For more than 13 years I’ve been writing about cars, first in print media, then with my former website GoodCarBadCar, then with Canada’s far-reaching Bell Media, then with Cars.com, and eventually here at my long-term home, The Truth About Cars.
I will not stop writing about cars. But my current full-time role as sales analyst and road test editor at TTAC comes to an end today.
Naturally, there’s a large part of me that doesn’t want to go. Not only must I now exchange the work-at-home lifestyle I’ve enjoyed for more than a decade for a real job, not only will I forgo the enjoyable daily task of developing content for tens of thousands of readers every day, I will also no longer watch as my good friend Garry Sowerby performs weekly deliveries of some (often) tremendous cars.
The Audi RS3 that was due to land in my driveway next week? Not gonna happen.
I can’t help but credit my father for inspiring what would become a hugely fulfilling role in automotive journalism. I learned the name of every car on the road — makes were insufficient, model names were a must — before a speech therapist caused me to utilize the rest of the English language. (No word of a lie.) As a former teacher, my father fostered reading and writing while my mother and a legion of older siblings recognized in the early 1980s that birthday gifts unrelated to the auto industry were destined to collect dust in a dark corner of a forgotten closet in the basement.
Credit also belongs to Todd Gillis, my first editor at The Chronicle-Herald, who gave me a weekly review column simply because I emailed him a story about one of the first diesel-engined Smart Fortwos to have landed at our local Mercedes-Benz showroom. I’m not sure what compelled him, but that decision kickstarted a career.
One of my brothers then spurred me to build GoodCarBadCar in 2007. It took time, but eventually, with no shortage of help from my wife Steffani, we eventually designed a relatively simplistic means by which the world could access U.S. and Canadian automotive sales data free of charge. (We sold GoodCarBadCar to A07 Online earlier this year.)
Building on a background as a category space analyst for two different snack food companies, I was eventually asked to provide content to Sympatico Autos (now Autofocus.ca) by Michael Banovsky and benefited from a very productive working relationship with Nick Maronese, given a column at Cars.com by David Thomas, and brought to TTAC by Bertel Schmitt and Derek Kreindler.
The TTAC role was eventually expanded by Derek and Jack Baruth, and then again by Mark Stevenson. Eventually, Tim Healey filled the role as managing editor and permitted Steven Williamsen Stefan William Steve Viglensen Step Wilyams Steph Willems and me — surely sometimes through gritted teeth — to largely do with TTAC as we pleased.
It seems improbable that I could ever develop a better working relationship than the one I enjoyed these past few months with Steph, whose efficiency, effectiveness, and all-around talent made a breeze out of a particularly tumultuous period in my life and the life of this website.
Finally, let it be clear that there is perhaps no better lesson for our children than this: Don’t read the comments.
All across the internet, don’t you even dare to ever read the comments.
News websites? Sports websites? Entertainment? Politics? Cars? Do not read the comments.
Ah, but there is an exception. While the discourse below the articles at virtually every other website takes place somewhere between the gutter and the asylum, TTAC readers have at their disposal so much more than the article itself. TTAC’s Best & Brightest is littered with actual car owners, old people and young people, industry insiders, adults of mature intellect, enthusiasts of pickup trucks and sedans and manual transmissions and EVs. Only at TTAC can so much be learned from the comments. I will always appreciate the utterly insane number of hours so many of you spent reading my stuff over the last half-decade.
Nevertheless, although you will no longer see my byline four or five times per day, I will return to TTAC, GCBC, and Autofocus on a weekly basis if all goes according to plan. I will continue to update you on the state of sedans, the momentum (or lack thereof) of midsize pickup trucks, Subaru’s steady surge, and my love for my Miata. We might even talk about the Odyssey sometimes, plus whatever ends up in my driveway next.
This, therefore, after some 100 reviews and nearly 1,100 other articles, is not goodbye.
I’ll see you in November.
[Images: © Timothy Cain]
Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars and Instagram.
So long, and thanks for all the fish.
Well damn, I use your site fairly often, it’s a real shame we’re losing you. I hate to do this on your goodbye note but I want to disagree with one thing that I keep seeing across the web. A site without a comments section is a site not worth reading. It tells me the site does not have confidence in what its publishing, it tells me the articles will very likely be filled with conjecture, opinions represented as facts, and outright lies. Even if the comments are cancer…
But back to you, I wish you the best in your future endeavors.
I am not mentioned ONCE in this article, Tim. What the heck!??!?!11?!!
It’s been enjoyable getting to know you a bit better over the past (nearly) year. Though you’re not fully leaving, I think this is a considerable loss for TTAC.
You are good people.
Are you the new road test editor?
I am working on that.
I’ll ignore this comment.
:\'(
Take care and good luck Tim. We will try to prop up the sliding door sports car that is the Honda Odyssey in your absence!
