Car Magazine - what's going on?
Discussion
ruggedscotty said:
sadly it may be the case that the good times are behind us with cars.... they will just be as good as white goods with no real spark to interest those with an interest in engines and drivetrains.
Agreed. Every car magazine I read in the future will be a classic car mag 
Just been directed to this thread by Mezzanine (thanks again).
I'm glad it's not just me suffering with the sudden flood of EVs in CAR.
That alongside the constant barrage of cars costing in excess of 6 figures has started me asking whether I should cancel my sub but I know that I'd probably still pick up the mag in the newsagents if the cover looked interesting.
The rubbish paper they're using didn't even bother me but I feel my days as a reader are approaching the end.
I picked up a copy of Motorsport for the first time in years (Andrew Frankel's writing got on my nerves and I cancelled my sub years ago) and it was a bit of a revelation.
I might try it again next month.
I'm glad it's not just me suffering with the sudden flood of EVs in CAR.
That alongside the constant barrage of cars costing in excess of 6 figures has started me asking whether I should cancel my sub but I know that I'd probably still pick up the mag in the newsagents if the cover looked interesting.
The rubbish paper they're using didn't even bother me but I feel my days as a reader are approaching the end.
I picked up a copy of Motorsport for the first time in years (Andrew Frankel's writing got on my nerves and I cancelled my sub years ago) and it was a bit of a revelation.
I might try it again next month.
As a teenager I bought Car because it was about cars I could not afford, the writing was an example of how to produce a good report. I thought setright was god. Gave up when I got married and money tight, yes bought it recently and thought I will not buy that again.
When I was restoring classic cars I bought practical classics regularly but now health means I am no longer fit enough to work on cars so that got binned.
Now I subscribe to Classic Car electronically at about two pounds a month and enjoy reading it on my tablet. I enjoy articles by Quentin Wilson think he underrated as a tv presenter although the series he did with Jodie Kidd did him no favours.
Wanted to buy practical classics electronically to read as there is much more reading in it however cost is double for subscription so did nor pursue. Cars in PC are too modern for me and am just not interested in many of the articles.
When I was restoring classic cars I bought practical classics regularly but now health means I am no longer fit enough to work on cars so that got binned.
Now I subscribe to Classic Car electronically at about two pounds a month and enjoy reading it on my tablet. I enjoy articles by Quentin Wilson think he underrated as a tv presenter although the series he did with Jodie Kidd did him no favours.
Wanted to buy practical classics electronically to read as there is much more reading in it however cost is double for subscription so did nor pursue. Cars in PC are too modern for me and am just not interested in many of the articles.
Mercdriver said:
Now I subscribe to Classic Car electronically at about two pounds a month and enjoy reading it on my tablet. I enjoy articles by Quentin Wilson think he underrated as a tv presenter although the series he did with Jodie Kidd did him no favours.
Wanted to buy practical classics electronically to read as there is much more reading in it however cost is double for subscription so did nor pursue. Cars in PC are too modern for me and am just not interested in many of the articles.
Have you looked at Readly? It's £7.99 a month and gives you electronic access to a number of magazines including Classic Cars and Practical Classics.Wanted to buy practical classics electronically to read as there is much more reading in it however cost is double for subscription so did nor pursue. Cars in PC are too modern for me and am just not interested in many of the articles.
carl_w said:
Mercdriver said:
Now I subscribe to Classic Car electronically at about two pounds a month and enjoy reading it on my tablet. I enjoy articles by Quentin Wilson think he underrated as a tv presenter although the series he did with Jodie Kidd did him no favours.
Wanted to buy practical classics electronically to read as there is much more reading in it however cost is double for subscription so did nor pursue. Cars in PC are too modern for me and am just not interested in many of the articles.
Have you looked at Readly? It's £7.99 a month and gives you electronic access to a number of magazines including Classic Cars and Practical Classics.Wanted to buy practical classics electronically to read as there is much more reading in it however cost is double for subscription so did nor pursue. Cars in PC are too modern for me and am just not interested in many of the articles.
They can't even get their nostalgia pieces right these days. I too grew up following Barker, Bishop, Setright & dumped my subscription in the Barlow years.
A few months ago, I spotted this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Best-Car-Magazine-70s-80s...
Yesss! I remember that cover! Wasn't it "There will never be another month like this"? It's not even in the book. Bizarre! Same for the (in my mind, THE best piece of motoring journalism, like, evah) "Convoy" piece about driving the three gold Lambo's from Italy to UK. No mention.
I maybe pick one or two copies a year up & whilst I think they've all struggled for content recently (Evo has had a few look-back/best-of article over the last year), Car has really lost its way.
