A Rhetorical Analysis of Car and Driver Magazine

Screen shot of Car and Driver Home page

The authors try to present themselves in a very educated fashion for this particular blog. They present all the information that they know. It is very easy to see that the author knows the ins and outs of the car that they are writing about. You can infer the author knows about the past of particular models as well because they talk about the past and compare and contrast the changes that have been made. The author however does not want to have his name being a big part of his articles. Some other blogs might have a rather large section of the screen devoted to just the author and feature links to their social media pages and perhaps even a picture of them. This blog just lists the author's name. When you click on their name it will take you to other articles that are written by the same person, but that’s as much as you can learn about the author. This is done most likely because of the nature of the blog. The writer is writing the article so that he can provide facts and analysis on a certain car. Blogs that focus more on authors personal opinions would probably be more likely to promote their authors because those blogs aren’t selling the content as much as they are selling the author's personality and flashy opinions. This blog is straightforward and it is presented in a way that best suites the audience looking for that type of blog.

The target audience of this blog are mostly people interested in the car industry and potential car buyers. Reading this blog will provide you with unbiased information about the newest models of cars. A potential buyer of this car would definitely want to read this article before going to look into actually making a purchase. Having the background of someone who test drove the car and knows its ins and outs can be crucial while at a dealership. When talking to a car salesman about the newest model of a car he could give you a completely different set of information than the blog you read online. This blog serves as a safety net for consumers. Car and driver is a good source for the portion of the audience who are just wanting to keep up with the car industry because of how up to date and factual it is. The top article currently on Car and Driver is about the 2017 Porsche Carrera. That car doesn’t even come out for another year. This article will give you information about a car that won’t be advertised for another 8 months. Given it is free advertising for the car company, it is still very interesting to read because it isn’t written by the car company. The article being written by a third party source makes it more reliable. If you were to go a dealership and ask about the 2017 Porsche Carrera they would tell you about how much better is in than the past or previous models. They wouldn’t dare say anything negative about the car. The article on Car and Driver would tell you if the newest model was actually a step backwards.

This blog contains many key features that increase the experience of the reader. Some of these include the bold titles telling when the article will change gears and the pictures that accompany the text. Giving straightforward information and not giving a slant on it is what Car and Driver is known for. It is what makes them who they are. If a consumer wants an in-depth honest evaluation of a car, then they should look into Car and Driver. The information car and driver's offers isn’t only in the form of writing. They also give pictures to help readers understand what they are talking about. A good example of this would be this article of the new 7 series from BMW. The article talks about how the new frame is supported with carbon fiber, and then he adds a picture of the frame stripped down to more accurately describe what he is talking about. The article also includes bolded titles throughout the article to tell when it is going to talk about a different aspect of a car. The article about the BMW has “She Blinded Me with Luxury” bolded. This marks the beginning of the portion of the article where the author talks about the new luxury features of the 7 series. These are very useful for the readers. If a reader doesn’t want to read the entire article and would rather just skim through it quickly he can look at just the bolded titles. If he finds one that interests him

Screen shot of BMW article mentioned

then he can just read what is below that one. This saves time for the reader as well as increasing the reader's experience. I personally used them while analyzing the article. I lost my place while switching between tabs and used the sub heading to quickly find where I was before losing my place. Another feature of this blog is the side bars that are included in every single article. These are there to provide the reader with more information than what is only in the article. The articles never directly mention the side bar, but they always have information that is relevant to the article. In the BMW 7 series article the sidebar lists the MSRP of the specific car they test drove, the rank of mid size luxury sedans and where the 7 series falls in that ranking, and all of the specs of the 7 series. This information can change depending on the specific article but it is always relevant and complementary.


The authors of Car and Driver meet the intellectual standards of clarity, accuracy, precision, depth, and fairness. All of the articles on this blog are fairly short and simple. They don’t try to mislead or confuse the readers. Nobody will read one of these articles and come away not understanding what the author was trying to say. All of the articles I have read have been accurate. I haven’t noticed any mistakes with spelling or formatting that would make an article hard to understand. All articles I have read have also been very precise, especially the BMW article. It points out very specific facts and details that you wouldn’t get from most sources. They even give you the little facts that you wouldn’t ever think of. The article goes into depth when it talks about how all the new 7 series have a longer wheelbase in America instead of the shorter wheel base models sold overseas. This makes the American models have a longer back seat. Even though the change in wheel base is only a little over one inch it has a huge impact on the car. It allows for a substantial amount legroom to be added and for the front passenger seat to be able to fold forward and give a full foot rest to the person in the back seat. The final intellectual standard that this article accomplishes is fairness. Car and Driver gives a fair evaluation of all cars it reviews. This is very important because the mindset of the car community has a large amount of preconceived opinions. Appealing to all members of the car community is very important to keep the blog alive. If Car and Driver was only geared towards BMW fans, then the blog would have a smaller amount of visitors. Overall Car and Driver is a reliable article that meets a great amount of intellectual standards.