November 2006
Consumer Reports Autos Staff Bio
GORDON HARD
Senior Editor, Autos
Hometown: Pleasantville, N.Y.
Joined Consumer Reports: 1984
All-time favorite car: Jaguar XK 120 --"One of the prettiest cars of all time, and a major pain in the neck to maintain."
How he became interested in cars: "When I was 13, our parents gave me and my twin brother a 1950 DeSoto to take apart and put back together. We got pretty good at the first part. Since then I've owned dozens of cars, including some of the world's worst."
At age 19, Gordon Hard drove his 1971 Volkswagen Microbus from Connecticut to Nicaragua. An abiding interest in vehicles that can go the distance lies behind his clear, comprehensive automotive reports, crafted each month for Consumer Reports.
Hard is the magazine's main auto writer, working out of its Auto Test facility. After years of covering popcorn, computers, and VCRs--everything but cars--he jumped at the chance to relocate from Consumers Union's New York headquarters to the state-of-the-art auto-test facility in East Haddam, Conn.
"It's great to be surrounded by real professionals with a deep understanding and wide experience in all kinds of autos. I can always grab somebody to clarify a point--ask one engineer about features, another about handling," explains Hard. "We all eat together and can spend an hour talking about, say, the worst place you ever broke down."
That's no hardship for Hard. "When I arrived here, I was surprised to discover that I knew just about zero about cars," he laughs. "The car business is like a parallel universe. You can never know it all. It was gently made clear to me, for instance, that the key isn't driving fast but driving smoothly. Some of these guys are artists behind the wheel. They make it look so easy. And it's not."
Hard writes ten or more road-test reports a year and contributes material for the annual Buying Guide, all of Consumer Reports special auto-related publications, and ConsumerReports.org. "There's always something new. That's what keeps it interesting," he says.
Currently, he's tracking auto-safety trends. "I'm trying to learn if there is any practical way to seriously reduce highway deaths. Some of the carmakers say that fatalities are the driver's fault 90 percent of the time. But that doesn't mean cars can't be a lot safer than they are. We're looking at next-generation, smart air-bag systems that can weigh and locate a passenger before deploying. I'm also interested in the new electronic stability-control systems, which can help to pull you out of a skid. I'd like to see all cars become a lot more forgiving when something goes wrong."
How does Hard transform complex test data into easy-to-digest articles? "I try to imagine I'm writing a letter to my most literate grandmother. I try to be bright, polite, maybe a little wry. I also put myself in the place of the consumer, asking, 'Is this difference between models all that important?' or, 'Would I spend $2,000 of my own money on this new gadget?'"
Senior Editor, Autos
Hometown: Pleasantville, N.Y.
Joined Consumer Reports: 1984
All-time favorite car: Jaguar XK 120 --"One of the prettiest cars of all time, and a major pain in the neck to maintain."
How he became interested in cars: "When I was 13, our parents gave me and my twin brother a 1950 DeSoto to take apart and put back together. We got pretty good at the first part. Since then I've owned dozens of cars, including some of the world's worst."
At age 19, Gordon Hard drove his 1971 Volkswagen Microbus from Connecticut to Nicaragua. An abiding interest in vehicles that can go the distance lies behind his clear, comprehensive automotive reports, crafted each month for Consumer Reports.
Hard is the magazine's main auto writer, working out of its Auto Test facility. After years of covering popcorn, computers, and VCRs--everything but cars--he jumped at the chance to relocate from Consumers Union's New York headquarters to the state-of-the-art auto-test facility in East Haddam, Conn.
"It's great to be surrounded by real professionals with a deep understanding and wide experience in all kinds of autos. I can always grab somebody to clarify a point--ask one engineer about features, another about handling," explains Hard. "We all eat together and can spend an hour talking about, say, the worst place you ever broke down."
That's no hardship for Hard. "When I arrived here, I was surprised to discover that I knew just about zero about cars," he laughs. "The car business is like a parallel universe. You can never know it all. It was gently made clear to me, for instance, that the key isn't driving fast but driving smoothly. Some of these guys are artists behind the wheel. They make it look so easy. And it's not."
Hard writes ten or more road-test reports a year and contributes material for the annual Buying Guide, all of Consumer Reports special auto-related publications, and ConsumerReports.org. "There's always something new. That's what keeps it interesting," he says.
Currently, he's tracking auto-safety trends. "I'm trying to learn if there is any practical way to seriously reduce highway deaths. Some of the carmakers say that fatalities are the driver's fault 90 percent of the time. But that doesn't mean cars can't be a lot safer than they are. We're looking at next-generation, smart air-bag systems that can weigh and locate a passenger before deploying. I'm also interested in the new electronic stability-control systems, which can help to pull you out of a skid. I'd like to see all cars become a lot more forgiving when something goes wrong."
How does Hard transform complex test data into easy-to-digest articles? "I try to imagine I'm writing a letter to my most literate grandmother. I try to be bright, polite, maybe a little wry. I also put myself in the place of the consumer, asking, 'Is this difference between models all that important?' or, 'Would I spend $2,000 of my own money on this new gadget?'"
