Well, Iv cancelled EVO.
Discussion
MrKipling43 said:
What's this about Performance Car being revived?
Assume he means this thread: http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...I missed Performance Car first time around but it looks like I might need another subscription soon....
Doubt I'll be cancelling my EVO sub, still enjoy every issue. But I can see the OPs' point.
rallycross said:
CAR is a much better read.
D'you reckon? I stopped buying CAR a long time ago, but bought this months purely to read the Ari Vatenen article. There's nowt else of interest, i like columns in mags but the three this month are nonsense. Ari has some *fascinating* things to say, but we only get a small bit, though we do get some lovely big pictures of him. 
Don't buy EVO every month but i do prefer it. One thing though: it says 'the thrill of driving' on the cover, but gives such little detail about the drives they go on. Its mostly road tests.
Evo is brilliantly written and sumptuously photographed. However, I feel it has become the victim of its own success. Thanks to a humungous budget and many dangled corporate pennies, they have a near-constant stream of unobtanium available.
Practical Classics, on the other hand, seem to have the right idea about budget, but they also have to please to wide an audience, some of whom think that a Hillman Avenger is far to modern and complex to be featured in a self-respecting classic car magazine and will bang on about it weekly in the letters pages, and will demand at least one MG B in every issue.
What we need is a magazine that sits between Practical Classics and Evo. Hopefully Performance Car will be it.
We need some good columnists to 'make it' as well. Clarkson started off at PC.
Practical Classics, on the other hand, seem to have the right idea about budget, but they also have to please to wide an audience, some of whom think that a Hillman Avenger is far to modern and complex to be featured in a self-respecting classic car magazine and will bang on about it weekly in the letters pages, and will demand at least one MG B in every issue.
What we need is a magazine that sits between Practical Classics and Evo. Hopefully Performance Car will be it.
We need some good columnists to 'make it' as well. Clarkson started off at PC.
rallycross said:
A lot of the content in EVO reads as if it were written by spotty little teenagers, find it difficult to take seriously the way a lot of it is written.
CAR is a much better read.
I don't agree about CAR, but I do feel that EVO has lost something in the last year. I have just read this months mag and have been recently re reading old copies from a few years ago and the older ones seem to have much better/more interesting written content. Its not so much what they are testing/reviewing but the journalistic effort put into writing about it seems less enthusiastic somehow.CAR is a much better read.
All mags seem to go through cycles of good and bad and I hope EVO is just in a dip at the moment and not on the permanent downward trend that afflicted CAR from 2002 onwards.
Twincam16 said:
Evo is brilliantly written and sumptuously photographed. However, I feel it has become the victim of its own success. Thanks to a humungous budget and many dangled corporate pennies, they have a near-constant stream of unobtanium available.
That I think, hits the nail absolutely on the head...I do enjoy it very much and buy every month (I haven't renewed, yet....) and it is great for reading about la-la-land, but where are the suggestions for my next car, as someone has said, the 10k heroes??
Absolutely stunning photography, I am genuinely amazed when I see it.
anonymous said:
[redacted]
Also, they judge everything by the standards of these cars, so even if a particular car is extremely good at what it does, but is second-hand or not earth-splittingly powerful, it's immediately seen as a bit down-at-heel or 'showing its age now'. WTF? Surely a good car is a good car regardless, due to its unique qualities?
I'm a bit tired of flipping it open to basically be told 'everything you can afford is rubbish, you should spend a piffling £26k more and buy this thing that bankrupts OPEC instead, or else you aren't a proper car nut'. I'd rather feel good about what I can afford.
Its not how it used to be blah blah blah
Evo is a fantastic publication. Sure they feature loads of 100k plus cars TBH that doesnt particularly interest me either but the writing and photography are second to none.
I guess it depends what you want out of it. PPC is entertaining but IMO its full of the sort of stuff you see posted all the time on forums anyway so I tend to just buy now and again.
I find it difficult to understand how any magazine could engage more with its readership given that its consistantly a very engaging read weather your in the market for a new Ferrari or not its nice to be in the passenger seat when they are testing it!
Evo is a fantastic publication. Sure they feature loads of 100k plus cars TBH that doesnt particularly interest me either but the writing and photography are second to none.
