Autocar - have they lost the plot?

[ORD]

A few things recently have made me wonder:-

(1) Rave reviews for the F30 as a drivers car. I cannot see how it is anything but a step backwards in this regard - wallowy, prone to understeer at very sensible speeds, etc. Autocar calls it "sublime". Bizarre.

(2) Absurd article this week concluding that the diesel Alpina is the better choice over an M3. The obsession with quoted mpg and diesel cars has become literally incomprehensible, especially as the same edition carried an article on the quite worrying effects of diesel on the air quality across Europe. The review seemed to conclude that the M3 was much more engaging (no st) but that you should buy the Alpina because it has a better range. Is that how journos think punters should decide between 400bhp sports saloons?

(3) Pretty much every car, especially those from BMW, Audi and VW gets at least 4 stars even where, on a careful reading, the reviewer thought it was very average indeed. What is going on there? As far as I can tell from the objective facts put forward in the reviews, for example, the new 2 series Active Tourer is a pretty damn average car, but it still got a good overall rating. Can Autocar not bring itself to say BMW has made a less than good car?

If I wanted to read about which cars have a good BIK and/or a high figure on official cycle CO2 testing, I can look this up on the internet. I don't see the point in getting some journo to recite this nonsense for pages and tell me that some god-awful smoker with a slushbox is the best car around because it (supposedly) emits 134g/km. Most of the content of Autocar could now be written by a 15 year-old with access to the manufacturer's quoted figures and marketing bumf -

"Its chassis is 7% stiffer. The new auto box is really quick and smooth. It's very fuel efficient. The plastics are really nice. 4 stars."

Autocar now seems to be written on behalf of VAG and BMW to help persuade people to pay up £500 per month to drive a brand new and painfully dull 4 cyl diesel car in order to save about £500 per year in fuel costs.

[Motorrad]

Don't buy it?

That's the conclusion I came to about a decade ago.

[mrloudly]

Just like their article on the 650S "So very nearly perfect" Name a car that is perfect......

[toon10]

I don't read it but is sounds like a magazine about cars for people who are not really into cars. It's the same with the Parkers website. I read a review on a car and they tend to say the one to go for isn't the sport model with 400bhp, it's the wallowy diesel one because it's cheaper on fuel and a bit more comfortable. I tend to be abit more selective with my car magazines to make sure they are biased towards rewarding drivers cars and not something that will tow a caravan and still return 40mpg.

I used to buy Evo religiously but now only get a copy if I'm flying somewhere as I know I'll have to skip past a load of articles on diesels and 4x4's before I can read about cars I am intersted in.

[StuntmanMike]

Motorrad said:

Don't buy it?

That's the conclusion I came to about a decade ago.

Same here, I used to buy it religiously as well.

[Ryvita]

I used to buy it religiously too, but assembling a team of two vicars, a choir and an altar boy for the processional has become a bit of a hassle.

...Sorry, I'll get my coat.

In all seriousness, I think there is good motor journalism still out there, but it is perhaps now in less conventional places, with the traditional channels having moved more towards the main-stream and in doing so abandoning their roots.

The analogy I'd draw is the evolution of Topgear into a lifestyle magazine programme with occasional arty car shots versus my latest find on Youtube, Mighty Car Mods. Couple of Australian guys who started doing "how to mod your car" videos on driveways, attracted significant views and now have some budget and production values, but are still young/indie enough to have control of their message - and their message is resolutely enthusiast and techie... for example, their recent series of videos on putting a 3 ltr 6 pot turbo install into an old Legacy that actually showed, and explained every single step of the process from fabricating manifolds to wiring the ECU, all explained with fizzing enthusiasm and aussie irreverence.

Their "Kei to the City" video on a visit to Japan is awesome. Try it, you might just like it.

[r11co]

Playing to their audience. Their opinions are now being led by the market rather than informing it.

[Dave Hedgehog]

The range thing winds me up as well, just because they do Stella mileage going from one champagne launch to the next does not mean we all do, all I need is 200 miles from a tank and I am a happy bunny

[MG511]

I was a subscriber for many, many years but these days look at the 6 copies for £6 offers and think. 'no, not worth £1 a copy'. They were getting outsold massively by Autoexpress so seem to have tried to mimic Autoexpress, which is a dire, consumer magazine. Showing my age but I remember when you had the choice of buying Autocar or Motor every Wednesday, proper car mags for enthusiasts; sadly those days are long gone.

[Sheepshanks]

StuntmanMike said:

Motorrad said:

Don't buy it?

That's the conclusion I came to about a decade ago.

Same here, I used to buy it religiously as well.

And me. I buy WhatCar if I'm getting on a flight, but only because I can expense it. I wouldn't give my own money to Haymarket.

[kambites]

Are there any good magasines left for driving enthusiasts these days? Even the ones that used to be good (like Evo) seem to have gone downhill to the point of not being worth reading in recent years.

[C.A.R.]

Internet videos are the future - magazines are unfortunately not delivering anything intriguing enough for me to part with my cash for information that I could easily find on the internet and videos which I can watch while sat on the bog for example.

I used to subscribe to Evo and before that I would regularly buy Banzai or Japanese Performance magazines and before that even (as a teen) I'd get the occasional copy of Max Power or Fast Car (admittedly, mainly for the t*ts or free gift)

Nowadays the magazine rack is very 'meh'. Perhaps this is because modern cars are very 'meh' and the modifying scene has pretty much died the death with young people preferring to sink all their money into a lease deal on a boring hatchback?

