POC

On my way home tonight I realise I have a somewhat boring evening ahead, so I pops into the local tescos to pick up a mag or two to pass the time.

I buy Max Power and Fast Car (I know, I know!), so I get home and start thumbing through these mags, evry other page has a nekkid ladie on it, pretty cool in itself, but not really what I was looking for (and I was getting disapproving looks from the missus!).

Got me thinking back to when I was 17 and used to buy these mags to get ideas on modifying/ICE etc (I know, I know!).... they used to contain detailed features on how to tune your cars, how to install your ICE, these days its all nekkid ladies and 1.0 litre saxos with silly bodykits!

What do you look for in a modifying focused magazine?

Obviously features, adverts etc...

What do you think?

Cheers

Paul (with a surprisingly sensible post!)

Robertio

iTrader: (1)

I'd agree, but they have been that way for a while now. I got Revs up until about 3 years ago until it started going down the same path, don't know if it continued the downward spiral.
I used to find it interesting to see what other people were doing with their cars, I normally didn't agree with what they had done but had to give them credit for all the work that had put into creating it.

Pavlo

I often get a copy of Cars & Car Conversions (CCC) but even that is rather anorexic this days.

Paul

MarkO

I have to say, the current trend for every male-oriented magazine to be filled with semi-clad women, effectively turning it into a w*nk-mag, is pretty annoying. I mean, okay, I like to look at a semi-clad woman as much of the next man (assuming he's not Julian Clarey) but the embarrassment & 'disapproving looks' from my wife (as POC mentioned) mean that I rarely pick up mags such as Stuff, T3, etc., etc. Half of the car mags are the same.

The only consistently focused car mag is evo, although they don't do a lot of stuff about modifications.

Personally, I sometimes wonder if a men's 'lifestyle' mag which didn't have nekkid women sprawled all over the place might do pretty well, considering the number of men out there who are attached/married and for whom the current batch of Loaded-style T'n'A mags really aren't particularly appropriate.....

David_Wallis

I remember buying fast car... (a few years back) and it had an article on rebuilding a cosworth engine...

I now normally buy Japanese performance car, Banzai, Car mechanics...

And anything else I dont get time to read in whsmiths

David

marty_t3

I used to read Revs as it dealt with older and more interesting cars (ones i could afford), Mark I astra gte's, old rwd escorts, Silvia turbos etc. If they'd stuck to covering older cars and showing you how to fix and modify them properly then i'd still be buying it.

Unfortunately it's now full of pictures of cars with bolt on mods and the odd page full of t!ts.... just like Max Power, Fast Car etc. No good technical reading in any of them.

Anyway.... what's the point in filling these mags with semi-naked women???? We have the internet for that

FASTER MIKE!!

used to buy Lax Power as said above i buy a car mag for funnily enough CARS not t!ts and a$$. if that was the case i would buy FHM men only etc. Revs used to be quite a good read but its going the same was as Lax. read Banzi and jap performance, somtimes Evo but it is a bit out of my league as far as the cars are concerned.

[Edited by FASTER MIKE!! - 12/16/2002 8:26:17 PM]

tweenierob

The problem is that all the magazines revolve around advertising..
They fill up with nudie ladies (MMmmm) to get the kids buyin, then they fill the rest up with adverts and cars with bolt-on BHP..
Not only do the kids get there scooby kitted 1.1saxo in the print but the Styling/Tuning co's get what they pay for...More Advertising!!!!!!
Its all about back handers!!!!
Most mags just seem to be £4 catologues nowadays.. but thats where the money is at....
Rob

FASTER MIKE!!

revs and lax are full of 0845 no`s and ads which was part of the reason why i stoped buying lax. £4 for a mag subsidised(sp) buy adverts and very little on cars, also this "jap style" bumpers on saxos and novas. why can`t they style there cars in there own fashion insted of copying another style.

mike

barge

Street Machine & Custom Car all editions from #1 for both

CCC, EVO

Japanese performance car, Banzai if I see them

read my kid brothers Max Power & Fast Car which I had a car in many moons ago

Donkey bondage monthly

Gez

Maxpower=Glorified porno mag. I also remember when it use to be a proper magazine with ice install tips which i used with great effect. I think there must be more premium numbers advertised than cars.

Andy W

CCC
Jap performance
EVO-------Best by far.
Banzai

POC

ttt

Dave_A

I used to get MP when it first started, and it had articles on dropping cossie engines into mk1 escorts and the such-like. Stopped buying it when they got more interested in the circulation figures and started sticking crap cars in there, along with a big drop in journalistic standards.

I certainly think there is a big gap in the market for a magazine withthe quality of writing and photographs that you find in EvO with a more tuning slant. I don't want to buy a magazine full of naked women in it, if I did I'd buy FHM or what ever the current mags are.

