Matthew Guy

Matthew Guy is a freelance automotive journalist and lifelong gearhead whose work centres on pickup trucks, real-world road tests, and clear, consumer-focused coverage for Driving and other car publications. He writes for Canadian and American outlets including Driving, AutoTrader, The Truth About Cars, Vicarious, and other specialist magazines, bringing the same mix of enthusiasm and blunt practicality to each assignment. Known at the masthead as a truck specialist and host of a weekly audio series devoted to trucks, he approaches vehicles with a working-vehicle mindset, asking how they perform, tow, haul, and live day to day rather than just how they look on a spec sheet.

His evaluation work extends beyond journalism into formal judging roles, which shapes the way he structures his assessments. He serves as a juror for the North American Car, Utility and Truck of the Year awards and contributes to professional automotive journalist bodies, grounding his reviews in comparative scoring and category benchmarks rather than impressions alone. Across pickups, performance EVs, eco-minded models, and oddball three-wheelers, his through-line is the same: explain what the machine is built to do, then test whether it truly does it in the real world.

Slate Truck configurator goes live, combinations galore

In his coverage of pickups for Driving, Guy often starts where many readers begin: on the configurator. In his piece on the Slate Truck configurator going live, he uses the sheer number of build combinations as a way into a deeper discussion of trims, options, and mission-fit, rather than treating it as a novelty. He breaks down how different cab styles, bed lengths, powertrains, and option packages align with specific use cases, highlighting the spec choices that matter for towing, payload, or off-road work, and flagging where buyers can save money without giving up core capability.

This configurator-first approach reflects how he thinks about trucks as tools as much as consumer products. The reporting emphasises clarity around pricing ladders and equipment trade-offs, unpacking complex order sheets into plain language that lets a reader understand what is worth paying for and what is marketing fluff. Paired with his broader truck expertise, heard weekly on his dedicated truck show, he consistently positions pickups within their competitive set and is explicit about who each configuration suits best, from fleet operators to recreational tower.

Self-park systems used to be slow, but would you use it now

Guy also covers vehicle technology with a practical, demonstration-heavy style. In a recent short-form video segment built around the question “Self-park systems used to be slow, but would you use it now,” he walks viewers through a modern self-parking system and then points them to a full test-drive review on Driving. The focus is not on technical jargon but on whether the system is fast, confident, and intuitive enough for someone to trust in day-to-day driving.

That format—snappy video paired with deeper written impressions—is typical of how he handles emerging driver-assistance features. He tests the tech in real traffic and tight spaces, pays attention to user interface details such as prompts and steering feedback, and then reports in plain terms whether it genuinely reduces stress or simply adds complexity. By anchoring tech coverage in lived use rather than lab-style testing, he gives both early adopters and hesitant buyers a clear sense of what these systems will feel like in their own driveway.

Grading Canada's eco-minded vehicles for 2023

Beyond trucks and tech, Guy regularly steps back to survey whole segments, especially as electrification and efficiency reshape the market. In a feature grading Canada’s eco-minded vehicles for 2023, he evaluates a field of efficient models through the dual lenses of environmental benefit and everyday usability. The piece looks at economy and efficiency alongside factors like purchase price, practicality, and infrastructure, treating green credentials as one factor in a wider ownership equation rather than an end in themselves.

This comparative, scored approach mirrors his work as a juror, where he is expected to weigh vehicles against each other on defined criteria. It also surfaces in performance EV reviews, such as his coverage of the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, where he writes about heritage, design intent, and character as well as raw numbers. Across these stories, he often connects the engineering behind eco-minded or performance-focused vehicles to the experience at the wheel, explaining how tuning choices, weight, and power delivery change the character of a car in traffic, on the highway, or on a favourite back road.

Three-Wheeled Fun: Touring Atlantic Canada in a 2022 Polaris Slingshot

Guy’s portfolio also includes narrative-heavy road trips and drives in offbeat machinery. In “Three-Wheeled Fun: Touring Atlantic Canada in a 2022 Polaris Slingshot,” he uses a long-distance trip in a three-wheeled roadster to explore both the quirks of the vehicle and the experience of living with something unconventional over real miles. The piece balances route storytelling and roadside detail with evaluations of comfort, storage, weather protection, and fatigue, answering the question of whether the Slingshot is a toy for sunny afternoons or a viable tourer.

Similar travel and feature assignments show his ability to shift from spec-sheet analysis to scene-setting and narrative, while still keeping the lens firmly on what the vehicle is like to use over time. Whether grading eco-cars, unpacking the permutations of a configurable truck, dissecting a sophisticated driver-assist feature, or chronicling a multi-day trip in a three-wheeler, his work keeps circling back to how the machine fits into real lives. That consistency of focus, paired with experience across multiple outlets and formal juror roles, defines his coverage more than any single beat label.