What is happening at EVO magazine?
Discussion
trackdemon said:
I read a lot of comments on here about expensive/unobtanium being featured in EVO as a put off, as if to imply that folks would only read about stuff they could go and buy themselves. I find it curious because one of the reasons I've always enjoyed EVO (and other mags) is to read about stuff I can't/won't afford - be it just the cars or the multi car tests in the South of France/far flung part of the US etc. Living vicariously if you like. 30-40 years ago you could see a group of Ferrari/Lambo/Porsche on the cover of Car/Fast Lane/Performance Car and it was lapped up, presumably for the same reasons. What I'm saying is that in many ways, nothing much has changed in motoring media.... perhaps apart from the fact that ALL cars that are vaguely interesting seem to be priced out of reach of 'normal' folks I suppose.
So what's happened? Why the dislike now for the latest supercars being tested? Is it just because those of us who were young and buying those mags read supercar pieces as aspirational but now find ourselves with a £20k budget and want to read about cars in that kind of range whilst younger folks just have no interest in print media any more? It didn't work out for Modern Classics or the relaunched Performance Car which suggests to me that despite protestations of wanting to read that kind of content not enough people actually bought those mags - whilst EVO is still here. Maybe it's just us PH folks that bemoan the lack of affordable car content, whilst the wider buying public like reading about the latest McLaren/Ferrari/Lambo?
The one thing that's obvious is that the landscape for print media has become ever more difficult. It seems to be going 2 ways: cheap rubbish features in single marque titles that aren't much cheaper on shelf than EVO or quarterly/bimonthly titles with higher quality for the discerning reader. I have skin in the game, so I hope that EVO/Car/TG continue doing what they do in the middle ground as traditional monthlies - it's not like there's a dearth of interesting stuff to feature and for me EVO have a nice balance with the columns, company features, people features and the occasional retro piece to go alongside all the usual new car stuff. What the Carwow purchase means is anyone's guess, but the only takeaway (hope) I have is that they see value in the quality of what EVO produce and will support and grow them as a brand.
TLDR, but I can tell you this, I stopped my Evo subscription 15 years ago (and I had 95% of the issues in my loft, right from the first edition, all now either given away or binned) because of the endless unobtainium super/hyper cars that the magazine was featuring, month in month out.So what's happened? Why the dislike now for the latest supercars being tested? Is it just because those of us who were young and buying those mags read supercar pieces as aspirational but now find ourselves with a £20k budget and want to read about cars in that kind of range whilst younger folks just have no interest in print media any more? It didn't work out for Modern Classics or the relaunched Performance Car which suggests to me that despite protestations of wanting to read that kind of content not enough people actually bought those mags - whilst EVO is still here. Maybe it's just us PH folks that bemoan the lack of affordable car content, whilst the wider buying public like reading about the latest McLaren/Ferrari/Lambo?
The one thing that's obvious is that the landscape for print media has become ever more difficult. It seems to be going 2 ways: cheap rubbish features in single marque titles that aren't much cheaper on shelf than EVO or quarterly/bimonthly titles with higher quality for the discerning reader. I have skin in the game, so I hope that EVO/Car/TG continue doing what they do in the middle ground as traditional monthlies - it's not like there's a dearth of interesting stuff to feature and for me EVO have a nice balance with the columns, company features, people features and the occasional retro piece to go alongside all the usual new car stuff. What the Carwow purchase means is anyone's guess, but the only takeaway (hope) I have is that they see value in the quality of what EVO produce and will support and grow them as a brand.
Nothings changed, if I see Schmee or any other such individual on YT are reviewing the latest, greatest hyper/supercar, I wouldn’t watch it, because amazing though the cars may be, they’re a total irrelevance to 99.9% of the worlds population in this day and age.
