Matt Prior

St Albans

Automotive Journalist and Presenter at Autocar

"You, Sir, at the worst car reviewer on the internet." Also @ automattictransmission on Instagram.

Articles

MWIC Bonus Episode 12: Autocar Meets Kia design boss Karim Habib

2 weeks ago | autocar.co.uk | Matt Prior

Matt is Autocar’s lead features writer and presenter, is the main face of Autocar’s YouTube channel, presents the My Week In Cars podcast and has written his weekly column, Tester’s Notes, since 2013. Matt is an automotive engineer who has been writing and talking about cars since 1997. He joined Autocar in 2005 as deputy road test editor, prior to which he was road test editor and world rally editor for Channel 4’s automotive website, 4Car.
Alpine A290

2 weeks ago | msn.com | Matt Prior |Illya Verpraet

Microsoft Cares About Your PrivacyMicrosoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
Real world test: BYD's £18k city car with a 200-mile range | Autocar

2 weeks ago | buff.ly | BYD Seal |Kris Culmer |Matt Prior

Close Verdict Model tested: Rating: 7 Excellent as an urban runaround and more mature-feeling than its rivals. Strong value for money.
The £7500 Toyota GT86 is upon us. Here's how to bag the five-star sports car | Autocar

2 weeks ago | autocar.co.uk | Matt Prior

It’s these cars, along with leggy, well-used examples, that prop up the GT86 market at around the £7500 mark. If you can stretch to around £11,000, you’ll find a more pampered car with reasonable miles and a low owner count. Snap up a manual car and thank us later, because that slick, six-speed stick-shift is a big part of what makes the sweet-handling GT86 so engaging and tactile to drive. There is a six-speed auto, but it will sap some of the driver appeal.
Why is Subaru such a hit with liberal Americans? I found out in Woodstock... | Autocar

3 weeks ago | buff.ly | Matt Prior

"It’s a tie-dye sort of place," says the woman behind the counter of a petrol station cafe in upstate New York when I ask her what Woodstock is like, because it’s nearby and my road trip has no definitive destination. I’d thought it was just a quaint town near the Catskill Mountains, but when she explains, I realise it’s that Woodstock – the one from the famous 1960s rock festival that promised ‘three days of peace and music’ and whose cultural impact shook the world.
Why is Subaru such a hit with liberal Americans? I found out in Woodstock... | Autocar

3 weeks ago | autocar.co.uk | Matt Prior

"It’s a tie-dye sort of place," says the woman behind the counter of a petrol station cafe in upstate New York when I ask her what Woodstock is like, because it’s nearby and my road trip has no definitive destination. I’d thought it was just a quaint town near the Catskill Mountains, but when she explains, I realise it’s that Woodstock – the one from the famous 1960s rock festival that promised ‘three days of peace and music’ and whose cultural impact shook the world.
Best hot hatches: Why the Toyota GR Yaris still rules the roost | Autocar

3 weeks ago | buff.ly | Jack Warrick |Matt Prior |James Disdale |Matt Saunders

Hot hatches occupy a sweet spot in the performance car world, offering an appealing blend of speed, playful handling, genuine practicality, and sometimes, surprising affordability. It’s hard to find fault with that combination. The classic hot hatch formula, refined over many years, is simple yet effective: transform a standard hatchback by significantly boosting its performance capabilities, enhance its engine and chassis technology, and let the fun commence.
Matt Prior: I bought an Audi A2 for £500 – and it's brilliant

3 weeks ago | msn.com | Matt Prior

Microsoft Cares About Your PrivacyMicrosoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
I bought an Audi A2 for £500 – it's still brilliant after 26 years | Autocar

3 weeks ago | autocar.co.uk | Matt Prior

One of the things people love to say about the Audi A2 is that it was ahead of its time. It’s the opinion people seem to hold most about the small Audi. And I get that: if you pulled the wraps from it today, it would still look modern. In October last year, Audi did just that, when it revealed the A2 E-tron concept restomod to celebrate the car’s 25th anniversary, and it looked as fresh as a piglet.
What would happen if we all stopped buying new cars?

4 weeks ago | autocar.co.uk | Matt Prior

What if we didn’t buy any new cars for a year? That’s a thought experiment suggested by Andrew Oswald, professor of economics and behavioural science at the University of Warwick, writing to the Financial Times recently. Oswald used data from the RAC Foundation and Autocar to estimate that UK buyers will spend £80 billion on new cars this year. Which is, technically speaking, a shedload of money.