CF
A few months ago, I spotted this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Best-Car-Magazine-70s-80s...
Yesss! I remember that cover! Wasn't it "There will never be another month like this"? It's not even in the book. Bizarre! Same for the (in my mind, THE best piece of motoring journalism, like, evah) "Convoy" piece about driving the three gold Lambo's from Italy to UK. No mention.
I maybe pick one or two copies a year up & whilst I think they've all struggled for content recently (Evo has had a few look-back/best-of article over the last year), Car has really lost its way.
CF
It was mighty in the 80s but the cream for me was the glorious iconoclasm and unrivalled enthusiasm of the mid -late 60s. When Autocar and Motor (then separate , of course ) were bumbling on about the cost of sunroofs and the merits , or otherwise, of DAFs and Herald 13/60s , we had Blain zipping off to Italy , non stop , in an Elan , Manney about his GTO and, unimprovably, Long John Kickstart on driving the first UK bound Miura from Sant 'Agata to London , and coining the word 'supercar' in the process. it was a monthly treat for this shy and then girlfriend free teenager in the West Riding....
Back in the mid/late 80s I really looked forward to the appearance of each month’s new edition of Car and went out of my way to buy it when I lived abroad. The pictures were great (I still have Car Photo from ~1985) and the writing was good apart from Phil Llewellyn where everything he ever wrote mentioned Offa’s Dyke (exaggeration but you get the point). I stopped buying it around 1993 when they kept lambasting or ignoring the cars I wanted to buy.
For the last few years I’ve subscribed to Autocar and enjoy it. They manage to include a wide range of articles (beyond just road test) that I find interesting. The writing is good (for me, anyway) and the pictures decent. They include mundane cars as well as the exotica (which I don’t find particular interesting). Yes, there are a lot of articles on electric cars but they are way forward for the future and I like them anyway – part of my present and recent past. Is it a coincidence that Steve Cropley (Editor of Car in the 80s) is a contributor ?
For the last few years I’ve subscribed to Autocar and enjoy it. They manage to include a wide range of articles (beyond just road test) that I find interesting. The writing is good (for me, anyway) and the pictures decent. They include mundane cars as well as the exotica (which I don’t find particular interesting). Yes, there are a lot of articles on electric cars but they are way forward for the future and I like them anyway – part of my present and recent past. Is it a coincidence that Steve Cropley (Editor of Car in the 80s) is a contributor ?
Edited by southerndriver on Wednesday 15th December 11:16
I subscribed to Evo to try and get my knowledge up a bit on performance cars, and wish that I hadn’t, £5 for 3 issues. As soon as they arrived I had a very quick flick through the first one, the other 2 just got put in a pile never even opened them, think like many in the U.K. I’ve lost interest in print, can’t be bothered
DoctorX said:
ruggedscotty said:
sadly it may be the case that the good times are behind us with cars.... they will just be as good as white goods with no real spark to interest those with an interest in engines and drivetrains.
Agreed. Every car magazine I read in the future will be a classic car mag I feel right now everyone is playing it safe and ‘cheap’ so to speak, to avoid financial catastrophe.
A few random products have been quite interesting… ie BMW i3 and i8, but now the new full EV are still using a platform that comes in full ICE flavours.
When the tech and market are commonplace enough, you’ll get the TVRs and top tuners like Ruf and the like popping up and making special stuff, and the mainstream taking more risks.
On car magazines. I bought Autocar a bit ago and I couldn’t help tearing the pages turning them… so so thin.
I had to be delicate with it.
If CAR has gone the same way, for a monthly of its previous calibre, that’s pretty sad.
I too used to like car magazines but the appeal of cars just went away a lot.
Everything is the same…
M5 E39 vs F360 supercar beater.
M5 E60 vs F430 supercar beater.
The other day, M5 CP vs Ferrari whatever it now is, supercar beater… on YouTube with the ex Evo guy?
Ffs how about some originality?
Maybe it’s hard to find inspiration when almost everything even slightly interesting is an automatic turbo car that’ll hit 60mph in under 4s with awd and so on.
Or at the other end, an absolute ton of million quid specials from AM, Ferrari, Lambo, McKaren, blah blah.
God it’s even boring talking about them.
I was in a small group of car enthusiasts who each subscribed to a car magazine for others in the group to share. A firm we worked for put a room/cupboard by for us to store said magazines, which had to remain on the firm's premises until the subsequent issue was published. It worked well, the 'librarian' being a bit forceful, so we lost few mages. One of the group subscribed to Small Car as was. It was much sought after and it was one of the few that had to be 'booked' in the days immediately after publication.
