you see the same 3 or 4 press cars
in the same few magazines
and they all tell you what a huge improvement the facelift model was to the old one .
if thats the case why did they shift so many of the old ones????
then in copies from a few years ago ago they told you what a massive improvement that was over the last model.
surely if it goes on the way it is well all be driving 300 mpg supercar estates by the time were fifty
then one or two mags pick on a in offensive little car like a getz or a touran or meriva something out of the ordinary and they know most people wont drive and then slag it off. But
also praise anything that comes from germany. or the odd quirky one like the honda electric thing which gets rave reviews because they think they ought to have a consieice when it comes to the environment.
also on another point if you went to the launch in porto expenses paid or where ever and it was for say as an example the last focus and slagged it off big time,
i bet you wouldnt get an invite to the next launch.
so i wonder how many journos say wow this is ace, what an improvement blah blah blah pass me the 10 year old port will you blag blah is my balcony facing the sea etc.
also do they have to pay tax on these trips i wonder
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Dull Cars lead to Dull Stories. These days all mainstream cars are well built, reliable, come loaded with electric everything, and performance reasonably well. So there's very little to differentiate between them.
Conversely, I received the latest issue of EVO magazine yesterday, they have articles about trying to drive a Konnigsegg supercar at 200mph down a wet Swedish runaway. On the face of it, a pointless article about a car I could never hope to afford, but it was an interesting read and made me laugh, which is surely the point of buying and reading a magazine.
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yes its escapism but
who cares about the litre capacity of new focus boot over the old one
in 6 years time they will be saying how small the boot was
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Yes - the articles in different mags are suspiciously similar and also a lot of manufacturers marketing speak is included. Don't suppose journos get invited for free trips unless they flatter.
But not as boring as Top Gear team drooling over stupid performance cars and doing stupid schoolboy stunts and making a documentary while driving at illegal speeds down country lanes -
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The subject caught my eye. I've been a regular subscriber both to Car and to Evo for many years. Up to about 6 months ago I used to tear off the envelope and read both within a few hours. Since then I've generally opened it, glanced through both and put them to one side to finish later. It's often been a couple of weeks before I finished them. Indeed a couple of issues ago, I realised I hadn't finished reading the previous month before the next one arrived.
On Saturday, Car arrived. I opened it, looked at the front cover and couldn't see one feature I was excited about reading. I hadn't even noticed until then that the obnoxious Jason Barlow was now the editor!
Evo arrived yesterday morning. I haven't even opened the envelope yet...
I was beginning to think it's my age, but I went to the Auto Italia day on Sunday at Brooklands and had a great time.
I wonder if it's because many of the journalists seem to know nothing about cars which were around before 2000?
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I read Evo too. Usually have a good flick through it then sit down for a more substantial read later. I would recommend Practical Performance Car magazine as it has features on driving, engines, modern cars, classic cars, kit cars and people shoe horning v8s into ford anglias! There is a good mix of stuff so I usually end up reading nearly every article. This month has a feature on how to make your own fuel injection system. I also read classic car magazine, that is another one with many interesting articles. More of the cars are affordable which helps. Evo does feature a lot of expensive stuff.
teabelly
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THEY JUST SEEM TO BE SAME ARTICLE DIFFERENT MAG
i liked used car buyer but now its 2 year old car buyer.
perhaps its me just not having any interest anymore
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on the other hand, I find Classic Car very interesting !
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on the other hand, I find Classic Car very interesting !
Probably because they can give the full "warts and all" story on the older cars without having to worry about any manufacturer threating to sue, or withdraw advertising.
Some of the older cars had very difficult and protracted births!
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I agree: UCB was once good (i.e useful for buying shand cars).
Now it is full of hacks running 2-3 year old cars.. with modern quality that = new cars..
The revamp looked good: but the details of individual cars at the back are in small type and virtually unreadable.
In fact the only one with any relevance (occasionally) is Car Mechanics: they have now woken up and are featuring a Subaru Impreza but the rest of it is rather tired.
