What is happening at EVO magazine?

What is happening at EVO magazine?

Author
Discussion

mikeg996

Original Poster:

875 posts

221 months

Saturday 28th October 2017
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Subscriber issue arrived today. New (smaller) format, less shiny cover and....no eCoty 2017! What is going on at EVO, something seems amiss to me.

lucido grigio

44,044 posts

162 months

Saturday 28th October 2017
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Thread already running on this subject.....smile

mikecassie

608 posts

158 months

Saturday 28th October 2017
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It was st years ago, stopped my subscription and haven't read one since. So it doesn't surprise me it's going further down the crapper.

fatboy69

9,371 posts

186 months

Saturday 28th October 2017
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Octane mag is the same. Smaller, dreadful quality paper. Just generally unreadable.

My subscription was cancelled the day after I received last months issue which was the start of the smaller mag.

Utter ste.

selym

9,539 posts

170 months

Saturday 28th October 2017
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fatboy69 said:
Octane mag is the same. Smaller, dreadful quality paper. Just generally unreadable.

My subscription was cancelled the day after I received last months issue which was the start of the smaller mag.

Utter ste.
Do you not like the content, or is it just the size and material?

lord trumpton

7,321 posts

125 months

Saturday 28th October 2017
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I think it's the same for many former great publications - most journos have jumped ship in favour of web based platforms and the print publications are hardly selling and cloth is being cut accordingly


rigga

8,727 posts

200 months

Saturday 28th October 2017
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I stopped buying because it became difficult to actually read, due to printing dark words on dark backgrounds (picture's) appreciate trying to pack as much content in, but it became tiresome squinting.

fatboy69

9,371 posts

186 months

Saturday 28th October 2017
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Content has got worse over the last few issues. Got bored with it - & I have bought every issue since Octane was launched.

The reduced size & poor paper quality was the end of the line.


slk 32

1,486 posts

192 months

Saturday 28th October 2017
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Interesting..

I've bought the last few issues of Modern Classics and the only thing that let it down was the paper quality

Fast forward four months and Octane (and now it seems Evo) have gone down the same route. I can only imagine it's cost

billzeebub

3,862 posts

198 months

Sunday 29th October 2017
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slk 32 said:
Interesting..

I've bought the last few issues of Modern Classics and the only thing that let it down was the paper quality

Fast forward four months and Octane (and now it seems Evo) have gone down the same route. I can only imagine it's cost
Yeah, Modern Classics is my preference now. I would ideally like a magazine that featured the Modern Classics type of cars with the Evo standard writing. Ideally the two magazines would merge, producing a hybrid I would actually want to buy!

s m

23,164 posts

202 months

Sunday 29th October 2017
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billzeebub said:
Yeah, Modern Classics is my preference now. I would ideally like a magazine that featured the Modern Classics type of cars with the Evo standard writing. Ideally the two magazines would merge, producing a hybrid I would actually want to buy!
I'd certainly buy that one as well - EVO photography and some of the cars from Modern Classics. I find every other month EVO tends to do an issue full of unaffordium for anyone who's not a City Trader
They redress it the next issue usually but those other issues tend to confuse 'thrill of driving' with the 'thrill of 75k plus cars'

CABC

5,533 posts

100 months

Sunday 29th October 2017
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Modern Classics just gush about all the cars. minimal critical reviews. More fun reading sm's articles from the past.

speedtwelve

3,510 posts

272 months

Sunday 29th October 2017
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^^This^^

Don't read EVO anymore as I'm not interested in how the latest 911 Turbo drives, but have a sub to Modern Classics. Exactly the kind of cars I want to read about, but the writing is just too shallow and superficial at times. It's also often poorly researched. They need to pass articles around the office for a bit of car bore proof reading before publishing. A recent pic of a UK Monaro with Holden badges stuck on it was hailed as some sort of rare pre-Vauxhall Holden import... The obsession with 'future investment value' in every article is tiresome as well. I keep buying it in the hope the writing will improve!

Clockwork Cupcake

74,402 posts

271 months

Sunday 29th October 2017
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I cancelled my Direct Debit earlier in the year and am just waiting for my subscription to expire now.

