why are all car magazines horrible

I find Motor Trend is probably the best Car mag, but thats just my opinion. But probably 99% of all reviews in car magazines are biased, how can motor trend pick the Toyota Camry as car of the year?

 

because they have the ultimate luxury of being able to vote without any costs. all of us have to vote with our pocket books.

 

definitely agree - some grunt out there having to write xxx words before Friday's courier pickup and only has a vague idea of what the Editor wants, and what will get him another week of writing.

A friend of mine was asked to write an article comparing some cars at a bake off the manufacturer had. He came clean and said the competition were given worn out tires - last time he was asked.

I personally find Sports Car Illustrated to be a lot more focused on the Sports Car and feedback of the comparable models, rather than the Golf Bag thing, and will call a spade a spade.

Your $19.95/year is a lot less risk than the thousands the advertisers pay for.

Consumer Reports is writing for our parents, for the most part. Or my wife. She would rather have the Z4 over the Lotus because of the storage, smooth ride, etc. That's stuff she (and they) would want to know about.

What're you doing reading Consumer Reports to learn about the Z4's driving characteristics anyways - not a lot of professional drivers on staff there.

 

2 outstanding magazines if you actually want to read about cars:

1) Sports Car Magazine. Hard to find, has lots of auction info. But usually at least several good articles.

2) Hemmings Sports Car and Exotic. My new all time favorite. Tons of quality reading, ground up restorations, cool cars. Lots of ferrari, lambo, whatever coverage. I think this mag has only been published for 8 or 9 issues so far, great read.

These are the only 2 magazines I go out of my way to buy...

 

The only car magazine I read is Dupont Registry, not much BS in there

 

except in the asking prices........

 

The best car magazines are the ones imported from England such as EVO, Car and Octane. Shame they're ~$10 over here

 

I really don't care for magazines much. All the news they post in there is old by the time it comes to my door and the reviews are of cars I normally don't care about. If there's an interesting article, it is online quickly and links are provided on Fchat. As for driving impressions, we're fortunate enough to have some members here who are more than happy to provide them.

P.S. I do enjoy looking at DuPont just to see what rare/exotic cars they have for sale.

 

Man. No mention of Forza Magazine?

 

+1

I've grown to hate the way American automobile journalists write. Of course, I've still got subscriptions to some American magazines, but I don't wait for them in the mail like I wait for the next EVO or CAR to come out.

 

Because the trend in cars is toward the bland?
BT

 

They need to seriously revamp. The historic articles are the only readable part left.

The other car mags are all junk because they are paid by the manufacturers to be nothing but ads and a little bit of filler to keep you going through those ads. They'd rather collect their money upfront from GM, Ford, etc. than try and increase subscriptions with edgy, honest write-ups. Since they have no competition, status quo is the way to go in their opinion.

 

If I may add a third: Auto Aficionado, it is eye candy!

 

+1

EVO is my number one magazine and OCTANE is my number two--for historical articles... oh and do not buy EVO if you don't like supercars...

 

EVO is where its at. I haven't read OCTANE before though. I'll have to give it a try.

 

Octane has some of the staff from CAR and Supercar Classics from the 80's. Years ago, before it began to imitate Maxim, CAR was the only magazine I subscribed to. Ostane is only about $7-8 if you subscribe. Vintage Motorsport usually has some great history pieces. Most of the others are predictable and a waste of paper. C&D,R&T,Automobile aren't worth the time.

 

I can explain the american magazine glut easily


Primedia

THey care more for the bottom line and share holders than subscribers

You have no idea how little they value content
ALL THESE ARE PRIMEDIA PUBS

Consumer Automotive:
Automobile
Automotive.com
IntelliChoice
Motor Trend
Motor Trend Classic
Truck Trend

Enthusiast Automotive:
Performance Automotive
4Wheel & Off-Road
Classic Trucks
4Wheel Drive & Sport Utility
5.0 Mustang & Super Fords
ATV Rider
Car Craft
Chevy High Performance
Circle Track
Corvette Fever
Custom Classic Trucks
Custom Rodder
Diesel Power
Dirt Rider
Engine Masters
Four Wheeler
GM High-Tech Performance
High Performance Pontiac
Hot Bike
Hot Rod
Hot Rod Bike-Works
Jp
Kit Car
Mini Truckin'
Mopar Muscle
Motorcycle Cruiser
Motorcyclist
Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords
Mustang & Fords
Mustang Monthly
Off-Road
Popular Hot Rodding
Rod & Custom
Sport Rider
Sport Truck
Stock Car Racing
Street Chopper
Street Rodder
Super Chevy
Truckin'
Vette

International Automotive:
Car Audio and Electronics
European Car
Eurotuner
Honda Tuning
Import Tuner
Lowrider
Lowrider Arte
Sport Compact Car
Super Street
Super StreetBike
Turbo & High-Tech Performance

 

My faves that I subscribe to:

1. Classic and Sports Car
2. Thoroughbred and Classic Cars
3. Classic Motorsports
4. Forza
5. Practical Classics
6. Mercedes-Benz Classic

Then a myriad of car club mags arrive as well:

1. MBCA's "The Star"
2. FCA's "Cavallino"
3. MGOC's "Enjoying MG"
4. SCCA's "Grassroots Motorsports"


As for "modern" car mags, I'm not much a fan of any of them except Top Gear.

Cheers,
Aaron
'82 GTSi
'83 400iA

 

Auto Aficionado is always top notch. I would most likely rate it as the top magazine for classic cars and always has the best pictures. The problem that Forza has is that it takes forever (compared to other magazines) to test the new Ferraris, but other then that they are good. Out of the big magazines I think the best one is Road and Track.

 

hmmm...


I have been bouncing around the idea of creating a magazine also, even if it is only bi-monthly. It's good to hear this stuff, so I know what direction to go. I really like the EVO style. I would also like to do write-ups on actual excursions (like the Top Gear races across Europe, but to a lesser degree). I would also like to do test drives, but do them with an enthusiast who is not part of the automotive industry.

Initial plans, and I'm still gathering figures to see if I can really make this fly, but I agree that the majority of the automotive publications here in the US are very much alike, and of poor quality overall. The fact that C&D, R&T, MT, & Automobile all have the same articles each months renders subsciptions to each pointless.

 

IF you have the millions that it takes to start one... Do yourself a favor


go take half out and put it in a room = pour gas on it and light it on fire. At least you will leave the experience with half what you started.


Been in this industry for years it is not as easy as you might think there are ways of doing it and people who have done it well are very lucky

Remember most of these guys are my clients now

 

well, I'm starting with web-based information. If I see a decent business case for a publication, then I will pursue that. It's nothing I'm rushing into. I need to really prove that there is a viable business case before I start anything like that. If you have any other insight, I'm happy to listen.

 

well i have heard the new TT is a badass car.....