Car is a wate of time and most of the others full of PR spin...
I've given up buying them...
madf
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I don't find them boring but they do remind me of dentist waiting rooms...
Splodgeface
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I just got one of those trial subs to classic and sports car, 3 mags for £1 and you can't beat that for drool appeal. Octane is a good read too, as long as you can cope with seeing how the other half live.
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Too much irrelevant crap in TG magazine, such as a sport KA racing a pigeon??!
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In the early nineties, there was a brief flowering of an excellent motoring magazine. It was called Car Design and Technology.
While there were reviews of the new engines and cars of the day, the magazine also did excellent, in depth, technical review articles.
This was a serious car magazine, and as such was the recommended pre-course reading for those aspiring to do Automotive Engineering at Loughborough University.
Tragically, the man behind the magazine died in an accident, and the magazine disappeared from the shelves.
Nothing since has come close in terms of the quality and authority of the information. If you find a copy on the library shelves it is well worth a look.
number_cruncher
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I never saw Car Design and Technology, but if I have to name a hobby its not 'cars' but 'Car Design and Technology'. I would have loved to have read it and it is the sort of thing Car used to do so well in the 70s and 80s.
Car is still the best and doesn't pull punches in this months issue, but it not the same as when they used to drive Ferraris and Peugeots to the Sahara and Lambos back from Modena and the story was as much about the environment as it was about the car.
Problem is that cars are now so similar and there are few bad ones. The only real criticisms levelled now are one of poor ride, lack of decent diesel engines, or it looks like a VW. It was only 10 years ago were say that all cars looked the same and then they gave us the Bug-eyed Scorpio - I think I'd be glad of one now!
--
Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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In the early nineties, there was a brief flowering of an excellent motoring magazine.
Another started about the same time was Diesel Car. At the time diesel penetration was below 10% and the BX the best selling oil burner.
Initially quarterly it featured a mix of intelligent tests, technical items (including Dr Diesel’s problem page) with more esoteric stuff like taxis and light commercials and few regular travelogues and feature articles by writers such as Stewart Bladon and Phil Llewelyn. And the ever informative Red Hot Derv Line
Still going but IMHO it went downhill after the original owner/editor sold out to Future publishing. Succumbed to becoming infotainment. Dr Diesel adopted a mock patronising tone, the esoteric stuff gradually went replaced by more articles on chipping/turbo mode and speed/performance generally.
The old ones I held on to still read well.
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Too much irrelevant crap in TG magazine, such as a sport KA racing a pigeon??!
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'Test Drive' - I have a copy in front of me but was driving today so haven't done more than skim through so far. I'm on a train to London tomorrow so will let you know in the evening!
Renault Family has started a thread on this further down the list.
At first glance it looks more like What Car than Car - i.e. more or road tests than drooly articles about supercars. They say they want to involve readers more, and the editorial invites you to register. I see What Car have also started this as of today.
Generally I think it's a matter of horses for courses: Car and Evo sell to one type of reader, What Car, and now Test Drive, to another. Depends if you want to read about cars you dream of driving or about those you actually do. If you like both you'll buy both (or read them in W H Smith).
Autocar seems to be having trouble trying to be both at the same time - does anyone think they succeed?
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I tend to read magazines in Asda, Morrisons or other supermarket where they have magazines on racks for use as reading rooms..for bored males in middle of weekly shop.
At least that's what I assume they are there for:-)
Very thoughtful and considerate......
madf
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you can see how max power gets readers,
i never bothered with it myself or any od the others but at least its different
i find clarkson a bit on the pompus side does anyone else ?
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I think part of the problem with magazine appreciation is that one grows old and really begins to believe one has seen it all before!
Thing is, it's probably true...
I think Car had its heyday when George Bishop was editor, then regular contributor, and he filled his columns with stories of the food and drink provided at press launches. Technical stuff then was handled by Leonard Setright who even persuaded me into a Honda Prelude.
Now GB is long dead, LJKS seems to have succumbed to the journalist's curse of self indulgent writing (I know - I'm a journalist!) and even Alexei Sayle was dispensed with.
