Toyota RAV4 GXL 2026 review: snapshot

CarsGuide’s Senior Journalist Chris Thompson has never had a ‘real job’ outside being a motoring journalist, which makes him the perfect candidate to inform you about everything happening in the world of new cars. Even as a teenager, while studying journalism at university and stacking shelves at a Brisbane bottle shop, he became a contributor to Unique Cars Magazine in 2014. There he specialised in covering classic car events and writing stories of his own and others’ car ownership. Shortly after packing up his 1992 VW Golf GTI and moving to Melbourne, he worked stints as Deputy Editor at industry titles Australasian Bus and Coach Magazine, and Farms & Farm Machinery Magazine under then Bauer Media’s umbrella, but being a full-time motoring journalist remained his goal. After a few months in Melbourne, he became the first digital journalist at performance car title MOTOR Magazine in 2017. He soon got to grips with the new car industry, becoming probably the youngest full-time journalist and road-tester in Australia at the time, at just 22 years old. A few years at MOTOR saw him become a seasoned reviewer with a particular skill for on-road assessment, as well as becoming adept at video presenting and finding and writing left-of-field motoring stories, sometimes at a rate of several a day. He traded track days and supercharged V8s for family SUVs and fuel efficiency tests when he transferred across the office to Australia’s longest-running motoring publication, Wheels Magazine. There he continued to hone his skills as a reviewer driving mass-market cars with more seats and less power. He also ran Wheels’ news section for a high-intensity period during Melbourne’s infamous lockdowns. Now, Chris brings more than a decade of motoring journalism experience to the team at CarsGuide as a Senior Journalist. He joined in 2022 and works across areas ranging from the news desk and road tests to international new car launches. He also leads the editorial side of CarsGuide’s social media content. He doesn’t get nearly as much time in his 1989 Mazda MX-5 as he would like, as he’s usually behind the wheel of a new car, constantly familiarising himself with the increasingly fast pace the new car industry is changing. When he’s not working, he’s probably playing Australian Rules football, seeing live music, or answering everyone’s car questions at the pub. You can find Chris on LinkedIn and Instagram. Expertise Road testing New car news Performance cars Video presenting and broadcasting Social media content Education Bachelor of Journalism | Queensland University of Technology | 2013-2015 Featured Publications Unique Cars Magazine | 2014-2017 Australasian Bus and Coach | 2016 Farms & Farm Machinery | 2016-2017 MOTOR Magazine | 2017-2020 WhichCar | 2018-2022 Wheels Magazine | 2020-2022 CarsGuide | 2022-present