Slippydiff said:
trackdemon said:
I read a lot of comments on here about expensive/unobtanium being featured in EVO as a put off, as if to imply that folks would only read about stuff they could go and buy themselves. I find it curious because one of the reasons I've always enjoyed EVO (and other mags) is to read about stuff I can't/won't afford - be it just the cars or the multi car tests in the South of France/far flung part of the US etc. Living vicariously if you like. 30-40 years ago you could see a group of Ferrari/Lambo/Porsche on the cover of Car/Fast Lane/Performance Car and it was lapped up, presumably for the same reasons. What I'm saying is that in many ways, nothing much has changed in motoring media.... perhaps apart from the fact that ALL cars that are vaguely interesting seem to be priced out of reach of 'normal' folks I suppose.
So what's happened? Why the dislike now for the latest supercars being tested? Is it just because those of us who were young and buying those mags read supercar pieces as aspirational but now find ourselves with a £20k budget and want to read about cars in that kind of range whilst younger folks just have no interest in print media any more? It didn't work out for Modern Classics or the relaunched Performance Car which suggests to me that despite protestations of wanting to read that kind of content not enough people actually bought those mags - whilst EVO is still here. Maybe it's just us PH folks that bemoan the lack of affordable car content, whilst the wider buying public like reading about the latest McLaren/Ferrari/Lambo?
The one thing that's obvious is that the landscape for print media has become ever more difficult. It seems to be going 2 ways: cheap rubbish features in single marque titles that aren't much cheaper on shelf than EVO or quarterly/bimonthly titles with higher quality for the discerning reader. I have skin in the game, so I hope that EVO/Car/TG continue doing what they do in the middle ground as traditional monthlies - it's not like there's a dearth of interesting stuff to feature and for me EVO have a nice balance with the columns, company features, people features and the occasional retro piece to go alongside all the usual new car stuff. What the Carwow purchase means is anyone's guess, but the only takeaway (hope) I have is that they see value in the quality of what EVO produce and will support and grow them as a brand.
TLDR, but I can tell you this, I stopped my Evo subscription 15 years ago (and I had 95% of the issues in my loft, right from the first edition, all now either given away or binned) because of the endless unobtainium super/hyper cars that the magazine was featuring, month in month out.So what's happened? Why the dislike now for the latest supercars being tested? Is it just because those of us who were young and buying those mags read supercar pieces as aspirational but now find ourselves with a £20k budget and want to read about cars in that kind of range whilst younger folks just have no interest in print media any more? It didn't work out for Modern Classics or the relaunched Performance Car which suggests to me that despite protestations of wanting to read that kind of content not enough people actually bought those mags - whilst EVO is still here. Maybe it's just us PH folks that bemoan the lack of affordable car content, whilst the wider buying public like reading about the latest McLaren/Ferrari/Lambo?
The one thing that's obvious is that the landscape for print media has become ever more difficult. It seems to be going 2 ways: cheap rubbish features in single marque titles that aren't much cheaper on shelf than EVO or quarterly/bimonthly titles with higher quality for the discerning reader. I have skin in the game, so I hope that EVO/Car/TG continue doing what they do in the middle ground as traditional monthlies - it's not like there's a dearth of interesting stuff to feature and for me EVO have a nice balance with the columns, company features, people features and the occasional retro piece to go alongside all the usual new car stuff. What the Carwow purchase means is anyone's guess, but the only takeaway (hope) I have is that they see value in the quality of what EVO produce and will support and grow them as a brand.
Nothings changed, if I see Schmee or any other such individual on YT are reviewing the latest, greatest hyper/supercar, I wouldn’t watch it, because amazing though the cars may be, they’re a total irrelevance to 99.9% of the worlds population in this day and age.
