Idle Chat: Favorite Automaker Websites
While Edmunds is the world's best one-stop shop for automotive information (why else would you be here?), sometimes the automakers' websites can provide additional vehicle detail that we can't. IC's hosts arm wrestle over what their favorite automaker websites are to visit.
Mr. Romans: An honorable mention goes out to Subaru, as it has enough confidence in its products to prominently display reviews and rankings taken from Edmunds and other auto-reviewing websites. But Porsche is my favorite as it's a great fantasy diversion for financially limited people like me. I can spend hours creating dream cars on the Porsche car configurator -- and then just about have a coronary when I realize that my dream 2009 Cayman S costs $92,585. That's about the time I'll slink over to the entertainment section and download computer wallpapers and listen to audio clips of revving Porsche engines.
Ms. MacKinnon: Brent, my faves are a little more modest than yours. Plus, I have a tie: Toyota and Honda. They're both easy to use, their designs don't feel cluttered, and you can get a lot of preliminary information with just a couple of clicks or mouse-overs. If I were a new car shopper, I think it'd be easy to feel overwhelmed by the flashier automakers' sites, but Honda and Toyota both have made the process less confusing.
This is actually the last Idle Chat post. It's being retired in favor of bigger and better things on Edmunds Daily, which may or may not include constant updates on the Jonas Brothers. Idle Chat was hosted by Brent Romans and Bryn MacKinnon, two editors at Edmunds.com. Each Sunday in the Idle Chat lounge (read: some place they made up) they pontificated on a topic that was kinda about cars.
Bentley and Maserati have configurators that make Porsche's seem pretty mundane.