant to evoke camping.
- Quality of Roads: 7/10
- Most Unnecessary But Also Best Thing: Milkshakes… at brunch?
- Shrimp Count: Shrimp’n’Grits at brunch. I had a bunch.
Also, is this something you’d like to read about? We got on these crazy junkets all the time and I think it’s maybe interesting to see where we are. I have another write-up about the cool Airstream they brought out as well, but that’ll probably be a non-member/FP post.
A peak behind the curtain is always appreciated.
Late on this, but yes these types of fancy events are interesting to me for some reason
Well, you lot are going to cream yourselves when you find out I just damaged a press loaner…..
…you okay? Hopefully the damage is just to the car and not too personally mortifying.
It was a heart sinking moment definitely, but nothing serious,
I love reading about this kind of stuff, keep it up please!
I like these articles and wouldn’t mind hearing more about the press junkets.
I suppose to me, the honesty/integrity scale goes: (1) Refuse all free stuff for an independent review (See also: YouTube Project Farm, but one can’t buy every car, so that means nothing to review); (2) Get free stuff, but be honest and air out all the dirty laundry; (3) accept anything/everything and try to hide it, while also loudly claiming independence (see also: Supreme Court).
I’ll be happy with level (2), and the fun stories along the way.
I love when they link to the stuff they wrote for Jalopnik. One, it shows that these guys have class and don’t fret about sending us to another site and two, it reminds us just how bad the other site is. There was literally an ad between (and sometimes in the middle of) every single paragraph. The Autopian is the superior site for sure!
Gotta cite your sources and references. It’s only fair, IMHO.
This is Good Autopian. Part of the reason why I signed up for a membership was to get a peek Behind The Curtain. I didn’t expect Adrian’s nipples and Torch’s torched finger to be behind that curtain, but that’s what I get for opening the bag labeled “DEAD DOVE DO NOT EAT”. Regardless, I’m 100% here for some members-only inside baseball.
Nobody expects my nipples, but here we are. Again.
Love this-How about a contest to take an Autopian member along on one of these?
Would a manufacturer allow it? Wouldn’t have to drive a car-prbably a liability issue, but might be fun.
Hah! Hmm… I don’t know how that would work but it’s a fun question.
Honestly, some of y’all are probably more knowledgeable and less terrifying behind the wheel than some of the more traditional invitees, haha.
TBH I’m not sure it’s either of these.
Egads, how many industry types have I encouraged to make this horrific career mistake?! I guess it’s actually working out for Stephen better than it is for me, so good on him.
Sometimes it works out to be the last person to sign up and you either get your own car or get to ride with one of the PR handlers, which isn’t awful. I generally like the PR teams, too, FWIW. Sometimes I feel like I end up talking to them more than I do some of the other journos, but I know which one could (in theory) let me jump a 911 Dakar (and it’s probably none of them, let’s be real).
The strangest drive partner I had was a video journo who crawled around the car while I was driving to get a perfect shot. Kinda sketchy, but hey, I was a film major, so I get it. (Kinda.) I somehow avoid the real horror stories.
The best one was a Lemons buddy who also shares my love of fine brown liquors, so we both were QUITE STOKED that the chosen hotel had a decent whiskey selection in the lobby. Needless to say, he kindly took the first driving shift while I migrained it out of my system. That’s friendship, yo.
tl;dr—IDK, just let me jump a 911 Dakar. I don’t really care about any other cars right now. That’s all I want. 911 Dakar, sent hard.
This is fun. More please.
Agree with the rest, good article, be fun to see some more of this stuff.
I’m in the “more of these stories, please”, camp. Ever since I was a Car and Driver-reading kid, I’ve wondered about these automotive press get-togethers.
My middle name is Vicarious. Darn right I want to read about this stuff! Ooh, new screen name. James Vicarious Kirk.