I’m of the same opinion re Schmee etc on YT too - not bothered whether the cars are relevant to the world’s population….only myself
s m said:
I still buy it out of habit but the super/hyper cars generally get skipped past along with anything electric
I’m of the same opinion re Schmee etc on YT too - not bothered whether the cars are relevant to the world’s population….only myself
I love reading about supercars/hypercars because it's escapism. But I'd skip anything Schmee because I'd like to read/watch opinions of a bona fide journo who knows what they're talking about I’m of the same opinion re Schmee etc on YT too - not bothered whether the cars are relevant to the world’s population….only myself
trackdemon said:
s m said:
I still buy it out of habit but the super/hyper cars generally get skipped past along with anything electric
I’m of the same opinion re Schmee etc on YT too - not bothered whether the cars are relevant to the world’s population….only myself
I love reading about supercars/hypercars because it's escapism. But I'd skip anything Schmee because I'd like to read/watch opinions of a bona fide journo who knows what they're talking about I’m of the same opinion re Schmee etc on YT too - not bothered whether the cars are relevant to the world’s population….only myself
s m said:
trackdemon said:
s m said:
I still buy it out of habit but the super/hyper cars generally get skipped past along with anything electric
I’m of the same opinion re Schmee etc on YT too - not bothered whether the cars are relevant to the world’s population….only myself
I love reading about supercars/hypercars because it's escapism. But I'd skip anything Schmee because I'd like to read/watch opinions of a bona fide journo who knows what they're talking about I’m of the same opinion re Schmee etc on YT too - not bothered whether the cars are relevant to the world’s population….only myself
mjf1 said:
I didn't get either of those letters, but almost every month I get an email or letter which says something like:
"Dear subscriber,
I wanted to let you know that your next issue of evo will arrive a few days later than usual. We’re doing all we can to ensure you receive your magazine as quickly as possible, and your new estimated delivery date is xxx."
I think I'll be cancelling my subscription too.
CAR mag were doing that a lot too but I think it's usually caused by embargoes around the time of publication so they hold the mag back for a day or 2 rather than be a month late with the info."Dear subscriber,
I wanted to let you know that your next issue of evo will arrive a few days later than usual. We’re doing all we can to ensure you receive your magazine as quickly as possible, and your new estimated delivery date is xxx."
I think I'll be cancelling my subscription too.
5 In a Row said:
mjf1 said:
I didn't get either of those letters, but almost every month I get an email or letter which says something like:
"Dear subscriber,
I wanted to let you know that your next issue of evo will arrive a few days later than usual. We’re doing all we can to ensure you receive your magazine as quickly as possible, and your new estimated delivery date is xxx."
I think I'll be cancelling my subscription too.
CAR mag were doing that a lot too but I think it's usually caused by embargoes around the time of publication so they hold the mag back for a day or 2 rather than be a month late with the info."Dear subscriber,
I wanted to let you know that your next issue of evo will arrive a few days later than usual. We’re doing all we can to ensure you receive your magazine as quickly as possible, and your new estimated delivery date is xxx."
I think I'll be cancelling my subscription too.
5 In a Row said:
CAR mag were doing that a lot too but I think it's usually caused by embargoes around the time of publication so they hold the mag back for a day or 2 rather than be a month late with the info.
Indeed. I suspect this is what print magazines have to do now, either you delay an issue a week to feature a review or have it in the next issue and find you don't sell any copies as everyone has been watching Youtube reviews of the car for the past 3 weeks and it is Old News.I think there is quite a small market for the kind of reviews Pistonheaders enjoy. You tube has definitely changed this for ever. I was flicking through the latest edition of "Retro, Classic and Modern" last week and to be honest, after 5 mins I was done. Just not enough content to engage beyond the pretty photographs which aren't as good on a tablet as they are in print. Definitely a gap in the market place for someone to do a magazine which features the sort of old rubbish Auto Alex, Hub Nut and others promote, but do some fun tests with them too. For example, you could get a load of old hot hatches, put them on the rolling road to see what power they make, then take them to a track and see how they fare compared with when they were new. That kind of thing, rather than the generic "take a car and talk about it as you drive over Exmoor" type thing which has been done to death. However I just don't think enough people would buy it.
