ACCESS ALL AUTOS

The job of reviewing cars isn’t what it was a decade ago. Back then, you’d find a quiet road and rate a car’s acceleration, cornering, suspension tune and steering feel.

These days I find myself jumping into a car and checking how well the infotainment hooks up to Pandora. Or whether the reversing camera picture is clear. For that matter, does the car reverse-park itself ? And does the lane keeping assistance just warn me I’m straying from my lane or actually steer me back on track?

These days I’m more likely to be impressed if a car warns me of approaching school zones and red light cameras than if it can sprint to 100km/h in less than six seconds. Manual transmission anyone? Not in this traffic, thanks. Superior autos can shift gears better than humans these days.

We’re still doing most of the driving — for now. In another 10 years, we might review how well a car drives itself. Or how much range you’ll get out of the battery and how quickly it charges. And what the timeshare package looks like. Who knows, it might be the tech writer doing the reviews by then.

That’s why our revamped liftout is called motoring — it’s not all about the car, it’s about the whole motoring experience. Which car has the longest warranty, cheapest servicing, best resale and most impressive accident avoidance technology.

We all still love driving cars here, and the new section will continue to tell car lovers which ones drive the best. But it will also be more accessible to those who need a simple, easy guide to modern motoring.