Is anyone bored with EVO magazine recently?

[thetapeworm]

Lefty said:

230 (Jan 17) is a good issue so far!

I noted Trott decided to do a tribute to himself and then really go to town on trying to raise the profile of his 911 while he still had chance.

I haven't felt compelled to read much of the rest yet.

Edited by thetapeworm on Sunday 27th November 21:26

[bungle]

Agree with most of the comments, long-time subscriber and there seems to be less and less i really enjoy. Too many supercars. I like the fast fleet still mostly, and there's always bits i like, but much less than before.

So I signed up for a Modern Classics subscription at the classic car show at the NEC recently. Said i would get issue 8 first but it's out at the shops and i haven't got it, and when i ring up they have no record of me, but say it often takes a while to appear "on the system", and it might be the Feb issue I get first but they can't say. So no idea whether i should buy the current copy or not. Ho Hum.

Not sure i will stick with evo in the long run. Just not very bothered when it turns up, often sits a while unopened, and i guess that says it all.

[Lefty]

thetapeworm said:

Lefty said:

230 (Jan 17) is a good issue so far!

I noted Trott decided to do a tribute to himself and then really go to town on trying to raise the profile of his 911 while he still had chance.

I haven't felt compelled to read much of the rest yet.

Edited by thetapeworm on Sunday 27th November 21:26

Yeah he comes across as a bit of a tosser doesn't he?

Enjoyed the m2 vs TT vs Cayman Test. No way I'd be spending that kind of money on any of those! £70k for a TT?

Base Evora S would have been a good car to include in that test but then they had the Evora 410 v GTR test.

[TerryThomas]

thetapeworm said:

I noted Trott decided to do a tribute to himself and then really go to town on trying to raise the profile of his 911 while he still had chance.

I haven't felt compelled to read much of the rest yet.

Edited by thetapeworm on Sunday 27th November 21:26

I haven't seen the issue yet but it doesn't surprise me in the least, he always put both of his cars in the fast fleet, taking extra care to make us aware of how much money was involved. Good riddance and I hope the magazine goes back to its roots now.

[joscal]

thetapeworm said:

I noted Trott decided to do a tribute to himself and then really go to town on trying to raise the profile of his 911 while he still had chance.

I haven't felt compelled to read much of the rest yet.

Edited by thetapeworm on Sunday 27th November 21:26

Noticed this too bloody joker.

[RobM77]

I've subscribed since issue 1 but these days my interest in Evo comes and goes. Every time I think of cancelling my subscription they come out with a good issue.

The car world's very diverse, and I just find they're covering areas that don't really interest me. If I can pick on a few things, there seems to be this assumption that those of us on a low budget are going to buy a brand new front drive hatchback, which is rarely the case with petrolheads. I also feel that reviewing hypercars and supercars should carry with it some other interest, like following the route of a famous road race, to give people like me something to read about. Like many petrolheads, I'm interested in motorsport and I've raced most of my adult life, but I'm not really interested in write ups of how a particular race went for someone unknown in a minor club championship, I'm far more interested in the cars themselves. The one consistently good feature are the editorials and regular columns - they're always something you can count on.

[suffolk009]

TerryThomas said:

thetapeworm said:

I noted Trott decided to do a tribute to himself and then really go to town on trying to raise the profile of his 911 while he still had chance.

I haven't felt compelled to read much of the rest yet.

Edited by thetapeworm on Sunday 27th November 21:26

I haven't seen the issue yet but it doesn't surprise me in the least, he always put both of his cars in the fast fleet, taking extra care to make us aware of how much money was involved. Good riddance and I hope the magazine goes back to its roots now.

Just read that - it made my teeth ache.

[ClockworkCupcake]

I was sitting on the loo this morning reading EVO (as one does) and reading the piece on the green Merc GT R, scanning the flowery prose redolent of Troy Queef himself and thinking "who wrote this st?"

Looked at the tag line to see it was David Vivian.

[RDMcG]

Gave up on it. I much prefer Octane in that category, plus Motorsport and a few specialist mags

[Lefty]

I actually think the last 4 or 5 have been some of the best issues in years.

[ClockworkCupcake]

I think the trouble with me is that I've simply got bored with reading about the latest unattainable hypercar and going sideways in it. It just feels utterly irrelevant.

I realise that a lot of people find it aspirational, or an indulgence of fantasy, and get a visceral 'thrill of driving' from reading about them, but I've come to realise that I just simply don't care any more. The fault is in me not EVO.

For the first time since I started buying EVO round about issue 10 or so, I'm seriously considering giving up on it. My only concern is what will I read on the loo instead.

[spreadsheet monkey]

df76 said:

Kitchski said:

Modern Classics is currently where it's at in magazine world, as far as I'm concerned.

Agreed, it's the only mag I'm buying at the moment (just wish I could find my Edition One copy, as they're going for decent money on ebay!).