greenarrow said:
I think there is quite a small market for the kind of reviews Pistonheaders enjoy. You tube has definitely changed this for ever. I was flicking through the latest edition of "Retro, Classic and Modern" last week and to be honest, after 5 mins I was done. Just not enough content to engage beyond the pretty photographs which aren't as good on a tablet as they are in print. Definitely a gap in the market place for someone to do a magazine which features the sort of old rubbish Auto Alex, Hub Nut and others promote, but do some fun tests with them too. For example, you could get a load of old hot hatches, put them on the rolling road to see what power they make, then take them to a track and see how they fare compared with when they were new. That kind of thing, rather than the generic "take a car and talk about it as you drive over Exmoor" type thing which has been done to death. However I just don't think enough people would buy it.
That was very much “Revs” mag in the heyday Greenarrow - you probably remember if you used to read it.EVO did do a similar thing a while back with their £1000 Challenge too
I think you’re right though about people not buying that sort of thing and it being expensive/difficult to sort out decent second hand examples that can be driven hard
Davide Cironi often gets some nice stuff but generally only has to organise one example at a time
s m said:
That was very much “Revs” mag in the heyday Greenarrow - you probably remember if you used to read it.
EVO did do a similar thing a while back with their £1000 Challenge too
I think you’re right though about people not buying that sort of thing and it being expensive/difficult to sort out decent second hand examples that can be driven hard
Davide Cironi often gets some nice stuff but generally only has to organise one example at a time
I did used to flick through Revs but at the time, it was a bit "boy racer" for my taste, so didnt buy it! They did have some good articles though and I think it was one of their staff who famously crashed a 306 D Turbo when it did its lift off oversteer party trick!EVO did do a similar thing a while back with their £1000 Challenge too
I think you’re right though about people not buying that sort of thing and it being expensive/difficult to sort out decent second hand examples that can be driven hard
Davide Cironi often gets some nice stuff but generally only has to organise one example at a time
The £1,000 challenge in EVO was one of my favourite pieces. They bought those old cars, rolling road tested them and also got acceleration figures. I remember being proud (as the owner of an example at the time) of the 205 GTI 1.9, which from memory got very close to the road test acceleration figures despite having about 140-150K on the clock.... Sadly, it seems EVO doesn't want to do stuff like this now, but just rinse and repeat "hero car" type features on the DC2 Integra, Impreza, EVO 6 and other cars which have been featured to death....
greenarrow said:
s m said:
That was very much “Revs” mag in the heyday Greenarrow - you probably remember if you used to read it.
EVO did do a similar thing a while back with their £1000 Challenge too
I think you’re right though about people not buying that sort of thing and it being expensive/difficult to sort out decent second hand examples that can be driven hard
Davide Cironi often gets some nice stuff but generally only has to organise one example at a time
I did used to flick through Revs but at the time, it was a bit "boy racer" for my taste, so didnt buy it! They did have some good articles though and I think it was one of their staff who famously crashed a 306 D Turbo when it did its lift off oversteer party trick!EVO did do a similar thing a while back with their £1000 Challenge too
I think you’re right though about people not buying that sort of thing and it being expensive/difficult to sort out decent second hand examples that can be driven hard
Davide Cironi often gets some nice stuff but generally only has to organise one example at a time
The £1,000 challenge in EVO was one of my favourite pieces. They bought those old cars, rolling road tested them and also got acceleration figures. I remember being proud (as the owner of an example at the time) of the 205 GTI 1.9, which from memory got very close to the road test acceleration figures despite having about 140-150K on the clock.... Sadly, it seems EVO doesn't want to do stuff like this now, but just rinse and repeat "hero car" type features on the DC2 Integra, Impreza, EVO 6 and other cars which have been featured to death....
Bowlers said:
s m said:
That is quite late ( although maybe they are sent out in batches or you’re quite remote )
It is late. Being out in a village near the civilised world shouldn’t be an issue. Any other subscribers had their copy this late? (Dig the cover, though!)
).
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