Now, as has been mentioned already in this thread, it must be difficult to say much that's interesting when today's cars are pretty much uniformly satisfactory as far as undemanding owners are concerned.
Classic car mags now seem all to be dumbed down as well and Motor Sport, which I've read and collected (I realised the other day) for 40 years, seems to have played out the benefits of its re-launch as a focus for the veteran-vintage-classic world and is in danger of damaging itself by boring readers with its usual string of reports of wealthy young men (via city bonuses?) racing their valuable toys against each other to no great purpose. This can't really interest a big readership outside their own circle. Thank goodness Bill Boddy is still around to pass on what must be the industry's greatest store of knowledge and experience...
Ho hum. Now I'm being boring as well. It really must be a problem of ageing...
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> It really must be a problem of ageing...
True. Especially if you can remember Bishop editing Car mag. As a journo you will probably remember the great feature (by Doug Blain?) about driving three Lambos back to the UK from Sant' Agata. The mag seemed to have an ideal mix of derring-do, travelogue, tech and sheer fantasy, was very well written, and set new standards of design and production.
But then of course cars really were more different one from another. Fewer people had them. There were more places you could enjoy driving them. There were fewer magazines, Top Gear was the only TV prog (pre-Clarkson) and there was no Internet. People even had time to go out for lunch.
It was a Golden Age, no doubt!
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Because of my line of work I get quite a few free magazines - Automotive Engineer, Automotive News (and Automotive News Europe) etc. etc. I don't actually have time to read them all, but there are some excellent articles on forthcoming products and technologies.
As mentioned earlier, 'Car Design and Technology' was an excellent magazine and I have every issue published. Shame it closed.
I don't read any of the 'consumer' magazines. I've seen Top Gear in the dentist's waiting room and it looks a load of drivel. The main objective of most of these mags is to provide adversitisng space - much of the material is schoolboy level and certainly not written by people with any technical nous.
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I agree that Automotive Engineer has some good articles in it. Unfortunatelty as it is a trade magazine, the wider motoring public never, or rarely see it.
I remember an article in Professional Engineering, which is the magazine of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, which said that engineers should leave their magazines in public places like dentists, so that people could gain more of an appreciation of what it is that we do.
I tend to pass on my old copies of Professional Engineer to friends and family who have expressed an interest.
number_cruncher
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I read Diesel Car these days. Quite good except for a bit of presenter ego slipping in here and there. But last month's issue had a classic bit of irrelevant padding. They tested the flashy showboat Chrysler with a big V8 PETROL engine, on the strength of the fact that there "might" be a diesel version in the future. Helll-oh Mr. Editor - this is Diesel Car magazine! I reckon they just wanted to play with the car and put its photo on the front cover.
Cheers, Sofa Spud
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I read car magazines for about 12 months before I buy a new car, then stop. They tend to be written by people who know very little about cars. They go into raptures about the type of plastic on the dash. I want to read more about road tests giving mechanical details, not how the hi fi works or how brand X has so much more 'street cred' than brand Y.
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Re Test Drive - I've had a read and have made a further comment on Renault Family's thread.
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I used to read car design and technology and it was brilliant. I also read Fast Car when it first started and again it was good with informative tuning articles. Almost overnight it metamophosised into a Max Power clone. These type of magazines are almost top shelf and certainly not aimed at 'enthusiasts'. I agree with some of the other comments that most of the other mags are just plain boring or drivel. Autocar is reasonably good most weeks but I now stick to Practical Performance Car. Shame about Cars and Conversions though.
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You don't really need car magazines when this site has good road tests and honest opinions. Often totally in disagreement with each other but certainly honest. Also have a look at this site for interesting motorbike stuff:
www.umgweb.com/
Lifestyle rubbish is what has turned me off most car and computer magazines. They start off with a good product that attracts a certain type of reader. Then the publisher gets greedy, revamps the magazine with lifestyle features to attract more advertising and totally alienates the readers. This has happened to several magazines that I used to get.
