Articles by Laura Berry

Laura Berry
Senior Journalist

Laura Berry is a best-selling Australian author and journalist who has been reviewing cars for more than 15 years.

Much more of a Hot Wheels girl than a Matchbox one, she grew up in a family that would spend every Friday night sitting on a hill at the Speedway watching sprint cars slide in the mud. The best part of this was being given money to buy stickers. She loved stickers… which then turned into a love of tattoos.

Out of boredom, she learnt to drive at 14 on her parents’ bush property in what can only be described as a heavily modified Toyota LandCruiser.  

At the age of 17 she was told she couldn’t have a V8 Holden ute by her mother, which led to Laura and her father laying in the driveway for three months building a six-cylinder ute with more horsepower than a V8.  

Since then she’s only ever owned V8s, with a Ford Falcon XW and a Holden Monaro CV8 part of her collection over the years.

Laura began her career as a journalist in the entertainment industry writing about music for The South China Morning Post; television for tvChoice; fashion and celebrities for The Mirror before combining her passion for cars with her profession and moved into motoring.

In 2008 she joined News Custom Publishing as Managing Editor of its motoring titles, including Australia’s Best Cars and the official programs for V8 Supercars, Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix and Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.

In 2011 she joined CarsGuide (for the first time), back when it was part of a newspaper, and learnt to test and review cars.

This followed a move to Motor as Production Editor, then Wheels as News Editor while also writing for Street Machine and Top Gear Australia.

As the media landscape shifted she left print journalism and joined online motoring publication GoAuto as a senior writer.

A brief stint in automotive public relations then followed before she joined CarsGuide in 2015 (for the second time) as Senior Journalist where she remains to this day.

A wife and mother, and author of two books, her current daily driver is a chopped 1951 Ford Tudor with a V8, of course.

You can find Laura on LinkedIn, TikTok and Instagram.

Expertise

  • Performance and custom cars
  • Family cars and SUVs

Education

  • Bachelor of Arts | Macquarie University

Featured Publications

  • The Mirror (UK) | 2002-2006
  • South China Morning Post | 2004-2006
  • tvChoice (UK) | 2004-2006
  • TVQuick (UK) | 2004-2006
  • Mercedes-Benz Magazine | 2005-2006
  • Australia’s Best Cars | 2008-2010
  • V8 Supercars Official Program | 2008-2010
  • Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix Official Program | 2008-2010
  • Australian MotoGP Official Program | 2008-2010
  • Motor | 2012-2013
  • Street Machine | 2012-2015
  • Wheels | 2013
  • Top Gear | 2013-2014
  • GoAuto | 2014-2015
  • CarsGuide | 2015-present
This new Honda reveals the future
By Laura Berry · 15 May 2023
Honda's petrol-powered HR-V is probably having a massive panic attack right about now thanks to the brand unveiling its new electric SUV, the e:NY1.
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Why is Australia's road toll still so bad?
By Laura Berry · 30 Apr 2023
Why is the annual national road toll increasing despite cars being safer than ever before? CarsGuide spoke to road safety policy makers and accident experts who know why more people are losing their lives, and they have revealed new tech coming to cars that will force us to slow down.
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Chery admits Omoda 5 needs fixing
By Laura Berry · 29 Apr 2023
Months after scathing reviews of the new Chery Omoda 5, the Chinese brand admits the model was faulty at the time of its Australian launch earlier this year but tells us the problem has now been fixed.
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Porsche 718 2023 review: Cayman GT4 RS
By Laura Berry · 20 Apr 2023
The Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS was never meant to happen, but this 'Franken-Cayman' is alive with the beating heart of a 911 GT3 - the howling 4.0-litre flat-six, making 500 horsepower and pushing you to a top speed of 315km/h. There are lots of questions, and we've answered them all for you, but there's one you need to ask yourself: could you live with this beast?
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You're using roundabouts all wrong!
By Laura Berry · 09 Apr 2023
Think you’re using a roundabout correctly? Well, there’s an almost a 100 per cent chance you’re not. But don't worry, everybody’s doing it wrong and that’s why it works.
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Should Peugeot do a Volvo and go EV only?
By Laura Berry · 02 Apr 2023
How much longer can Peugeot continue to sell almost no cars in Australia before its headquarters in Paris gives the signal to retreat from that faraway land populated mainly by kangaroos?
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Peugeot 308 2023 review: GT Sport Hatch Plug-in Hybrid
By Laura Berry · 29 Mar 2023
Peugeot's plug-in hybrid version of its 308 small hatch has arrived in Australia and we sampled it at its launch to discover its range, safety features and price compared to fully electric cars such as a Tesla Model 3 or Polestar 2.
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List of the last manuals!
By Laura Berry · 26 Mar 2023
Manual gearboxes are being killed off by the soulless, unromantic savages who want a car with an automatic transmission. Which is nearly everybody. So, the car manufacturers are making hardly any manual cars now. But for the few beacons of hope trying to save this rare animal from extinction we’ve made a list of new cars still with manuals that are for sale in Australia. But for how much longer?
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Is the new Honda ZR-V SUV better than a CX-5?
By Laura Berry · 25 Mar 2023
The ZR-V is Honda's long time coming answer to the Toyota RAV4 and here what we know about this mid-size SUV so far.
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BMW X1 2023 review: xDrive20i M Sport
By Laura Berry · 21 Mar 2023
We're pretty sure a team of parents designed the new BMW X1 xDrive20i because only mums and dads would know that little families need a small SUV like this.
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