Paulo P

iTrader: (42)

I used to buy em all but now they are full of bodykitted up pieces of sh1te and adverts so I stopped buying them I only get classic ford, redline & rally xs now

jamin

I went to a rolling road session featured by one of the above magazines and we asked the camera man who was doing the write up. "I am" he replied we asked why a camera man was doing the journo's job and he said "because I'm the only one who knows anything about cars"....the defence rests

[Edited by jamin - 12/17/2002 4:57:06 PM]

ADP

I only buy Evo and sometimes Autocar, if I want **** and fanny I buy Playboy, well I dont actually I have broadband

Steve Perriam

banzai
jap performance
evo - the best imho
revs / redline sometimes

Broadmoor

Motoring news(i know its a paper)....only for the ads in the back..

Jen

Evo - lots of nice cars and info...most I can't afford, some I can (almost) all I dream off

...suprisingly I don't buy the cars for the ladies ...although stick a pic of Petter in and I might just get it

Will be buying Jap Performance this month as you can see a little bit of my car (ok, so it's through the window of another car, but I need fame ) and I get a mention in the Longleat Article

andyVI

Banzai and Jap Performance although the wife subscribed me to Fast Car last year. I like to see modded cars, don't mind a few laydeez but Fast Car / Max Power is a bit OTT (IMO).

Jon1T

CCC - although it's gone a bit downhill recently, evo and Top Gear.

bugeye

Thats what sidc mag should be all about (im not saying its not, and this month it is very good indeed). But yes at the moment theres no mag out there, i was starting to think it was only me that had a problem

minister of speed

"evo" best U.K. mag

"speed" best other (Oz mag)

Speed is a new aussie mag I saw over there in the summer. Liked it so much, subscribed and its sent here (bi-monthly). Not expensive as the mags over in Oz are cheaper. I'm sure you can order it online at magshop@acp.com.au

POC

minister of speed, Im gonna take a look at that, sounds interesting.

EvoRSX

Just recently found one of my wife's 1997 copies of Fast Car. She used to read them all apparently. It had lots of info on anti-lag systems and also on flowing and modifying Escort Cosworth turbos. All interesting techy stuff. Doesn't really compare with the stuff in their these days.

Used to buy CCC until a few months ago. That too seems to have gone a bit downhill.

Don't buy anything now, just surf the web for all the modifying, techie info I need. There's an awful lot out there if you look for it. There are a few good online motor mags as well

http://www.motortecmag.com being one that I like.

Andy

dazzaTypeR

I think mags like max, revs, fast car etc have discovered that they will get more people buying for the burd element than they will acctually lose through the lack of car subjects. And these publishers are'nt producing the mags cos they love the subject matter its cos they want to make money & lots of it.

It seems to be the way a lot of mags are going and is creeping into some of the motorcycling titles.

Have a friend who was editor of one of the best bike mags available, he loved bikes etc that was why he was in the job. Under pressure from above he kept refusing to fill mag with tarts, needless to say he was "on his bike" a short while after and mag now has some tarts within.

As has been said if want to see burds I'd buy Loaded, FHM etc

scoobynutta555

Used to buy all the mags years ago. They were a good read. I bought a copy of Evo the other day for the first time in about a year, and must say i was disappointed. It was the car of the year thing, the impreza did very poorly, i seem to remember that the P1 was battling it out with a ferrari the previous issue i bought!

There are no mags i buy at the moment, and im afraid to say Evo will be among them. Banzai is a possibility, but do you know who stocks them?! Id like to have a car mag which deals in cars im interested in, not like max power with their big bore exhausted kitted up crates. I used to but Max power years ago, and there were some good articles in them, not so now. One of my fav sections was the cruise bits where they asked a selection of girls silly questions like "pink or brown", or when they had some nubiles flash their t*ts for the camera. Im not really into **** and bums of some sort of model on every page, its a bit tiresome, but that cruise section was funny and was confined to a few pages.

I seem to surf for whatever car info i need now, beats paying £3.60 for something thats going to be a 10 min read.

MikesWagon

I bought Max Power from day one, still got that 1st copy which IIRC had a purple Dimma 205 on the cover. Think I bought it religiously until a few years ago. Same with Fast car from about 12 years ago.

Various reasons I stopped:

1) I've grown up
2) Got fed up with same featured cars, rehashed articles etc.
3) Got fed up with less cars, more adverts and more nudey bits.
4) Got fed up with the $hite CD or whatever each issue, which meant it came in a plastic bag, which meant you couldn't see how crap the mag was before buying.
5) Too much £££
6) Can get better info on here for mods etc.

Have been getting Banzai & Jap Perf, but sometimes only if good Scooby content. Evo probably better for those with newish cars, STis, Evo 7s etc.

Mike.

ChrisB

Intrigued to know what you felt was poor on the last issue? I thought it was as good as ever. Some great photo's IMO.