Does Anybody Read Car Magazines Anymore?

"glemon" (glemon)
09/28/2018 at 22:48 • Filed to: None

I am an old dude who has subscribed to Road & Track forever, and Car and Driver off and on for nearly as long. I know readership is down but trying to get the pulse of Jalops on interest and readership.

As time has gone on I have gone from reading from cover to cover on arrival to them stacking up and having to make an effort to catch up with the reading.

There was a time when you could read the accounts of Formula One races ( S enna at Monaco!) from months ago, and with no internet and cable, and very limited coverage in the US it was still news.

But it isn’t just the internet and timeliness of news that has pulled interest away. The coverage of most new vehicles just doesn’t interest me much. I realize I will never own a Ferrari or new Porsche, most anything approaching two tons or more in weight just gets skipped over.

There is also a lot more competition from more specialized publications that might focus more directly on what you enjoy. I did enjoy Hemmings Sports and Exotic a lot, but they killed that one.

But I am going to go off and read Car and Driver’s annual Light ning Lap story now.

DISCUSSION (21)

Supreme Chancellor and Glorious Leader SaveTheIntegras > glemon
09/28/2018 at 23:14

For a short time, i read Motortrend and C&D magazines...then I just kinda stopped

lone_liberal > glemon
09/28/2018 at 23:21

I still have a C&D subscription but it was a gift from my wife. Like you I sometimes have a hard time working up the motivation to read them, though.

blacktruck18 > glemon
09/28/2018 at 23:31

I had subscriptions and used to read Motor Trend, C&D a nd R&T religiously from 1995 to 2003ish, I honestly don’t remember the last time I even thought about buying one.

I do occasionally read their websites, mostly just the occasional review of some piece of unobtanium.

JR1 > glemon
09/28/2018 at 23:39

I’m a younger guy and enjoy getting the magazines R&T and C&D. Sometimes I read cover to cover sometimes I cherry pick. There was a hiatus in college where I did not get them but I missed the monthly anticipation and turning the pages with the glossy photos. I look forward to it every month! Sometimes it will take a little while for me to read them but I always end up reading them.

arl > glemon
09/28/2018 at 23:41

I too grew up reading car magazines. But I dont have a subscription any more and I haven’t held a print car magazine in years. I do pop over to their websites every now and then. But generally their websites are annoying with lots of ads. The comments sections are cluster f$&@s.

I do subscribe to a few cycling magazines. For some reason they still seem to hold onto some of their magic.

CB > glemon
09/28/2018 at 23:45

I enjoy reading them, but I don't have a subscription. I normally only read them when I'm flying.

MM54 > glemon
09/28/2018 at 23:48

I get the Hagerty magazine and usually read most of it as time permits

Tristan > glemon
09/28/2018 at 23:59

I grew up reading every inch of Hot Rod and Car Craft when Freiberger was at the helm. Now I watch his antics on MTOD. I subscribe to a weekly automotive publication. If I see a ‘95 Impala on the cover, I will flip through, but usually it's just another six figure supercar that I can't bring myself to give a shit about so it sits on the counter for a couple days and goes in the trash. I won't be renewing. I also get Turning Wheels as part of my Studebaker Driver's Club membership. I rarely read them either.

SirDrivesAlot (now with hybrid powerrrr) > glemon
09/29/2018 at 00:00

I still have my Road and Track and Autoweek subscriptions ( I have subscribed to Autoweek since it was still printed as a tabloid...) but find I read them less and less. I long ago dropped my Racer mag subscription, but I do miss Hemming’s Sports & Exotic Car. I will see where I am when the subscriptions come up for renewal - I may well drop them both.

David Baker > glemon
09/29/2018 at 00:04

I read all the car mags cover/cover as soon as they came in, years ago. Just cancelled all the mags because I have barely touched them in 2 years.

Kinja'd!!!

promoted by the color red > glemon
09/29/2018 at 03:28

I grew up reading Car and Driver in the ‘90s. Since you could only have so many pictures and so many words, those articles carried a lot of weight. But as you’ve pointed out, technology’s moved so fast that the articles are dated from the moment the magazine leaves the printing press. Now I find myself more interested in the chump car challenges, road trips, or the comparison tests rather than another puff piece road test. I will always make time for a John Phillips (or Peter Egan, if we’re talking Road & Track ) piece.

On a side note, it’s not until reading Rich Ceppos’s article remembering the late Tony Swan that I realized how long it’s been since I really was invested in *Car and Driver*. Many of the names are in the “man, it has to be at least ten years since I’ve seen that name in this article”.

pip bip - choose Corrour > glemon
09/29/2018 at 06:42

been reading them for nearly 30 years

LimitedTimeOnly @ opposite-lock.com > glemon
09/29/2018 at 07:32

I stopped my Autoweek subscription about two decades ago. I occasionally read car mag articles about specific cars online, particularly comparisons.

DarkCreamyBeer > glemon
09/29/2018 at 08:06

I bought C&D and R&T subs for my now 11 year old a few years ago, and we both still read at least some of them. They are good for some his no-screen time. He’s definitely now a car guy.

Both have gotten really thin.

jimz > glemon
09/29/2018 at 08:17

nope. I used to love Car and Driver back in the day (the 1990s) because it was staffed with people who really knew cars; guys like Csere and Bedard who were actual automotive engineers and understood why the cars they tested did what they did. Plus, any snark or witty criticism was based on something real. now it’s just an overly-flashy, cookie cutter rag staffed by the same rotating pack of fucks who bounce from publication to publication and do the job primarily so they can drive cars for free. and throwaway, useless snark abounds.

The only one really worth anything (in print) is Road & Track, but I’ve stopped reading it too. I did a quick informal count; over the past 8 months, out of all of the cars they reviewed, maybe 6 were under $100,000. 3 or 4 were under $80,000. And you know what? Maybe it’s me just getting old, but I just don’t care anymore about the latest $300,000 hypercar. Arguing about whether a Ferrari F40 is better than a Lamborghini Diablo was all well and good when I was 12, but if I see these cars in person I’ll be lucky to be allowed to touch one. I’ll never own one, so I just. don’t. care.

jimz > promoted by the color red
09/29/2018 at 08:18

My favorite Ceppos column was the one where he described how he could break people’s brains when they found out his personal car was a ‘76 Cadillac Eldorado.

jimz > Tristan
09/29/2018 at 08:19

Yeah, Hot Rod and Car Craft and Mopar Action were popular for us in high school.

then the Boomers got money and jacked the prices of those cars into the seven figures. So I lost interest in that too.

Duck Duck Grey Duck FTMFW! > glemon
09/29/2018 at 09:41

I had a subscription to Hot Rod Magazine for about four years. I let it expire about a year and a half ago. I stop have most of them but the only issue I care about is this one where they built up a Pontiac motor with these new heads.

glemon > jimz
09/29/2018 at 14:20

Yes, that is exactly where I am at, used to read that stuff when I was kid, but I will never own a supercar, they all have 700 hp and kind of look the same, also don't care about SUV's, with those subjects off the table the magazines are about 80% dead to me.

glemon > SirDrivesAlot (now with hybrid powerrrr)
09/29/2018 at 14:22

I loved tabloid Autoweek, never seemed the same after they changed it.

glemon > lone_liberal
09/29/2018 at 16:38

Yes, I dropped C& D several years ago then I got an offer for a year for 8 bucks or something and resubscribed, the wind just seems to be out of the sails in the car mag business.