Carfest Reviews 27

Very very expensive for what was included in the ticket price and for a show called carfest there was not many cars at all I've been to better free car displays tbh
This was Our first family festival my kids were too old for kidfest it did not look like there was much there anyway shoved far away from everything else
Spafest was full of old folk doing yoga and talking about well being and feelings ???
And food fest was just full of more food stalls and talks from z list TV chef,s again im not really interested I wanted to see cars at carfest
Which only really left the track display the fairground and the main stage for any entertainment

No time table was displayed anywhere for what was happening throughout the day a flyer when you got given your wristband would of been nice or it just displayed on a big board somewhere so people knew what was happening
having to try and dig through the poorly designed carfest website for information that was not there with very little phone signal wasn't fun
Theres Pictures of who's on that take ages to load but no times !
The last Track display on sunday finshed at 4pm ish leaving a few hours before any half decent band worth watching came on stage and nothing else to do as everything apart from the food and drink stalls had closed or finished for the day

A good 90% of the avaliable stalls were selling takeaway/Street food or drinks there were a few stalls selling sunglasses and other tat but the choice of shops was terrible there was nothing to look at to kill any time for the wife
Drinks food and the fairground were far too expensive £3.50 for a bottle of sprite and £13 for a pork roll

you are followed around the whole site by the smell of the disgusting toilets stinking the place out watching madness on stage while breathing in pissy toilet waft kind of spoiled the atmosphere

there were some nice clean toilets with no que if you pay an extra £30 a day what a rip off (how about just cleaning or providing enough of the normal ones )
Then at the end you have the joy of walking miles in the dark to try and find your car again none of the car parks were signposted and the way back out was different to the way in
As they had closed off areas of the park

So its £100 for a basic adult day entry ticket plus another £7 to park in a field this is before you even get in or buy any food or drinks
I wouldent bother next year I'm guessing it will be even more expensive at Silverstone and it was allready far too expensive for standing in a field and looking at a handfull of cars
You can go on a decent family break for the same money

Having read these reviews I can honestly say my experience of carfest has been nothing like them. I went in 2023 and 2024, heading back for 2025, can't wait. There was plenty of space on our camp site and the parking area was not too far away. We bring a trolly to wheel our camping gear so that makes it pretty easy. There is so much do both free and paid for and a guide to everything is available to buy. We don't mind paying since it's for charity. I found the toilets to be reasonable, with them being cleaned very regularly. I took my own toilet paper, just in case, but didn't need it. The music was great although not all to my taste but happy to have a dance to most things. We took some nibbles but didn't think the food was that expensive, specially considering you are at a festival with vendors whose livlihood this is! I am vegan and found plenty of choices and not just junk food. We meet friends there, honestly have a great time and couldn't possibly get round everything over the three days.

we have provided a service to carfest and haven't been paid for it 1st there was a delay then there was no payment

We bought premium tickets at £500 each, it stated on the website a complimentary glass of fizz or a pint of premium beer, in the premium lounge, but we had to fight to get the beer! To be honest it wasn’t worth paying double the price of normal tickets disappointing as not really any perks. The line up wasn’t brilliant apart from UB40 they were off the scale.

First ever festival and camping ..
With someone whom has a hidden disability heart conditions/mobility issues there is a few things to say
Firstly ..blue camp site
Had to park car in the carpark and walk to take my tent and gear to the tent ..The car was parked behind a fence and no cars where allowed on the camping tent site to unload etc..
So walking back and from my car was exhausting. I did explain I had a disability but they didn't really care !!! And watched you struggle carrying your items etc
And was told to throw your camping items over the fence onto wet grass

Over priced food outlets nothing healthy and hardly any vegan outlets

And the blue camp site needs addressing as durning the weekend cars where allowed on campsite for tents then when you asked to get your car this wasn't allowed ..

Came last year and it had a certain magic about it - our first family festival. This year just didn’t feel as good. They’ve made the 2nd stage bigger so the 2 main stages are now the same size which is a bonus. The running order really needs looking at. Putting Judge Jules at full volume Ibiza tilt for an hour before a family puller of Olly Murs put our young ones off so we left - as did many others. Same on Sunday - Johnny Hates Jazz and Kula Shaker - mainly unknown song after song. Surely an act that really appeals to the garage / dance / mature festival goers should be after family watershed time. Food options across the whole site seems collaborative price fixed around £15 for a main meal. Mainly all unhealthy fast food based and fried - burgers / Hot Dogs / fried chicken / Gyros / Asian options etc. Watching the cars do nut / wheel-spin was fun but the same show on 3 times each day brought no variety. Rest of the festivals within a festival are mainly just stalls. You’ll be sold anything and everything - from BBQ’s, garden furniture to roof top sleeping boxes. Kids fest and adventure fest - mainly stalls and activities all cost extra - mini Range Rovers £10 for 2 laps of a small track for example. Other bands and artists on stage - highlights were Rick Parfit Jnr, The Feeling, Beverley Knight. Other singers and bands were mixed - some quite lacklustre and seemed to simply get a spot on the MainStage as they were friends of Chris Evans without much thought into whether they were actually any good. Will give it a miss for the foreseeable which is a shame as we love Chris, what he stands for and the sheer effort that goes into it.

