Automobile Magazines...

Clean Dean

Clean Dean

Keep it clean !!!
I currently subscribe to about 10 different automobile magazines, and was thinking today if I had to, could I narrow it down to three magazine (if I had to)?



What would be my top three choices?



My choices:



1. Car and Driver (I have been a subscriber as long as I could remember, and I love their road test and comparison articles.)

2. Autoweek ( Weekly, like their road test, sneak pics and they are weekly !!! Enough said)

3. Motor Trend (Very similar to Car and Driver, and they could easily be mistaken for each other.)



Honorable mention:

ï‚· Hemmings ( I can lose hours going through their classified ads)

ï‚· Dupont Registry ( Shopping at the supermarket with the wife is not such a chore any more !!! Dare to dream !!!)

 Keith Martin’s Sports Car Market ( “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ )

 Automobile ( This publication has really grown on me, and I look forward to each issue. Their “25 Greatest Carsâ€� issue has a permanent place in my office for reference.

ï‚· The Star (Mercedes Benz Club of America Magazine) I have a soft spot for collectible Benzes.





I am sure there are others I am missing especially more specialized magazines for tuners, collectibles, and hot rods, but I would love to see what other detailers and enthusiast pick as their top three.
 
I read the following every month:



Car and Driver

Motor Trend

Road and Track

Hemmings Muscle Cars

Hemmings Classics

Hemmings Sports Cars and Exotics



Just started reading Project Car Tuner. Unlike the ricer mags like Super Street, they actually do dyno tests and step by step (with pictures) installations. Very good for those who want to turn wrenches on their own cars.
 
Dean, I've subscribed to C/D and R&T for about 30 years. At that time I wasn't really too impressed with Motor Trend. I found C/D and R&T to be quite different and complementary; C/D was irreverent and edgy, while R&T was staid and was the place for reviews of roadsters and exotics, while C/D was doing "civil disobedience" issues with radar detector tests and "double the double-nickel" shootouts.



When significant portions of the C/D staff defected and started Automobile magazine (which I subscribed to for a while but it was just a bit too "after-dinner brandy" vs. C/D's "staying up late drinking coffee" for me), C/D eventually lost some of its edge, and Motor Trend picked up the mantle a bit...so I added a subscription to that for a number of years.



In more recent years, I don't follow the auto world to the level of detail I used to, Motor Trend really seemed too similar to C/D to continue getting both, and now that C/D and R&T have been owned by the same company for so long...they really are not distinct anymore when R&T is doing pickup truck tests and the two test most of the same cars. I have been planning to let my R&T subscription lapse and just stick with my old pal, Car & Driver.
 
I refuse to read car and driver anymore. It started with a comparison between the GTO and new Mustang. The GTO dominated the mustang. The Mustang won because of the gotta have it factor. The purpose of the comparison is to see what's a better car, it's the consumers job to judge the gotta have it factor. I still browsed after that until a recent "sedan" comparison(it's been updated but was published as sensible sedans) between Nissan Sentra, Toyota Corolla, Hyundai Elantra, Honda Civic, Mazda 3s and Volkswagen Rabbit. The Rabbit beat the 3 based on cargo space and gotta have it factor. Problem is, in the sedan comparison test, the rabbit was a hatch. Wonder how it had the cargo space advantage over the sedan, some of which are available in hatch form.



I currently subscribe to Automobile, Autoweek, Road and Track and Motor Trend, which I will not be renewing.
 
I used to read a lot of them but I only get Autoweek and Grassroots Motorsports anymore. I'm not counting Sportscar because every SCCA member gets that. I used to get Road & Track just for the Peter Egan columns, but when the subscription ran out I found that I don't miss it that much anymore. If I need more car nut info than I get in those two magazines I can go to thetruthaboutcars.com, improvedtouring.com, here, vwvortex.com, or any number of other websites. Only advantage of magazines to websites is you can read them on the throne.



bumoftheday said:
I currently subscribe to Automobile, Autoweek, Road and Track and Motor Trend, which I will not be renewing.
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I hate to say it, but I didn't care for Motor Trend 20 years ago and it's worse now. In 1991 the Caprice was Car of the Year; need I say more?
 
Yeah, Motor Trend's opinion can be bought.