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Car mags are pretty expensive but are filled with adverts which surely pay for the magazine. I only buy the likes of Mini Mag and Mini World now just for ideas on how I can modify my cr.
I got so tired of all the others describing family & executive cars. I don't care for a DVD to keep the kids happy or how the top speed is 200mph - where the hell can I legally drive that fast?
The most annoying thing is I find is they are full of pictures of women with their bits hanging out. Don't get me wrong I am no prude but why do they expect that the only readers of such mags are men?
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That tends to happen more with the modding mags like Max Flower, Redline etc etc, their market is young men, possibly too shy to buy a proper jazz mag and hide it from their mums.
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Not even slightly - love 'em all. I can even find entertainment to be had in the dusty pages of 'What Car?' which probably says something about my automotive fixation.
Having said that, CAR has certainly gone downhill over the last couple of years, and the only positive I can find with regard to Jason Barlow's editorship is that you can't hear him in print.
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Oh how I agree with so many of the sentiments on here... I am only 33 but have read Car since I was a nipper, and even managed to get hold of most of the 1970-76 ones when I was a teenager. Unfortunately, Car today reflects all that is amiss with the UK, and most likely the world. We live in a world of "glamour" and spin, albeit one where you can only be perceived as glamorous if you are a "celebrity"... so every article is written with a self-consciously ironic, look-how-clever-I-am feel that at once makes the reader feel at home; because a test of family cars refers to Trainspotting, Reservoir Dogs and Jordan and therefore it reads like an issue of Chat crossed with NME, but also we are left in NO doubt at all that the Barlows and Clarksons of this world are operating in a world beyond us mere mortals. I am under no illusions that the Doug Blains, Ian Breaches and George Bishops of the past were probably much the same, but there was a sense that they were in it for more than just telling pretty girls at parties that they worked in the meeja on a car magazine. There was a real feeling of fun and yet at the same time serious debate (anyone remember LJKS saying in all seriousness that car-related deaths were a form of population control?!) that I think was a result of the spirit of the times. Car at that time was anarchic, anti-authority and didn't give a monkeys who it offended (Volovo - the car as a domestic appliance for example)and now it THINKS it is oh so bl00dy cool, but it is like those "crazy types" who work in Marketing (like me, sadly.., it thinks that the journalistic equivalent of wearing a corduroy jacket and sporting silly facial hair makes us feel that we are rebelling, that we can do what we like at work, that we are free.... I actually think that late 60s/70s man had more spirit and drive than the 21st century sad Nathan Barley wannabe tosspots will ever have. Without getting reported for offensiveness, Jason Barlow can go and do various ironic things to himself whilst watching "100 greatest moments of annoying Northern Irish presenters who think they're cool being tortured horribly" and hopefully the others of his ilk will follow suit. I used to think Gavin Green was a bit on the dull side, but I'd rather have him editing than JB.... although GG probably helped make it the corporate, "on-message" middle of the road load of rubbish that it now is. And before anyone comes back and says "yeah but right, it's all well and good saying about the 70s, but like women were treated as objects, and the world is a lot better now blah blah" yes I DO KNOW ALL THAT, but people operate within the constraints of their era, and whilst we might have gained some good things along the way, but we've lost a whole load of other stuff, life, and magazines are so STERILE these days. Does anyone agree, or am I just getting old and cynical? DISCUSS...
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I remeber reading CAR in the 1960s- when it was a breath of fresh air amongst a load of stuffy magazines which would not criticise anything.. In the 1970s it was still great - I remember its roadtest of the Ford Zodiac Mark 3(? model ) which was fitted with "Goodyear gripless" tyres: it was an abysmal handling poc and CAR said so.
And yes the writing was iconoclastic: but that kind of style is wearing and does not last. And GB and co eventually lost the plot imo.
Cars today are very much better designed and very similar and there are lots of definitive tests (eg crash tests) which define how good or bad cars are in certain circumstances. So the lot of a "muttering rotter" (The Guild of Motoring Journalists as per CAR was full of muttering rotters:-) is much less easy as much of the subject matter is factual. So the art of writing - as opposed to reciting statistics - is more difficult.