I guess it depends what you want out of it. PPC is entertaining but IMO its full of the sort of stuff you see posted all the time on forums anyway so I tend to just buy now and again.
I find it difficult to understand how any magazine could engage more with its readership given that its consistantly a very engaging read weather your in the market for a new Ferrari or not its nice to be in the passenger seat when they are testing it!
And if Catchpole mentions heel-toeing again, in any context other than my prefered 'the pedals are in a good place for...", then I think I will probably start tearing my beard out.
I think that's the problem, it's become more about the experience of the journos than their experience of the car. They've taken gonzo journalism (look it up) to such an extreme that the stories are almost entirely narrative - there's a significant lack of information.
I think that's the problem, it's become more about the experience of the journos than their experience of the car. They've taken gonzo journalism (look it up) to such an extreme that the stories are almost entirely narrative - there's a significant lack of information.
I agree - I think I posted on a similar thread a couple of weeks ago. I have read EVO from day one and been a subscriber for ages.
The issue that turned up yesterday seemed to making an attempt to put some of my moans right (£1k cars article, but there is a faint whiff of Top Gear about it), but I still get bored half way through reading an article about the latest Aston or Ferrari that they may not have even driven yet. I used to struggle to put it down when it turned up, but over the last 18 months it's been lacking something.
There have been some cracking articles though - such as the Pike Peaks and Ring 24 stories - I was really drawn in, but the reviews leave be me cold. The different car of the year stories I've failed to get through. I threw all my old issues away, but I'm going to read the old articles on www.evo.co.uk to see if I can tell what has changed.
Porter and Fast Fleet are the best reads now.
I spend way too much on other car mags, and I just finished a 12 month gift subscription to Top Gear which I won't be renewing. I may be doing the same with EVO and I never thought I'd say that.....
Hopefully there will be lots of £1 offers at the autosport show this weekend so I can save a lot of money whilst trying out all the car mags.
PPC I have tried but it gets a bit too techy for me sometimes.
Maybe the problem is Pistonheads? It says a lot that the publishers of Autocar bought it. Along with using other forums I think people would rather experience other car enthusiast's driving lives than what now seem to be some minted and priviledged journalists enjoying themselves at our expense.
There is so much on these forums that you can enjoy the experience at whatever level you want, but the most important aspect is that you can be involved and let people know what you think!
Oh and anyone else think EVO are getting a bit cosy with Nissan?
Cheers.
The issue that turned up yesterday seemed to making an attempt to put some of my moans right (£1k cars article, but there is a faint whiff of Top Gear about it), but I still get bored half way through reading an article about the latest Aston or Ferrari that they may not have even driven yet. I used to struggle to put it down when it turned up, but over the last 18 months it's been lacking something.
There have been some cracking articles though - such as the Pike Peaks and Ring 24 stories - I was really drawn in, but the reviews leave be me cold. The different car of the year stories I've failed to get through. I threw all my old issues away, but I'm going to read the old articles on www.evo.co.uk to see if I can tell what has changed.
Porter and Fast Fleet are the best reads now.
I spend way too much on other car mags, and I just finished a 12 month gift subscription to Top Gear which I won't be renewing. I may be doing the same with EVO and I never thought I'd say that.....
Hopefully there will be lots of £1 offers at the autosport show this weekend so I can save a lot of money whilst trying out all the car mags.
PPC I have tried but it gets a bit too techy for me sometimes.Maybe the problem is Pistonheads? It says a lot that the publishers of Autocar bought it. Along with using other forums I think people would rather experience other car enthusiast's driving lives than what now seem to be some minted and priviledged journalists enjoying themselves at our expense.
There is so much on these forums that you can enjoy the experience at whatever level you want, but the most important aspect is that you can be involved and let people know what you think!
Oh and anyone else think EVO are getting a bit cosy with Nissan?
Cheers.
MrKipling43 said:
I think that's the problem, it's become more about the experience of the journos than their experience of the car. They've taken gonzo journalism (look it up) to such an extreme that the stories are almost entirely narrative - there's a significant lack of information.
Bang on.I've moaned, opined, and generally whinged at a few on here that I can read a 6 page feature in Evo, and still be completely in the dark about how the car feels (apart from hunkered down and nuggety, of course), or behaves.
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