Mario Christou

Mario Christou joined the Carwow reviews team at the start of 2025, specialising in car reviews, new model analysis and automotive news. His work helps drivers understand how different cars perform in the real world and which models offer the best value for money.

He writes in-depth reviews, covers new vehicle launches, car comparisons and industry developments, explaining how design, technology and performance affect everyday driving. His reviews aim to give readers clear, practical insights into the strengths and weaknesses of different models.

His experience in journalism and photography is wide-reaching, writing stories and features on car culture and motorsports across the world. He has a passion for driving, design and engineering, and his reporting combines detailed vehicle knowledge with a focus on what matters most to buyers — usability, running costs and real-world performance.

What’s your process when testing and reviewing a car?

Reviewing a car starts from outside, with the practical stuff. Checking how wide doors open for access and inspecting the boot. Styling is subjective, but I can’t help but judge a car’s looks, too.

Moving into the driver’s seat, I’ll poke and prod my way around the dashboard and centre console, feeling around for material quality, ease of use and to see how well laid-out the controls are. I do the same for the back seats, looking at storage all round and checking how easy the backrest flips down.

The fun part comes from behind the wheel, where I’ll take any car I’m testing - be it a city car or a super saloon - along the test routes I’ve put together. The most eye-opening testing comes from day-to-day life, along the roads I’ve driven on for years, where I can most clearly see which cars fare well.

What do you pay the most attention to when reviewing a car?

This varies, but my priority for the vast majority of cars is how comfortable the seats are and how well the suspension deals with bad roads, because I think a sensible car should be a comfortable way to get around.

With performance cars, meanwhile, I pay most attention to how capable - and fun - a car is on a twisty road. The seats should be supportive, the engine (real or simulated) should be exciting, and it should fill you with confidence when chucking it into corners.

How has your background in automotive photography and feature writing influenced the way you review cars?

You’d think there isn’t much overlap, but the advantage of my photography and story-writing background is that I’ve spent most of my career writing easy-to-read features which are meant to be entertaining, as much as they are informational. That goes hand in hand with reviewing cars, linking facts and figures in a way that’s easy to understand.

I also emphasise the importance of good, original photography to go with our reviews.

What separates a great car from an average one? or How do you ensure your car reviews remain fair and unbiased?

A great car is one that has very few ‘buts’ about it. What I mean by that is there’s little compromise, and that applies to any car, whether high performance or super sensible. Think ‘comfortable but not fun to drive’ or ‘a big boot but tiny rear seats.’ Not all compromises are equal, but by-and-large a great car offers a lot of excellent qualities without any major flaws.

It doesn’t matter what the car is, what the brand is or what my personal automotive tastes are, my mission is to provide honest, trustworthy advice to consumers to make the right choice. I drive every car I have for review on the same routes, putting them through the same trials and comparing them to appropriate alternatives.

What’s the most memorable or unusual car you’ve driven?

As a performance car - and BMW - enthusiast, the E46 BMW M3 CSL is my automotive highlight. It’s simply perfect for me, in every single way, because I would live with its compromises daily with no issues. A Porsche 911 GT3 RS, 911 Turbo or Alpine A110 R are all as exciting to drive, but they don’t quite resonate with the childhood BMW fanboy inside me.

The most unusual car I’ve driven is a Porsche Cayenne that was modified to compete in desert rallies and to go dune bashing. It has a mighty V8 engine, manual gearbox conversion and suspension designed to survive serious jumps. It was a great laugh to put through its paces, though I feel my driving through the desert didn’t do it justice.