Man, sometimes I miss junkets. When I was doing the tech junket circuit, sometimes the PR people would just go bonkers. Not “here, T-shirts and 256GB USB drives” bonkers (bear in mind, this was 10 years ago. So those things were not cheap.) Not “we put you up in the fancy hotel with a nightly wine tasting” bonkers. (Which they did – because Kimpton Hotels are way cheaper than you’d think.)
“Here, fly home with this $2,000 appliance, to keep, no strings attached (but we’d really appreciate an honest review)” bonkers. Remember, this was back when people actually gave a damn about honesty and integrity to some extent. Turned down a LOT of shops that wanted to just ship me a random thingy for a ‘review,’ just let them peek first.
But you guys definitely get way better food. Lunch was almost always premade cold sandwiches and breakfast was ‘you’re on your own, but we have juice.’ And nobody ever so much as gave me a rental HHR! … on second thought, that part definitely isn’t a negative.
I have been missing these types of articles. Funny, light hearted, a bit educational about a subject that doesnt require an engineering degree. Be nice to see one on a regular basis, maybe even intro to people in the industry at a cocktail party or sit next to at a bar. Maybe even intro to the staff what do they do when not working/writing about cars?
This is good. I like this. More of this, please.
Agree! More please.
Yes, agree. I especially like behind the scene stories. We can get the “final review” almost anywhere, but the kooky behind the scene stuff is gold Jerry. Gold!
What is with this site and shrimp? It’s starting to be a thing, like the number 47 recurring in Star Trek.
To answer your question, yes. I absolutely want to read about these things.
Autojournalists all joke about shrimp because, in general, it’s the one fancy thing you can find on literally any press trip.
Fun fact did you know shrimp are the only edible crustacean you can pose in the 69 position? But now with inflation you need to put them in the 96 position.
It’s fancy for people who don’t know fancy.
Like…junket lords. We’re talking about junket lords. THE big shrimpers.
See?? Where else would I get this exclusive, insider info?
No explanation. No point in looking for one either; it’s all part of the cosmic unconsciousness.
The top reason I can’t be an auto journalist is I can’t eat shrimp. Might not kill me, but will make me wish I was dead (intolerance as opposed to allergy).
I enjoy these kind of “how the sausage gets made” stories. Give us plebian readers a view into a world we might never see for ourselves. Thanks for sharing.
make this a paywalled post and name names!
I think it is paywalled. Right?
It’s a members-only post, yeah. I think Detroit-Lightning means an extra pay wall. Ya know, to keep all us reprobates here in the peanut gallery, I mean Cloth tier, from seeing the dirty laundry.
If I were a manufacturer inviting weird journalists to drive my brand new car, I wouldn’t call the event a junket. Behind the scenes stories are great, BTW.
I read this as “Between the scenes.” Kinda like it, even though I’m a oaf.
Oh, no! Having spent a lot of my life around smokers, I used to be very careful about any sort of open drink container, because this is a fear of mine. I’m sorry that happened, because that would be awful.
Shockingly, not the worst thing Torch has ingested, that we know about.
https://www.theautopian.com/how-i-used-a-chainsaw-to-remove-batteries-from-the-cheapest-ev-in-the-world/
Matt is not Jason.
The quoted excerpt is from Torch’s editor’s note
The only thing worse I can think of are chewers. I couldn’t find the hand soap at a friend’s place once, but saw an open shampoo bottle. Whatever, that’d work. NOPE. That was the spit bottle, apparently. I’ve never vomited so quickly in my life.
I pretty much don’t drink anything in an opaque container around anyone who chews. The smell of their chew already makes me less likely to consume anything, so it’s not difficult to avoid drinking things I can’t see.
I inherited my office furniture at work from a guy who chewed. It didn’t take me long to figure out where he did his spitting.
EWWWWW
early days as a groom, i inherited driving duties on a then 25 year-old topkick horse box with no AC and a mostly exposed foam bench seat. the groom for the prior five years had been a toothless, heavy-chewing, non-bathing, lazy bastard who preferred to nap in the cab than actually work. The box was heaven compared to the cab.