I noticed the smaller less glossy format the moment I opened the envelope. There also seems to be less content and more adverts too.

itcaptainslow

3,694 posts

135 months

Sunday 29th October 2017
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s m said:
billzeebub said:
Yeah, Modern Classics is my preference now. I would ideally like a magazine that featured the Modern Classics type of cars with the Evo standard writing. Ideally the two magazines would merge, producing a hybrid I would actually want to buy!
I'd certainly buy that one as well - EVO photography and some of the cars from Modern Classics. I find every other month EVO tends to do an issue full of unaffordium for anyone who's not a City Trader
They redress it the next issue usually but those other issues tend to confuse 'thrill of driving' with the 'thrill of 75k plus cars'
I met Nathan from Modern Classics a few weeks ago and this came up in conversation-apparently the feedback from when they tried to go a bit more "Evo" with the Elise vs. Boxster vs. Z4 vs. 350Z issue wasn't as positive as their other issues; a shame as I thought it was one of their best!

Don't forget a lot of the cars they feature are borrowed from understanding owners (who won't be especially happy to have their car written up as a pile of turds!) and also can't necessarily be compared in a contemporary sense, but viewed on their own merits. With classic cars it's as much as how the car makes you feel-many are owned because of the nostalgia they invoke, mine included.

I agree with the comments about Evo-I'm lucky to be able to afford reasonable "Evo" cars but still feel at the bottom of their readership rung-it's getting more and more rare to see multiple features in one issue about cars I can actually afford!

Modern Classics isn't perfect but they really have caught the imagination of many petrolheads with the cars they feature and their enthusiastic delivery.

shost

825 posts

142 months

Monday 30th October 2017
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Haven't read this months smaller evo. But why does the magazine being less shiny make it less of a magazine?

All my posh programmes from Lord March are matt. To my eye and flicking through the magazine looks a little more stylish.

Krikkit

26,500 posts

180 months

Monday 30th October 2017
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s m said:
billzeebub said:
Yeah, Modern Classics is my preference now. I would ideally like a magazine that featured the Modern Classics type of cars with the Evo standard writing. Ideally the two magazines would merge, producing a hybrid I would actually want to buy!
I'd certainly buy that one as well - EVO photography and some of the cars from Modern Classics. I find every other month EVO tends to do an issue full of unaffordium for anyone who's not a City Trader
They redress it the next issue usually but those other issues tend to confuse 'thrill of driving' with the 'thrill of 75k plus cars'
That was one of my bugbears - they do the little hot hatches etc, but as a new car mag tied into performance cars there's not a lot they can do in the sub-£20k bracket.

The final straw for me was when they got rid of the "Art of Speed" bit in the back of the mag - there was always a lovely, nerdy detail in the back which was just the job.

daniel-5zjw7

598 posts

100 months

Monday 30th October 2017
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EVO went downhill years back for me, once all the 'advertisement features' came in and Harry Metcalfe left, before this I loved the sheer class of the content from the writing to the cars to the photography, combined with a real independent standing. As people who were truly passionate about cars they said it how it was even if it wasn't what the manufacturers would have wanted. There are cars out there that have a lot to thank for a 4 or 5 star EVO rating still to this day!

When I have picked up a copy more recently I've been disappointed by numerous elements not least sloppy typo's and generally poor content, it sounds from these latest changes that it's falling further and further away.

I'll always remember EVO fondly mind for what it used to be, plus I was lucky enough to have a full feature of my old car going back a few years (a 4k Subaru Impreza Type RA), which was a great experience, especially working on it with Henry Catchpole who I'd been following since he very first joined.

mikeg996

Original Poster:

875 posts

221 months

Monday 30th October 2017
quotequote all
shost said:
Haven't read this months smaller evo. But why does the magazine being less shiny make it less of a magazine?

All my posh programmes from Lord March are matt. To my eye and flicking through the magazine looks a little more stylish.
I was particularly referring to the lack of an eCoty 2017, combined with the reduced size and cover shininess, hinting at potential financial problems at the mag.

Plate spinner

17,649 posts

199 months

Monday 30th October 2017
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daniel-5zjw7 said:
EVO went downhill years back for me, once all the 'advertisement features' came in and Harry Metcalfe left, before this I loved the sheer class of the content from the writing to the cars to the photography, combined with a real independent standing. As people who were truly passionate about cars they said it how it was even if it wasn't what the manufacturers would have wanted. There are cars out there that have a lot to thank for a 4 or 5 star EVO rating still to this day!

When I have picked up a copy more recently I've been disappointed by numerous elements not least sloppy typo's and generally poor content, it sounds from these latest changes that it's falling further and further away.
Totally agree with this. I remember buying issue 1 and signing up my monthly subs the following day.

Cancelled last year, which was probably a couple of years too late really.
I've still got the last half dozen unread in the grey cover under my coffee table.