[Otispunkmeyer]

Ryvita said:

I used to buy it religiously too, but assembling a team of two vicars, a choir and an altar boy for the processional has become a bit of a hassle.

...Sorry, I'll get my coat.

In all seriousness, I think there is good motor journalism still out there, but it is perhaps now in less conventional places, with the traditional channels having moved more towards the main-stream and in doing so abandoning their roots.

The analogy I'd draw is the evolution of Topgear into a lifestyle magazine programme with occasional arty car shots versus my latest find on Youtube, Mighty Car Mods. Couple of Australian guys who started doing "how to mod your car" videos on driveways, attracted significant views and now have some budget and production values, but are still young/indie enough to have control of their message - and their message is resolutely enthusiast and techie... for example, their recent series of videos on putting a 3 ltr 6 pot turbo install into an old Legacy that actually showed, and explained every single step of the process from fabricating manifolds to wiring the ECU, all explained with fizzing enthusiasm and aussie irreverence.

Their "Kei to the City" video on a visit to Japan is awesome. Try it, you might just like it.

This. If you want proper car stuff, the internet and youtube is where its at. Jay Leno's garage is a little more glossy and puff- piecey at times, but if you want some interesting tid bits on some genuinely interesting and rare cars its a good place to start. They usually have a 15 minute talk about the car with the owner or designer and then go out for a drive. The video on the Chrysler Turbine car is one of my favorites.

[Atmospheric]

Not what it was at all. There was a real chance to secure the full statistic based road test angle - but they blew it.

The best online reviews are Motor Trend / Drive at the moment.

[Output Flange]

kambites said:

Even the ones that used to be good (like Evo) seem to have gone downhill to the point of not being worth reading in recent years.

FWIW, the last two or three editions of Evo have been significantly better than the previous 2 or 3 years' worth.

[mikefreer]

The star ratings bit has always annoyed me too. Evo in particular is bad for this - the worst of the worst cars have three stars which (in the section at the back is described as something like 'interesting'). Just about every new car of any description gets 4 stars now.

I know they need to keep the manufacturers on board so that they keep getting opportunities to drive their cars, but surely they don't have to be so blatently manufacturer-biased!

[ORD]

mikefreer said:

The star ratings bit has always annoyed me too. Evo in particular is bad for this - the worst of the worst cars have three stars which (in the section at the back is described as something like 'interesting'). Just about every new car of any description gets 4 stars now.

I know they need to keep the manufacturers on board so that they keep getting opportunities to drive their cars, but surely they don't have to be so blatently manufacturer-biased!

There isn't really any consistency or sense to how the stars and overall verdicts are given. For example, sports cars are marked down for not having high levels of "refinement" (i.e. quiet engines and a squidgy ride) but town cars aren't marked down for being pig slow and dull to drive.

More regrettably, there is not really any consistency as between the responses to cars from different manufacturers. In general, BMW and VAG can do no wrong (even when, in Audi's case, they consistently produce over-priced and dull cars), French cars get a hard time even when they are decent, and Asian cars get at best luke warm reviews even when they are excellent (or at least excellent at the price - a bit like Fords, although they are generally reviewed quite fairly, in my view. A few examples:-

(1) The BMW 2l diesel is about as agricultural in sound and feel as can be imagined for a modern diesel, but this only gets mentioned in passing and does not factor in the overall verdict despite "refinement" using being considered quite important (and why VAG cars are usually so well-received).

(2) VAG and BMW small turbo units are lauded for being "driveable" and having "almost non-existent" turbo-lag (i.e. they do have noticeable lag), which would suggest a sensible attitude of recognising the compromise that comes with a small tc unit (i.e. decent mid-range torque and efficiency (maybe) at the expense of response and verve). When faced with an NA engine from another manufacturer, only the downside is given any priority - see all the nonsense written about having to work the Mazda 2l petrol engine hard to get the best out of it - surely that is the price you pay for being able to rev it out and having immediate response, just as lag is the price you pay with a small tc unit?

(3) Another Mazda example (as I quite like their engines), I cannot find anything at all that would contradict the proposition that the 2.2l diesel is the 4-cyl petrol engine going. What does Autocar say about it? It says that it is about as good as the BMW 2l diesel, turning a review of that engine into another opportunity to say how good BMWs are(neatly avoiding saying "actually better in every measurable respect").

I have noticed that I seem to be slagging of BMWs. I am not - I like them and will probably buy a 3 series quite soon.

I do wonder how much more BMW and VAG spend on lunching and otherwise entertaining journalists than do Renault, Kia, etc.

(Don't even get me started on the Jaguar obsession - comparing the 2-seater F-type to the 2+2 911 so that you can say it is a bargain...that's cheating in my book.)

[ORD]

Funnily enough given my last comment, I just stumbled across a very sane and fair review (including Jag v Porsche comparisons) in Car Magazine:-

http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/Drives/Search-Results...

[otolith]

The AutoCar website used to have their road test data available. Now it just regurgitates manufacturer figures, like every other site. They have a fantastic resource in all the quantitative data they have collected over the last 120 years or so, I really don't understand why they aren't using it.

[DJRC]

So don't buy it then.

Wtf would you buy a car magazine to read about 2ltr turbo white goods anyway?