Car Magazines

[legion]

Just wondering what car magazines y'all (Central Illinois is getting to me) get? Thoughts on them?

I personally get Automobile and Excellence.

I think Automobile is a great magazine...I get their style. Though David E. Davis isn't formally in charge and I believe they merged with 'Car & Driver' (kinda ironic), I still think it's a great read. They seem to approach cars from "what the average person can afford" perspective rather than "what is the finest automobile--price is irrelevant".

Excellence is okay. They seem to have something relevant to 944s every other month. They do keep me informed about new models.

[cowtown]

I get C&D, 911 & Porsche World, and Excellence, and I enjoy them from most to least in that order. I don't particularly care about the new cars in C&D, but I like their juvenile writing style and the letters. 911&Porsche World is good because it does a lot with the older 911s that you won't see in Excellence. I've been reading Excellence for over 10 years now, and more and more they seem like a factory mouthpiece.

[rhk109]

I get Autoweek, Excellence and Pano. Autoweek is by far and away the best non P-car magazine IMHO. I have had a subscription for almost twenty years. It is a weekly and contains articles on all sorts or cars, not just supercars. It also has lots of industry news, racing coverage (more than just NASCAR), and classifieds.

[B D]

Autoweek - great info on cars new and old and racing. Best part comes every week.

Ol' Skool Rodz - Rat Rod magazine (one of a kind) http://www.olskoolrodz.com/

Then I just sit at Borders and read the overpriced P-car mags. I can get a one year subscription to FHM for the price of one Porsche mag.

[legion]

Yeah, I'm not sure if I'll continue getting Excellence when my one-year subscription expires. I just dumped a magazine called Cargo because I was completely disinterested in its content.

[VINMAN]

Im about fed up with Excellence myself, it does seem like it turned into an expensive factory brochure. Tech articles have gone by the wayside.
Other car mags I get are mostly muscle car mags, Popular Hotrodding, Hot Rod. Old Skool Rodz is great too. I like to read about builds and tech. I have no interest in new Japanese or Euro luxury cars, so C&D, MotorTrend arent much of my bag. I'll pickup Autoweek and Vintage Motorsport also, if they have something that catches my eye in it.
Grassroots Motorsports is also a great mag.

[creaturecat]

my Excellence subscription expired this month - GOOD RIDDANCE!

[bryanthompson]

I have 4 years of Excellence from the late 80's/early 90's that I need to read... maybe when I finish those I'll buy another box of old ones

Vinman, is it just me, or did your avatar speed up like crazy?!

[Overpaid Slacker]

I'm not such a fan of Pano, though I continue to receive it.

I do look forward to Excellence, as I like the articles on the older cars and its got pretty slick production value.

Roundel is much better than Pano as a magazine, but I'm so much less interested in new BMWs than I am new Porsches that most of its content has no appeal to me. I understand the Hack Mechanic columnist Rob Siegel now frequents these hallowed boards, and w/o his column I probably would've stopped reading Roundel at all a few years back.

911 & Porsche World is a great mag, w/ typical Brit sensibilities, production and coverage (check the sig. block, I get the Mini magazines and for years would hunt down every cool British LR magazine I could find). It's hit-or-miss, but even when it misses, it's pretty good, IMHO.

Gotta look into AutoWeek again, but I get a lot of that kind of info on the net.

BD -- why pay for FHM? You're already on the internet and you can get actual porn for free, as well as plenty of 1/4"-deep trendyinfo from a myriad of sources.

JP

[Z-man]

Here are the magazines that I currently subscribe to:

Grassroots Motorsports By far, this is my favorite car magazine - it's down to earth, full of project cars, and they understand things like slip angles, heel-toe-downshifting, autocrossing and HPDE's! Excellent magazine for those into autox, DE, club racing...etc.

Porscheforus This is the NNJR PCA region's monthly publication. Its great because it has good local content. Plus my mug is on page 2 every month! (I'm on our Board of Govs - track tech co-chair!)

