Report updated Jun 3, 2026
What Car?
For uK-based car buyers and owners seeking independent reviews, financial advice, and vehicle valuation tools.
What Car? is an established reference app that is free with in-app purchases. With a 4.6/5 rating from 9 reviews, it shows polarized user reception.
What is What Car??
What Car? is a digital magazine and automotive reference app providing expert car reviews and reliability data to UK car buyers.
Users hire the app for independent, data-backed vehicle purchasing advice that mitigates the financial risk of buying new or used cars.
Current Momentum
v7.4 · 3mo ago
Maintenance- Maintains consistent digital magazine update cadence.
- Supports multi-platform pocketmags account synchronization.
Active Nemesis
Car and Driver Magazine US
By Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S.
Other Rivals
7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸
ReferenceNo ranking data
Rating Pulse 🇺🇸
What makes this app unique?
What Does It Look Like?
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What Are The Key Features?
Independent reliability data collected from user submissions
Specially designed mobile edition of What Car? magazine
How much does it cost?
- Free app download
- In-app purchases for issues
- Subscription-based access
Freemium model utilizing in-app purchases for individual magazine issues and recurring subscriptions.
Who Built It?
Enrichment in progress
Publisher profile available very soon
What other apps does Haymarket make?
What do users think recently?
Analysis in progress, available soon
View the full user-sentiment analysis
Mood gauge, ratings & review-volume history, every praise / complaint / request, and sentiment over time.
What is the competitive landscape for What Car??
Where is it available?
Localized markets (1)
How's The Reference Market?
How does it evolve in the Reference market?
The app holds a #96 Grossing position in the Reference category, signaling a niche subscriber-focused model rather than broad-market reach.
Rank progression
4 active rankings tracked — 30-day window
The rivals identified
Nemeses(1)
As a premier automotive publication, it competes directly for the attention of car enthusiasts and buyers who rely on expert editorial content and long-form reviews.
Differentiators
- Offers social clipping features that allow users to share specific article snippets directly to social media.
- Provides a timed preview functionality that lowers the barrier to entry for non-subscribers exploring premium content.
- Maintains a massive review volume that creates a significant social proof barrier for smaller competitors to overcome.
Head to head
The target should prioritize social sharing features and community-driven content to counter the nemesis's superior engagement tools.
Contenders(4)
It competes for the same UK-based automotive audience by offering digital magazine editions and direct car deal marketplace integrations.
Differentiators
- Integrates a car deal marketplace directly into the reading experience to monetize high-intent car buyers.
- Publishes exclusive digital renders that provide unique visual value not found in standard editorial content.
This app targets the European automotive market with a focus on digital news and cross-platform synchronization.
Differentiators
- Features seamless cross-platform account synchronization, allowing users to switch between mobile and desktop reading effortlessly.
- Maintains a highly focused editorial stream dedicated to automotive news and in-depth technical analysis.
It targets the performance-car enthusiast segment, competing for the same premium reader demographic as What Car?.
Differentiators
- Includes a 'My Scrapbook' feature that allows users to curate and save their favorite automotive content.
- Provides exclusive track day discounts, creating a tangible offline benefit for digital magazine subscribers.
It competes by offering a similar digital magazine subscription model focused on automotive comparison tests.
Differentiators
- Leverages the Magzter platform ecosystem to reach a broader audience of magazine readers globally.
- Focuses heavily on comparative testing formats that directly challenge the target's core review content.
Same space(3)
It serves the automotive news space with a focus on community-driven content and spot uploads.
Differentiators
- Includes an 'Autojunk' spot upload feature that encourages user-generated content and community participation.
- Maintains a high-frequency news feed that prioritizes real-time updates over long-form editorial reviews.
It competes for the attention of car buyers by providing a comprehensive buyer's guide and a proprietary rating system.
Differentiators
- Utilizes a proprietary 'BuzzScore' rating system to provide quick, at-a-glance evaluations for prospective car buyers.
- Integrates social commenting directly into the article view to foster community discussion around specific models.
While in a different niche, it competes for the same premium, high-intent reader demographic interested in expert-led digital publications.
Differentiators
- Features an international correspondent network that provides unique, on-the-ground reporting from global art fairs.
- Offers specialized exhibition planning tools that provide utility beyond simple content consumption.
Compare What Car? against every rival
All rivals in one side-by-side table — identity, store metrics, ratings & sentiment, and strategic intel — plus a head-to-head page for each.
The outtake for What Car?
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- Proprietary reliability survey data sustains reader trust
- Established UK market authority drives high-intent traffic
Critical Frictions
- Subscription-only access limits top-of-funnel discovery
- Lack of social sharing features reduces organic growth
Growth Levers
- Integrate real-time car deal marketplaces for monetization
- Expand reliability data into interactive comparison tools
Market Threats
- Free ad-supported news apps drain casual attention
- Car and Driver social-clipping captures mobile-first demographics
What are the next best moves?
Ship social-clipping features because competitors like Car and Driver use them to drive engagement → increase organic discovery
Competitor analysis identifies social clipping as a key engagement gap against the primary nemesis.
Trade-off: Delay the planned UI refresh for the magazine reader — social features have higher growth potential.
Integrate real-time car deal marketplace because users seek actionable buying tools → increase conversion revenue
Auto Express successfully monetizes high-intent buyers through direct marketplace integration.
Trade-off: Pause the back-issue digitization project — marketplace revenue provides immediate ROI.
A counter-intuitive read
The app's reliance on a subscription-first model is a strength, not a weakness, as it filters for high-intent buyers who value independent data over the noise of free, ad-supported automotive news.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- Social article clipping (available in Car and Driver)
- Timed content previews (available in Car and Driver)
- Real-time car deal marketplace (available in Auto Express)
Key Takeaways
What Car? maintains a strong moat through reliability data, but the subscription-only model leaves it vulnerable to free, ad-supported competitors, so the PM should prioritize integrating marketplace tools to capture high-intent buyer revenue.
Where Is It Heading?
Mixed Signals
The automotive reference market is shifting toward integrated, real-time buying tools and ad-supported news feeds. What Car? remains advantaged by its expert authority, but the current subscription-only model risks long-term stagnation if it fails to integrate the interactive tools that modern car buyers demand.
The lack of social-sharing features limits organic growth, which forces the app to rely on expensive acquisition channels.
Proprietary reliability survey data creates a high barrier to entry for competitors, protecting the core subscriber base from churn.