When a car drives by decked out in camouflage, you have to do a double take. The mystery and allure of what’s hiding beneath all the stickers and extra bodywork would make anyone wonder. Now, imagine being able to see past that. Getting up close and personal with a pre-production vehicle, driving it and even going behind the scenes at the test facilities are just a few things you experience as a test driver.

I know these things because I test drive cars. For the past two years, my typical work day has consisted of me driving a pre-production car around for eight hours, noting problems I find with the car, then informing the engineers after the drive. Now, driving for eight hours may sound a little crazy, but being the car nut that I am, I enjoy every bit of it.

At first, the job may sound quite glamorous, but it takes a certain kind of person to really thrive in it. All of the cars I drive have either glaring or minute problems because they are not quite production ready. You have to be extremely meticulous and nitpicky to find the kinds of things that the manufacturer wants you to find. From the infotainment system, to body panel alignment, all of it needs to be scrutinized in testing, and I take pride in calling out the flaws in every car.

Because of the secretive nature of the job, I’m legally bound to not tell anyone outside the facility about the cars I drive. While that can be annoying, it makes the job feel that much more special.

Watching a new car transition from stage to stage in the testing phases is a sight to see. During the first month of testing, the car has a lot of problems — major things that are easy to spot and would never make it to a consumer. As the car moves along through its stages, you notice steady improvements until the vehicle finally appears as something you could find on a dealer lot, and is finally released to the public to buy. While I only have a small, sliver of input on cars, I still feel proud to see them out on the road after all they’ve been through.

The most fun and sometimes dangerous part of being a test driver is driving the camouflage cars. People drive next to you, take pictures of the car and always try to get a better look at it. That kind of attention is novel at first, but it can actually be dangerous because drivers will stop paying attention to the actual task of driving, since they’re so enamored by the mystery machine rolling along next to them.

When I stop for breaks throughout the day, I meet quite a few people who are interested in the car. I always wish I could talk to them about the vehicle I’m driving, but unfortunately I have to tell them I’m not allowed to say anything. Their reactions range from calm and understanding, to offended and angry.

Becoming a test driver isn’t as hard as you might think. There are facilities all across the country that hire people to test pre-production cars. Manufacturers need to put a lot of miles on cars before they’re released since expectations for quality are so high.

One of the more difficult things to do is keeping the job. There is a zero-tolerance policy on traffic violations and at-fault crashes — one strike and you’re out.

There really isn’t a cooler part-time job to have for somebody like me. It pays terribly and I have to be out of bed by 4 a.m., but every last bit is worth it since I get paid to do something I love.

Zac Palmer is a sophomore magazine journalism major. His column appears weekly in Pulp. He can be reached at  zipalmer@syr.edu.

Published on February 28, 2016 at 9:06 pm