They went against the accepted norm for jounalism in those days, and I assume it is still current, of abiding by press release dates, a 'not before' stamp on the release - all on paper in those days. They were first to break the news of the Hillman Imp, about a week or so before the official date. I remember three of us looking over the reader's shoulder to catch a glimpse of this new car. I was a new apprentice so not so much low down the pecking order as pecked at if I so much as appeared. It was nearly a week before I got to have it as my lunchtime read. This was all way back in the early 1960s.
The stunt cost Small Car, or so rumours had it, as they were taken off circulation lists for timed releases, putting them behind their opposition. I thought it improved the magazine as, instead of mirroring the other magazines, they were forced to come up with articles of interest. They produced stories of access being demied by the big car manufacturers because they 'told the truth' about their products, and to an extent, this manufactured excuse for the entirely reasonable response to ignoring dated releases was true. They tore into some cars, I thought in the hope of encouraging adverts or some access. What they said was often what the rumours were. The criticisms of the Imp were a bit harsh, especially as they were generally supportive of the Mini - something to do with it originally being a Mini magazine I think.
There was a name change to Car Magazine for reasons of limited subject matter and it seemed to move up a gear. Good quality content, a lot of different vehicles now the Small had gone. There were lots of technical articles.
I subscribed to Motor Sport and kept it up after the firm closed. I cancelled my subscription after the editorial attacks on Stewart. Well out of order I thought. I didn't read another issue for some 20-odd years. I regularly bought various motoring magazine depending on content, and Car was a frequent choice.
They went against the accepted norm for jounalism in those days, and I assume it is still current, of abiding by press release dates, a 'not before' stamp on the release - all on paper in those days. They were first to break the news of the Hillman Imp, about a week or so before the official date. I remember three of us looking over the reader's shoulder to catch a glimpse of this new car. I was a new apprentice so not so much low down the pecking order as pecked at if I so much as appeared. It was nearly a week before I got to have it as my lunchtime read. This was all way back in the early 1960s.
The stunt cost Small Car, or so rumours had it, as they were taken off circulation lists for timed releases, putting them behind their opposition. I thought it improved the magazine as, instead of mirroring the other magazines, they were forced to come up with articles of interest. They produced stories of access being demied by the big car manufacturers because they 'told the truth' about their products, and to an extent, this manufactured excuse for the entirely reasonable response to ignoring dated releases was true. They tore into some cars, I thought in the hope of encouraging adverts or some access. What they said was often what the rumours were. The criticisms of the Imp were a bit harsh, especially as they were generally supportive of the Mini - something to do with it originally being a Mini magazine I think.
There was a name change to Car Magazine for reasons of limited subject matter and it seemed to move up a gear. Good quality content, a lot of different vehicles now the Small had gone. There were lots of technical articles.
I subscribed to Motor Sport and kept it up after the firm closed. I cancelled my subscription after the editorial attacks on Stewart. Well out of order I thought. I didn't read another issue for some 20-odd years. I regularly bought various motoring magazine depending on content, and Car was a frequent choice.
Not edited to add:
The only motoring magazine I subscribe to is Magneto. It addresses the issues mentioned by Mr W.
It’s on good quality paper. It sets high standards of copy, images and graphic design, probably class-leading in the genre. It’s a real treat. The subjects covered vary a great deal, although the main focus is on classic and earlier cars. It’s quarterly, with the latest issue boasting 200+ pages. There are a number of ads for watches, but I love it. Its covers are works of art.
The only motoring magazine I subscribe to is Magneto. It addresses the issues mentioned by Mr W.
It’s on good quality paper. It sets high standards of copy, images and graphic design, probably class-leading in the genre. It’s a real treat. The subjects covered vary a great deal, although the main focus is on classic and earlier cars. It’s quarterly, with the latest issue boasting 200+ pages. There are a number of ads for watches, but I love it. Its covers are works of art.
Derek Smith said:
I was in a small group of car enthusiasts who each subscribed to a car magazine for others in the group to share. A firm we worked for put a room/cupboard by for us to store said magazines, which had to remain on the firm's premises until the subsequent issue was published. It worked well, the 'librarian' being a bit forceful, so we lost few mages. One of the group subscribed to Small Car as was. It was much sought after and it was one of the few that had to be 'booked' in the days immediately after publication.
They went against the accepted norm for jounalism in those days, and I assume it is still current, of abiding by press release dates, a 'not before' stamp on the release - all on paper in those days. They were first to break the news of the Hillman Imp, about a week or so before the official date. I remember three of us looking over the reader's shoulder to catch a glimpse of this new car. I was a new apprentice so not so much low down the pecking order as pecked at if I so much as appeared. It was nearly a week before I got to have it as my lunchtime read. This was all way back in the early 1960s.