Well what a massive disappointment, carfest, more like kidfest, parking appalling, luckily we were in my 4x4 truck, must have been a nightmare for your average car, lack of staff and signage, overpriced rubbish food and drinks and toilets, glad I’m a bloke and would never sit in that filth, certainly will never return 😡

Unfortunately, we were looking for a replacement for great Dorset Steam fair for a large group of us. We thought this would be a good start unfortunately we were very disappointed by the lack of exciting things to do. We don’t have children so therefore over half the festival didn’t really apply to us and if we did have children spent hundreds in all the extra things that were available, we would not go again to car fest.
We were really looking forward to the music festival lineup after the chatting on stage with some woman who worked for the NHS and worked all through Covid she got free tickets next year as Chris Evans guest. Preaching on about being at one with the floor and earth it was all just a bit too hippy like for us.
In my opinion, it was all just an overpriced moneymaking fest where I’m quite sure charities won’t see much of that money.
£3.50 for a cup of tea, only whole milk available and brown sugar… (at one food wagon) rip off Britain

I was really disappointed. This was my first festival and I doubt I will ever go again. We paid £80 per night to park our campervan in a field, whilst it had electric there was no water and the toilets/showers were at the far end of the field. It was a mile from our pitch to the gates of the Festival. When you got there, everything was an extra and everything was expensive. The traders must collaborate on what they charge. The stalls were poor, the layout was poor, the food was poor. Really not worth the money.

Been going for some years. Never really gets better. The chemical loos are revolting. Lottery if there’s loo roll. No thought and no lights, when’s it’s dark it’s mobile with torch in one hand (can’t put it down) and a balancing act in the other. Women’s and children should be separate from men’s. Our dog has better facilities!
The event is very expensive to book and stay here. 750£ 3 days in our camper. Could do 2 weeks along Cornwall coastline for that. Food and drinks are really expensive too. We paid £3/ little bottle of water that costs 17p in supermarket - outrageous! Also no real healthy foods. All fast food and booze! Not everyone wants this crap!
It’s a shame cuz it’s for charity and it could easily be so much better if basics were properly thought about. It’s no wonder 53% vote 1 star.
Most likely won’t be back.
As with any event / business reputation and repeat customers is key to success.

Very expensive tickets for very little
Hardly any cars and a lot of overpriced food caravans
Not many actual car outlets
Parking hideous
It had rained for one morning and had to trek though several fields to park/ muddy and dangerous/ no extra chipping under grids so unstable and wrecked the car - parking warden said
It’s okay we can pull u out after !! Long walks over muddy verges
Surely they could sort this out with money made by millionaire Chris !!

Sorry, I hate to be a party pooper but, while there is much to see and do here, along with 'some' cars at this event, it is mainly a family festival with evening music stages.

The signposting for disabled access needs to be improved as there was very little and we had to ask a variety of people where this was.

The website mentions the shows and activities that are on but didn't show any timings. If it did, they were buried and not easy to find. A simple timetable of events for each day would have made it much easier to plan our day, rather than aimless wandering around.

See Tickets are painful to deal with. Other ticket agencies must be available.

If you need a car or motorcycle fix with a much wider range of vehicles to experience and get up close to, then the Goodwood Festival of Speed or the Goodwood Revival will suit you better, and general admission for these is cheaper than CarFest.

The event is actually decent enough but its incredibly expensive for a family to stay in one of the tents and the facilities were really poor. Food/showers/toilets terrible. We wont be coming back.
Note I couldnt add the correct Aug date of experience.

