What is it that you DON'T like about auto-mags, and what would you like to see.

Figures. I just can't stand when the writer spills out figures and figures. I can read a spec sheet.

When it always ends up with "it's a nice car". All american mags are just advertisements, makes them pointless, their conclusion is always "yeah, it's a great car". Sure.

 

I already told you on supra forums. Give me my magazines in bags! And cut out all that crap with subscription cards! It's a health hazard opening an issue of motor trend these days!

 

YES I agree. You see like five pages of advertising before you find the table of contents, and still its hard to see because its mixed in with advertising.

 

I might have said it before, but CAR gave the best writeup of a car I've ever read: "The Daihatsu Applause: They might as well have called this car The Clap, because it was just as well liked."

 

Since I'm mostly interested in older cars I like Octane of all the current ones. For newer cars occassionally EVO or Top Gear. Vantage Point put out by the Aston Martin Owners club is excellent,although it only covers Astons. Car and Driver and R&T are jokes, R&T Classic Cars seems OK, though. Automobile seems to be working hard to impress themselves, but since I never buy an issue after flipping through it at Borders they aren't impressing me. They have too many ads and spend too much time patting themselves on the back.
In regards to CAR, I stopped getting it about two years ago after subscribing for at least 20 years. It's become a Maxim for gearheads. Nothing wrong with Maxim, but CAR went downhill quite rapidly and I found myself thinking it was getting more juvenile with each issue. The Good bad & ugly section is a great feature, and the older writers were honest and could write, but lately they seem to want to be the Howard Stern of magazines.(Slight exaggeration) As a matter of fact, Octane has Mel Nichols from CAR. Anybody recall L.J.K.Setright? He wrote for CAR and was a joy to read. Sadly he recently passed away.

 

So. You get what you pay for. Its currently my favorite magazine.

 

I concur. I like CAR and I love EVO because the writing is better, the paper quality is LIGHT YEARS AHEAD, and the pictures ROCK. I don't know how many EVO covers I would have paid money to get in poster form. (WHY DON'T THEY LET ME!?!? ) Most american mags give me the facts. That's ok I guess except I can find those online. EVO tells me a great story of 2 or 3 cars driving thru places I could only dream of and pics to guide me through.


To sum it up: with american mags, I jump to the end of the article to get the results. With the euro mags(mainly EVO) I'm sad when the article is over.

 

If cover price is not an issue -

1) A Clean Cover. (PHOTO OF FEATURE CAR, MAGAZINE NAME, snipit on a couple of feature Cars, Price, Publication Month)
2) PUT THE BARCODE CRAP ON THE BACK COVER.
3) FULL COLOR! Except for vintage photos.
4) A High Quality Printing (examples: Cavallino, The Rodder's Journal)
5) Feature articles on Automotive Artists, Photographers, Retail Stores dedicated to the Automotive Industry.
6) Very good quality action shots (F1 Racing) or Stills (Cavallino, The Rodder's Journal)
7)1 PAGE ADS FROM COMPANIES! None of this 10+ page ads trying to sell the latest aftermarket body kit & other junk.
8) Contributing articles from those who know what they are doing. (RACERS, RODDERS, RIDERS, ETC!)
9) Show coverage of just the cars (and a few girls) with what the car is on the photo.

I Could Come up With A Lot More. But, This Is Enough For Now.

 

More artsy shots like from CAR magazine.
That magazine makes me wish I could live in England.. or just have enough spare cash to get an international subscription (blew all my money on girl scout cookies)

I love to read subjective information which in itself is objective. I love reading white papers. And I love to read technical specs that are exclusive to a specific car. I don't care how long the M3 is, but I want to read more on the SMG and what is the miniscule difference between the SMGI II and III or whatever.

 

I agree. With Road and Track I usually just read the main article and the other article I just skim. But in EVO I have to read everything. Even the longterm tests they have. The writing is great. The pictures are even better, and the paper is so much better than any American magazine.

 

I like AutoWeek ... quick read about current events that are auto-related and I enjoy reading the classified ads - it kinda gives one a heads up on current pricing.

Forza ... I tend to read it cover-to-cover.

 

As technical as possible. I don't care if an editor has a gripe about too stiff a suspension. Let me know ALL the tech specs (diameter of sway bars, etc) and aerodynamics and if they were taken into consideration when the car was designed.

 

probably just a reideration of everyone else's posts

dont like the ads, mainly the ones that are unrelated to the magazine
table of contents-first page after the cover, and continued on subsequent pages, until complete without advertisements in between
also it would be nice to have a good blend of engineering-ness, racing and lots of pictures. as of now, i have yet to find even one that completely addresses 2 of these.


but the worst thing. the worst, thing: the short magazines. for god's sake they have to last a whole month. if i can rip through the 80 pages (of which only 40 are actual articles) in 2 hours, that leaves approximately 718 hours until the next one. im not going to hold my breath waiting, thats for sure

 

Lay-out issues:

I don't like it when pictures are spread over two pages. What's the use?

I hate it when text is printed over pictures in different colours, making it impossible to read without getting an headache.

Articles shouldn't be interrupted by advertising.

I do like a good quality paper in A4-size (yes, I'm European and artistic pictures as long as they're not overdone.

Writer issues:

I'm not looking for praise only. A writer should be able to express his real opinion. No boring rehash of specs.

I don't like road trip stories. They tend to go too much off topic (not car related). I do like track test and a lot of humour. I do like the stories behind the cars and not only how it's like to drive.

That's about it