The only car magazine I subscribe to is Sport Compact Car. I like it for the tech articles. Despite what some might think about it, the people writing know what they're talking about.
 
Great thread!





Automobile sits at the top for me, I just really like the feel.

I also get C/D which is very good. Will look into AutoWeek; have heard some great things.
 
bumoftheday said:
I refuse to read car and driver anymore. It started with a comparison between the GTO and new Mustang. The GTO dominated the mustang. The Mustang won because of the gotta have it factor. The purpose of the comparison is to see what's a better car, it's the consumers job to judge the gotta have it factor. I still browsed after that until a recent "sedan" comparison(it's been updated but was published as sensible sedans) between Nissan Sentra, Toyota Corolla, Hyundai Elantra, Honda Civic, Mazda 3s and Volkswagen Rabbit. The Rabbit beat the 3 based on cargo space and gotta have it factor. Problem is, in the sedan comparison test, the rabbit was a hatch. Wonder how it had the cargo space advantage over the sedan, some of which are available in hatch form.



I currently subscribe to Automobile, Autoweek, Road and Track and Motor Trend, which I will not be renewing.
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I agree, and remember that GTO/Mustang comparo too. I think my 'favorite' comparo by C/D was called 'Cheap Speed' which the RSX somehow won even though it had the worst numbers (0-60, 1/4 mile, etc.) I think it won because it was more 'refined' than the Cobalt SS, ION redline and Impreza 2.5rs despite it being called 'Cheap Speed'.



edit: found the video

YouTube - Car and Driver Cheap Speed Round 23
 
I subscribe to a ridiculous number, but if I had to cut down to three I'd probably go with:

1) Car & Driver

2) Automobile

3) AutoWeek



But then I'd be haunting the periodical section at Borders all the time :o
 
Really like AutoWeek (they call a spade a friggin shovel)

Automobile

Car and Driver



Jean Jennings is brutally honest and I really miss Brock Yates
 
0-60 Magazine

Mustang and Ford Magazines- I own a mustang and dad owns 3 Fairlanes.

If you have Hagerty insurance they put out a pritty nice magazine, low number of pages though, around 50-60 pages.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Jean Jennings? Did that used to be Jean Lindamood?
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Yeah, that's right.



One great thing about AutoWeek is Denise McCluggage's column (yep, she's still alive and kicking :D ).
 
I don't remember Denise. I think I have a pile of AutoWeeks buried somewhere from the year or so when I subscribed...I'm guessing '82 or so.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Jean Jennings? Did that used to be Jean Lindamood? I haven't read AutoWeek since I've read Automobile, prolly about 20 years.
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Jean Lindamood got married (therefore Jennings). She was with that old Car & Driver group with David E Davis and then they broke off to Automobile Magazine.



My fondest memories of JL were at Mid Ohio about 30 years ago when she was to be in a Celebrity/Journalist R5 (remember the Renault R5) race. She was quite the hoot at the motel the night before the race. She's a damn fine writer and a real car-guy.
 
Yes, I alluded to the DED defection in an earlier post. That was a great team, and Don Sherman held C/D together pretty well for a while despite the losses, but Jean was definitely missed.



I also met some C/D staffers at a Renault event out here when they were debuting the Fuego. The C/D offices may have still been in NYC at that time (or am I confused?) and Don Sherman and Pat Bedard were appearing at a Renault dealer. Got to chat with them for a while (this was before Bedard almost got killed at Indy and lost his mind...and I mean that in a nice way...just his perspectives changed quite a bit after that, and so his editorial bent). And I went to the event because of the C/D guys, not the Fuego!



EDIT: Shoot, I'd better get out of this thread before I start unburying my old car mags and trying to figure out when all this stuff was!
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Are you from Australia? Or are you talking US Fairlanes...which I guess they haven't made since '72 or so?
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In the US. My dad owns a 1962 two door, 1963 two door sports coupe, and 1964 wagon. Both the 62 and 64 are completely orginal.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
I don't remember Denise [McCluggage]....
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She was one of the most successful (very) early female race drivers, one seriously accomplished lady. Very attractive, smart, cultured but also, uhm...fun-loving ;) She must be ~80 now but is still sharp as a tack.
 
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