Having just spent a few minutes on vehiclesTEST.com, I have to give credit to its founders/publishers Chris Kelly and Doug Thompson. Though the site, which provides four-minute online video vehicle reviews, is still growing—at present only the Toyota model line reviews have been posted—it shows tons of potential. The videos are polished and professional without being slick, and the site is easy to navigate.
True, you won’t find a whole lot of hardcore critique in the videos, but they do present a concise and entertaining overall view of each model’s features and performance.
The catch? To view any of the videos on vehiclesTEST.com, you have to submit basic contact information, which is, in turn, passed on to your local Toyota dealer. The same will apply to video reviews of other car companies as they are added to the site.
Both Kelly and Thompson are well-known and respected in marine industry circles. A licensed commercial captain, Kelly has written for more than 20 years for magazines including Yachting, MotorBoating and Boating. His online work includes co-founding BoatTEST.com with Jeffrey Hammond and consulting in the early development stages of Yachtworld.com.
A former editor of Powerboat magazine and an award-winning outdoor writer, Thompson started his online career helping develop iboats.com and later worked with Kelly at BoatTEST.com. In addition to his publishing and sale responsibilities at vehiclesTEST.com, Thompson is the “on-air” talent in the videos.
Full disclosure: Kelly and Thompson are friends of mine.
More full disclosure: I would not recommend you check out vehiclesTEST.com, particularly in the early stages of its development, if it weren’t very good. It is very good—and definitely worth a visit.