Our writers

The people behind Torque Report

Owen CastellanoFounding road test editorOwen Castellano has written the bulk of Torque Report's new-vehicle reviews since the site's earliest days testing cars out of a rented garage bay in Columbus. He puts at least five days and 150 miles on every vehicle before writing a word, logging fuel economy by hand against the trip odometer rather than trusting the dash readout alone. He also covers infotainment, mostly because he got tired of touchscreens that felt outdated within a year of being new.Vanessa KowalInsurance and money editorVanessa Kowal spent four years processing auto claims paperwork for a regional body shop before she started writing about what a car actually costs to insure and finance. She runs the same driver profile through multiple insurers and lenders for every story, because she watched too many customers get quoted wildly different numbers for the same policy. She keeps a spreadsheet of her own car's ownership costs going back nine years, down to every oil change.Rowan PikeParts, maintenance, and features writerRowan Pike has rebuilt three carburetors and replaced more brake pads than he can count, mostly on his own aging fleet of hand-me-down cars. He tests tires and filters the way he'd fix his own car, in his driveway, with the same tools a reader would actually own. He also writes the site's history pieces, usually starting from some odd detail he turned up while researching a parts question.