Road & Track My source for info from the 'mainstream' auto industry. I work in the IT dept. for Mercedes Benz USA headquarters, and most of us at work are 'car guys,' so I need to keep up with what's going on with the competition. BTW: Road & Track, Car and Driver, Motortrend - they all pretty much cover the same thing, so just get one of them. I am considering switching to Automobile - I've bought some of their issues at the newstand - I like their writing and content better.

Excellence I used to love this magazine, but it's gotten to be too full of ads and not enough content, as stated above. Still a good source of info on all things Porsche.

Panorama Read some of the articles in it, but it is only a little better than Excellence.

-Z.

[RoninLB]

I'll still search the routine 911 mags looking for a single interesting paragraph related to mechanics and design.. If you're wrench inclined try some decent marine and aircraft texts for more bang for your bucks. It's a different prospective that can be very interesting due to the issues involved.

[scottmandue]

I like Excellence, they seem to have a nice balance between the ridiculously expensive super cars (I can at least dream about) and cool old 356 and 914 articles... and lots of parts adds to drool over. I know some people don't like all the adds but I'm the kind of guy that can be entertained by flipping through a parts catalog.

Factory mouth piece? Well yeah what do you expect from a magazine dedicated to one manufacture? When I travel for business I usually pick up a auto or motorcycle magazine to pass the time in the airport and on the plane and it seems like every magazine has it's favorites.

I got Automobile for awhile but it lost my interest, it's a good magazine just didn't have time to read it.

[B D]

BD -- why pay for FHM? You're already on the internet and you can get actual porn for free, as well as plenty of 1/4"-deep trendyinfo from a myriad of sources.

JP [/B]

I get it for traveling. $5 for a single issue or $10 for a subscription of 12.

[Burnin' oil]

Classic & Sports Car - The BEST

[oldE]

Road & Track, for years. Peter Egan's column is usually worth the cover price. C&D is a sister mag, and as Zman says, they cover the same cars, but I don't enjoy Brock Yates or Pat Bedard.
Sports Car International is a great magazine and is a sister publication of Excellence. I got E for a few years, but started to feel like I was reading the same thing over and over.
Motor Trend swings like a gate depending upon who bought the most ad space. Among the Motor Trend cars of the Year: Edsel, Vega and the 72 Mercury Cougar. Can these guys pick 'em or what?
When Automobile first came out, I enjoyed it (even had a letter published) but found I couldn't trust what they wrote about the cars. For example, when the first generation MR2 came out, they raved about the handling. I found the car overweight, cramped and not something you'd want to drive more than an hour at a time. The road holding at the limit would go away way too fast for my liking. When the second generation car was released, Automobile owned up to the bad stuff in the prior cars by saying that had all been fixed. I traded the MR2 for a used 924S.
Les

[Franklin]

Excellence, Pano, Autoweek and Roundel. I stopped R&T after the Bond's sold it and it turned to S***. Autoweek is really the best "general" car mag with excellent F1 coverage and TV listings. They also do a relatively honest job with their tests, unlike CD and R&T who seem to base their coverage on ad space taken by the manufacturer.

[VINMAN]

Originally posted by bryanthompson
I have 4 years of Excellence from the late 80's/early 90's that I need to read... maybe when I finish those I'll buy another box of old ones

Vinman, is it just me, or did your avatar speed up like crazy?!

Youre right it does look like it sped up!

[notfarnow]

Originally posted by Burnin' oil
Classic & Sports Car - The BEST

HA! I was wondering if I was the only one...

I find the enthusiasm and quality of writing unmatched. They are also much more hands-on than US mags. I love the "our classics" section, and the how-to stuff.

I used to LOVE R&T, but the last couple of years I subscribed it was only for Side Glances. Can read it online now. I still have HUNDREDS of old R&T, some as far back as '65. I love the Salon articles, and the Peter Egan roadtrips.

[Oh Haha]

Any of you fellas get GT Purely Porsche? Euro magazine with a good mixture of new and old. Pricey but then what isn't for these cars.
I just picked uo 911&Porsche World AND GT Purely Porsche at Barnes and Noble today. It was a good day.

[kycarguy 935]

I get 911 & Porsche World, Excellence, Hemmings, Street Rod Builder, Truck Builder, Road & Track, Forza, Rod and Custom, Street Rodder and about 10 more. I spend way too much on paper...lol