Really?

I see Modern Classics promoted on Twitter or Instagram sometimes, and the stories just look dull and predictable.

Old BMW 3ers - great to drive
205 GTIs - going up in value
Maserati 3200GT - "can be bought for the price of a Fiesta" - no st, its a complex old car in a niche market

Just seems to be full of stuff that I've already read a thousand times on PH or elsewhere.

[swisstoni]

Open a page of any of the 'serious' car mags and I'll not be able to tell you which one it is.

[ClockworkCupcake]

I just looked at my bank account and, somewhat annoyingly, just found that my half-yearly Direct Debit for EVO debited a week ago. So It looks like I've got another 6 months with them unless I go to the hassle of phoning up and trying to get a refund.

[ecsrobin]

spreadsheet monkey said:

df76 said:

Kitchski said:

Modern Classics is currently where it's at in magazine world, as far as I'm concerned.

Agreed, it's the only mag I'm buying at the moment (just wish I could find my Edition One copy, as they're going for decent money on ebay!).

Really?

I see Modern Classics promoted on Twitter or Instagram sometimes, and the stories just look dull and predictable.

Old BMW 3ers - great to drive
205 GTIs - going up in value
Maserati 3200GT - "can be bought for the price of a Fiesta" - no st, its a complex old car in a niche market

Just seems to be full of stuff that I've already read a thousand times on PH or elsewhere.

Got to agree with this. I keep picking modern classics up but after a flick through I decide I already know most of what is published. (And I'd argue I have limited knowledge compared to most)

[havoc]

ClockworkCupcake said:

I was sitting on the loo this morning reading EVO (as one does) and reading the piece on the green Merc GT R, scanning the flowery prose redolent of Troy Queef himself and thinking "who wrote this st?"

Looked at the tag line to see it was David Vivian.

I'm not sure why Vivian's gets such work anymore - he's perpetually cliche'd.

Did like (most of) the rest of it though...that new Hyundai could upset the apple-cart a bit...


Regarding the other magazines:-
- Agree on Modern Classic - great idea, still not quite there in the execution.
- Octane has moments of brilliance but a god-awful 'we are better than you' attitude, esp. from Coucher.
- Classic & Performance is good but the subject matter is often very classic / vintage.
- Car dropped off the edge of cliff a couple of years ago.
- TG is still for children and Sun readers, sadly.
...and I'm struggling to think of any other 'performance-friendly' magazines except for the brand-specific stuff...


So evo, whilst imperfect, is still the pinnacle.

[rubystone]

havoc said:

I'm not sure why Vivian's gets such work anymore - he's perpetually cliche'd.

Did like (most of) the rest of it though...that new Hyundai could upset the apple-cart a bit...


Regarding the other magazines:-
- Agree on Modern Classic - great idea, still not quite there in the execution.
- Octane has moments of brilliance but a god-awful 'we are better than you' attitude, esp. from Coucher.
- Classic & Performance is good but the subject matter is often very classic / vintage.
- Car dropped off the edge of cliff a couple of years ago.
- TG is still for children and Sun readers, sadly.
...and I'm struggling to think of any other 'performance-friendly' magazines except for the brand-specific stuff...


So evo, whilst imperfect, is still the pinnacle.

Agree with you there. Octane is just rehashing what I used to read (far better written) in Supercar Classics. So no point in buying that. Classic Cars and the ilk are rehashing what I used to read in errr...Classic Cars 25 years ago.

I want to read about the latest performance cars coming out of the manufacturers. I don't want to read about the 1.1 litre shopping car version. This leaves just Evo as the choice. I too don't always like the writing style of pretty much all the contributors, but I still get the essence of the car if I ignore rotation around axles, nadgety ride, edge of adhesion, etc etc...Mind you, if Stuart Gallagher's reading this - we need more 928 content - far more 9328 content

Now that Barker's back, we need an update on the Capri too.

[olliete]

I just can't understand the whole modern hyper-car thing - so out of my reach currently and no amount of hyperbole can capture the experience of driving one. What more can these journos say apart from "it is mind bendingly quick", "it stops telepathically" etc.

Surely we've moved on a bit with Youtube etc? Do we really think that reading about a car is the most involving way to learn about the experience of driving it?

Perhap we should have more decent, informative, original online video content. ECOTY youtube feature is awesome!

[Lefty]

Delighted to see JB back, he's excellent.

Changing the subject slightly, I started buying Practical Performance Car a few months back too and it's great! Hardly the same sort of quality as evo but it's entertaining.

[ClockworkCupcake]

Lefty said:

I started buying Practical Performance Car

I bought the first few issues when they were starting up and sending out free t-shirts to PHers (I still have mine somewhere) but eventually gave up on it as it would have been better named "Junk Yard Bodger" and it just wasn't pushing my buttons. I don't know whether it has improved / refocussed in the intervening years?