After last years shambles - no showers available for hours - queues for loos the worst ever seen and we’ve been going for past 5 years. Food outlets awful whereas used to be amazing. They need to double the area for loos and showers and area to sit and eat. Ran so much better when bbc children in need, now just a money making fest. Won’t be back sadly

We attended the last carfest north as a day visitor
This time we decided to travel down from York and do the full three days at a cost of almost £700
The caravan site we where allocated was 4 fields from the event which was in excess of a mile walking up hill and down dale also the grass had not been cut and was very long to walk over.
As my wife and I are both in our mid seventies we found that walking this trail was completely unreasonable myself having had a stroke a couple of years ago found it particularly difficult,
And impossible to return twice in the day, so it was either a very long day or decide when it was time to leave, we both enjoyed the entertainment but obviously couldn’t stay on an all day basis.
I have to say the state of the toilets
Was disgusting in fact some that I had visited were vile,
The portable toilet sanitary point was overflowing and utterly disgusting
Sadly we won’t be rushing back
I think the cutting of the grass, for us was a big deal and the distance to the event

Firstly, thanks the Razorlight the weekend was not a complete waste of £600, and we enjoyed Rick Astley and Texas, as well as the retro festival.

We had paid nearly £300 for a camping spot for the motorhome! Very uneven! Could not find a spot anywhere near level so the fridge struggled. The power supply could not cope with the numbers plugged in so it continued to cut out, so hot water was out. On any other motorhome site charging extra for power, we would have been looking for a refund!

Tried the on-site showers and toilets, but would not recommend it to anyone. Loos across the whole site full by lunchtime each day, and I only saw them emptied once. Given this festival has been going on for years, the organisers should have adjusted and got more loos and cleaning arranged! The chemical waste disposal was full by Saturday lunchtime but was changed by Sunday morning.

They have some strange rules. You can’t take glass bottles into the festival and they had bag checks in place to enforce this, we’ll sort of… it depended if security could be bothered, if your wheeled trolley was obviously clinking, they did not care but focused on those who clearly had no bottles. Still you could buy glass bottles of gin and wine within the site, so if you did not smuggle your own booze in, you could buy glass bottles and no one bothered! Very strange!

We had been before, so knew what to expect, sort of. Most of the bands come year after year, which makes the whole event very stale but reassuringly the same! However, the Village People destroyed the Sunday night by being late on stage, lost the audience, and would have been better as no shows! Texas worked hard to enliven the audience for the final set but the damage was done!

On a much more positive note, the traffic management and one way system really worked, so well done the traffic management team.

Sorry to say, it really isn’t worth the money as it is!

Attended this year with family as first timers of the event. Blown away by how friendly and inclusive it was! So much to do, impossible to do everything, which just leaves you wanting more. The campsite was great, not rowdy late on and plenty of space. The walk from parking to camping was a few minutes if you were close by, longer if you camped near the arena entrance. Showers and toilets are what you expect at a festival. The talk shows, demos, music performances, general crazy theatre and cars made for an awesome weekend. Bumped into Chris Evans and numerous other famous faces several times, all relaxed and happy to chat. A great way to generate money for such a good cause. Will definitely return next year. Highly recommended.

Toilets…. What toilets? Not enough causing longs que’s all day. It was quicker to leave the event and go to the campsite toilets than use the show loos. It was the same with the showers, not enough! Bins… what bins?.. The rubbish in the campsites was dumped inside cage areas not bins allowing vermin to get in blown all over the site. No water taps in the event to refill bottles.

I last attended Carfest as a day visitor in 2019. That time parking was in a field on the opposite side of the road and the entrance was adjacent. Then it was a short walk over a footbridge to the festival...so easy

2023 and what a difference. Day visitors were parked behind the parking for campers. Then it was a considerable trek to the entrance. Fortunately it was downhill but that meant return was to be a long drag uphill. I ended the afternoon in the Foodfest area so exited through the campsite exit. This meant climbing what stewards called cardiac hill to return to the parking.

Ridiculous positioning of Day Visitors parking.

Toilets...even at 10.00 they were in a disgusting state. At 12.00 there were ridiculous queues due to an inadequate number. Bad planning.

I shall not be returning unless there is some replaning.

Terrible facilities. Be prepared to hold your early morning wee for a good hour! The lines started at 8am 40 people deep and stayed that way until noon.
I would love to know what is the ratio of people to toilets and I mean the regular people not the VIP, premier people. Showers closed from 10:30-4pm oh and they empty the toilets at 4am sounds like a 747 has parked outside our tent.
The walk to the festival from the campsite and from the campsite to the car park it is ridiculous, hilly and disorganised. We had to squeeze in over a white line to find a spot with our friends.
Rubbish not picked up once.
I think Chris Evans needs to have a wander around the whole campsite to see how it really is.
Facilities would have to massively improve for us to go again.