The stunt cost Small Car, or so rumours had it, as they were taken off circulation lists for timed releases, putting them behind their opposition. I thought it improved the magazine as, instead of mirroring the other magazines, they were forced to come up with articles of interest. They produced stories of access being demied by the big car manufacturers because they 'told the truth' about their products, and to an extent, this manufactured excuse for the entirely reasonable response to ignoring dated releases was true. They tore into some cars, I thought in the hope of encouraging adverts or some access. What they said was often what the rumours were. The criticisms of the Imp were a bit harsh, especially as they were generally supportive of the Mini - something to do with it originally being a Mini magazine I think.
There was a name change to Car Magazine for reasons of limited subject matter and it seemed to move up a gear. Good quality content, a lot of different vehicles now the Small had gone. There were lots of technical articles.
I subscribed to Motor Sport and kept it up after the firm closed. I cancelled my subscription after the editorial attacks on Stewart. Well out of order I thought. I didn't read another issue for some 20-odd years. I regularly bought various motoring magazine depending on content, and Car was a frequent choice.
I create car content on social media and in theory have access to press cars. If I made a negative review of a car I would imagine I would become ineligible. I can't actually see the point as I am not bothered about building up my profile to make it marketable as it's a hobby, and I don't want to borrow a car for a few days so badly that I would be ok with the pressure to produce positive content if I didn't like the car. They went against the accepted norm for jounalism in those days, and I assume it is still current, of abiding by press release dates, a 'not before' stamp on the release - all on paper in those days. They were first to break the news of the Hillman Imp, about a week or so before the official date. I remember three of us looking over the reader's shoulder to catch a glimpse of this new car. I was a new apprentice so not so much low down the pecking order as pecked at if I so much as appeared. It was nearly a week before I got to have it as my lunchtime read. This was all way back in the early 1960s.
The stunt cost Small Car, or so rumours had it, as they were taken off circulation lists for timed releases, putting them behind their opposition. I thought it improved the magazine as, instead of mirroring the other magazines, they were forced to come up with articles of interest. They produced stories of access being demied by the big car manufacturers because they 'told the truth' about their products, and to an extent, this manufactured excuse for the entirely reasonable response to ignoring dated releases was true. They tore into some cars, I thought in the hope of encouraging adverts or some access. What they said was often what the rumours were. The criticisms of the Imp were a bit harsh, especially as they were generally supportive of the Mini - something to do with it originally being a Mini magazine I think.
There was a name change to Car Magazine for reasons of limited subject matter and it seemed to move up a gear. Good quality content, a lot of different vehicles now the Small had gone. There were lots of technical articles.
I subscribed to Motor Sport and kept it up after the firm closed. I cancelled my subscription after the editorial attacks on Stewart. Well out of order I thought. I didn't read another issue for some 20-odd years. I regularly bought various motoring magazine depending on content, and Car was a frequent choice.
jakesmith said:
I create car content on social media and in theory have access to press cars. If I made a negative review of a car I would imagine I would become ineligible. I can't actually see the point as I am not bothered about building up my profile to make it marketable as it's a hobby, and I don't want to borrow a car for a few days so badly that I would be ok with the pressure to produce positive content if I didn't like the car.
That's interesting. What do you publish on?I once worked for a weekly local paper where some of our content was syndicated to others in the group. We had a motoring correspondent; pure class we was.
The chap 'test drove' the then new For Zephyr. It was the first one I'd seen so went down to examine it on delivery. He showed me round, pointing out the special bits, making a great fuss of the spare whell, and then, with a flourish, got into the driver's seat, started the engine, told me to move out of the way, and, as he tried to find first gear, the lever came off in his hand. The low loader returned and took the car. Press deadline loomed, so a full report of what it was like to drive was published with the main complaint being that the ash tray was difficult to access. What? Even when there was no gear lever in the way?
Those were the days. Fearless reporting, as long as it did not upset the advertisers.
Yup- my folks got the Sunday Express when I was a car mad teenager in the late Sixties . They had a motoring correspondent called Robert Glenton (an assumed and fictitious name, m'lud ?) whose paeans of praise to yet another BL mediocrity knew no bounds. The wonderful BRITISH innovation of a dipping rear view mirror, the paragon of engineering expertise exemplified in the Austin Maxi and the peerless thrust of the A Series wheezer in an Austin Cambridge .I don't think he did foreign muck . I suspect that he was a typical payola hack , flushed from an all expenses paid car launch dinner and all he had to do was recycle the press release ..hic. The spirit of Lunchtime O'Booze .
CAR was an absolute revelation when I bought my first copy in 1967. How the mighty have fallen.
CAR was an absolute revelation when I bought my first copy in 1967. How the mighty have fallen.
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