# Car Talk Auto Advisor

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-talk-auto-advisor/59564>\
**Category:** The Show\
**Created:** [January 5, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-talk-auto-advisor/59564 "2011-01-05T15:26:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![AMMinNY](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/82dd89/32.png) [@AMMinNY](https://community.cartalk.com/u/AMMinNY)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-talk-auto-advisor/59564/1 "2011-01-05T15:26:58Z")

</div>

Bob and Ray are always telling people to come to this web site and use the Car Talk Auto Advisor. I tried it, and boy is it worthless!  
  
  
  
 I specifically wanted a minivan (or at least a car that seats six or more) with manual transmission. I put in those requirements, as well as cranking the “automatic transmission” slider all the way to “don’t want”.  
  
  
  
 What it gave me were:  
  
  
  
 - Automatic transmission minivans.  
  
 - Pick-up trucks (mostly with auto)  
  
 - Sedans  
  
 - Sports cars.  
  
  
  
 What it _didn’t_ give me was the one minivan with manual transmission – the Mazda 5, which my son found in about 2 minutes with a Google search. The only way I could get it to show me the Mazda 5 was to set the “make” preference for Mazda all the way up.  
  
  
  
 For what it’s worth, [edmunds.com](http://edmunds.com) has a car finder with check boxes, and I found the Mazda 5 in about 2 minutes that way. It also indicates that it’s the only manual transmission car that seats more than 5.  
  
  
  
 I think Tom & Ray should get whoever maintains that Auto Advisor to improve their back end before they give any more advertising to them.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/car-talk-auto-advisor/59564/2 "2011-01-05T16:02:37Z")

</div>

I used the Auto Advisor many years ago, and it listed the following “ideal” cars for me:

Chevy Caprice  
Cadillac Catera

Since these cars were of very different sizes, and since neither of them had any of the features that I had indicated as being desirable, I interpreted the Auto Advisor to be either a gimmick meant to amuse us or–perhaps–a paid “shilling” attempt.