Id pour out my 40 but since your Canadian, it might be more appropriate to pour out some milk from a bag. Sorry, its the one thing that stands out from my brief time in Canada. But now it will be milk in a bag and Tim Cain.
Peace!
You mean milk comes any other way?
Good luck. Try to not embarrass too many AMGs and Lotuses in the Odyssey.
I will miss the sales data articles…coming from “the biz”, I enjoy reading stuff like that.
Good luck in your next adventure!
We’re gonna miss you and your PEI potatoes. Good luck, Tim
Tim,
Best of luck in the new job. You’re leaving some big shoes to fill at TTAC.
Damn, was it something I said?
Nahh, really, not happy to see you go, even if its not that you’re leaving for good. I wish you luck, and I can’t help but wonder what brought this on. Provably none of my (or our) buisness, if so, so be it
Got a good job. I love what I’ve done for the last decade+, but GCBC consumed our family’s life and now I’ll be able to get some permanence.
Understood, best of luck with the new job!
Must be a nice gig if you couldn’t stick around for another week to get the RS3.
Seriously!
Now that Tim’s leaving, I’ve got some things I can finally say about the guy…
No, just kidding. Tim was/is a joy to work with, and his reviews, comments – hell, just his style of writing – is a delight to read. I can’t thank him (or “you,” if you’re lurking about here) enough for all of the hard work, insight and entertainment. I wish him/you all the best in your next role. I’ll also miss all the potato talk.
All the best.
Lurking.
Each to their own. Tim’s sales report articles were OK but his style of writing in other articles was too number dense and not that well written.
Thanks for all of your contributions. Best of luck.
Trying to read between the lines, with the changes/upheaval at TTAC is there some skullduggery occurring that the B&B do not know about?
I got a good job offer.
Speaking as someone whose telecommuting gig is coming to an end as well, I pour one out.
Bad news: getting stuck going to an office.
Good news: I’ll have to shower in the morning, and won’t smell like my morning workout all day anymore.
Best of luck, Tim, and I hope to see you back on the site as often as time allows.
He lives in bucolic rural Prince Edward Island. There are like 3 or 4 offices there. It’s not like working in midtown Manhattan.
2, actually. Prime Minister Trudeau’s budget cuts caused one to close.
Best wishes, Tim. I hope things can settle for you soon.
As a numbers guy, I am enormously grateful for your work on GCBC; I hadn’t realized it was now in different hands.
Looking forward to your next installment here. See you soon.
This is a bummer. Good luck to you Tim!
Very sad to see you go (but not go), Tim. I love reading your stuff, and you’ve reinforced to me that the C-Max *is* a sound choice for a next car.
Congratulations on the new job, and good luck!
Hate to see you leave! But like I always tell people, ya can’t fault somebody for doing better in life. Excelsior!
Happy for you, though bummed for us. Another departure of a talented writer from a site that’s lost a series of them. If TTAC’s owners had the capacity for embarrassment, which they’ve repeatedly proven they don’t, they’d invest a few dollars more and slow the hemorrhaging.
Your articles have really grown on me and I will miss your writing. Live long and prosper… no, no, that’s not quite right. May the force be with you… hmm… no. Ah, I know: May your Odyssey be filled with adventure, and your Miata continue to be always the answer.
Good luck with the new job!
Thanks Tim – have always enjoyed your content on both this site and your old one. Good luck on your new adventure, but glad to hear you will keep your foot in the door here.
I’ll miss you Tim
Congratulations on a big step up. TTAC might be getting a reputation as a springboard, judging by the graduates’ dazzling accomplishments after leaving here. And you did it without bondage pictures! Best wishes for a bright future.
I’ll miss your vehicle segment articles Tim, best to you in your next moves!
Tim your role has been less subjective than most here, you relied on raw data a fair bit.
Have fun and I’ll hear from you in a month or what ever.
Whats interesting would be if you could find about the UAE auto market. It seems the US is making good inroads here. Maybe its to do with the over the top road system ….. and cash, lots of it.
All the best, Tim!
Gonna miss your writing. You definitely had a different slant. It made my brain tilt. It is good mental exercise.
There is nothing as constant as change…fair winds, Tim. Thanks for the light you’ve provided into the automotive world.
Best of luck. Tough to leave a work at home gig behind!
Suggestion: Allow delivery of the RS3. Post one last article, reviewing it for commuting duties during your first week or so at the new job.
What the hell man. This place is such an incubator for great talent. Hope you stick around and best of luck either way.
Ay, you’re giving us the “It’s not you, it’s me” routine?… (sounds familiar)
All the best in your new endeavors. I’ve always enjoyed your writing and will be on the lookout for those limited contributions.
I wish you the best, Tim. But, who will post sales numbers now?
Best wishes, Tim. While I’ve largely enjoyed your contributions over the years, it will be nice to see fewer odes to the Odyssey once you’ve gone.
I miss your posts already. Please contribute as often as possible!
Thanks and good luck!