Having said that, it is not beyong the wit of man or woman to produce a magazine which is well written, infomative and interesting to read. Will it be a financial success? That's a different matter.
There are so many models and options available nowadays that finding a solution to suit a wide readership with a wider selection of cars to choose from (+ colours/trim/options/engine sizes) is more difficult than the 1960s when the most memorable thing in mass car marketing was Ford's introduction of the same model style (eh Cortina) with a range of engine sizes.. 1300cc/1600/2000 - and trim levels: L,XL, GXL. In those days British Leyland was the competition with badge engineering!:-) - and no metallic paint!
So I contend that magazines - to sell to a wide audience- have to cover a wider range of models and consequently dilute their message. At the same time any pretence that in car-choked UK a car capable of 200mph with 400hp+ is suitable for daily use or practical - is clealry laughable. Hence the dream car extravaganzas. Escapism pure and simple.
Modern cars are so well built and designed that for many people who do not use cars as a business need but for personal use a well maintained 5 year old car will be as functional (and a lot cheaper ) than a new one. That is NOT a message any magazine dealing with new cars can tell. So they exaggerate improvements: like better cup holders or TV in the headrests!:-)
PS I continue to read in supermarkets:
madf
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I guess they might all be the same test cars but I am not bored enough to read more than one magazine -just to find out.
Bought Motor and now Autocar since 1968 and rarely find it boring or dull. The fact that BMWs seem to dominate the road tests does irritate some of the readers.
I have a few old copies from the early 70s and the long term tests make interesting reading. So much more went wrong then and a staff Ford Escort was pretty well worn out at at 30000 miles.Cars may be more reliable nowadays , or boring like the magazines nowadays - but be grateful. Buy a 'classic' if you want fun and an endless topic of complaint.
With the need to commute to work by car, reliability is what I need.
--
I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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"or am I just getting old and cynical? DISCUSS..."
Being much older and probably a lot more cynical, I would have found it much easier to read your interesting post if you had just hit the Enter key a few times and given us some paragraphs,
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Thanks for the feedback! : )
Yes, I did get a bit carried away with my typing there. Sorry about that!
Is this better?
I can write, in fact I did some work on a couple of car magazines myself once... I should be ashamed of myself.
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I can't help but agree with all of the above.
The frustrating thing is the group tests are always for the same 4 cars over and over again or they use a car from a different size class and then slag it off for being too small.
I despair!
Also the same continual errors on the specification pages on magazines like What Car?. Often they are showing pictures of cars that have long since been facelifted and show the specs that have long since been updated.
The best bits are when they either miss and digit or add one by mistake when it comes to the valuation figures for older cars.
The way to avoid all this of course is to stop buying them but that would stop us from all having a good gripe.
What would be more proactive is to get the editors to read this discussion site and learn that what we want to read is something a little different from the rest.
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Someone else has touched on Test Drive magazine and I for one have taken out my first ever magazine subscription (well if you don't count my subscription to Transformers Comic) because I happened to pick up a copy of this magazine by chance and found it a thoroughly good read.
I subscribed this year and have been impressed with their ethos of reviews and forthcoming releases. They only test and drive UK spec right hand drive cars and give a good breakdown of the cars - even putting similar cars 'head to head'.
OK about half of the magazine consists of 'New Car Prices' and various indicies, but the first half is very good. I think it's fresh and different to all those 'other' magazines and am happy with it and the articles.
I would thoroughly recommend the title to anyone and if you're skeptical, then just buy one issue off the stand and decide for yourself.
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I get a bit tired of the computer generated images of forthcoming models. Some are so good that it's difficult to tell them from company publicity shots of real cars. So fantasy and reality are being merged. I don't mind a bit of speculation but I like to see a distinction between that and reality.
P.S. I hope the pics of the new Rover 200 replacement in a recent Auto Express are guesswork, for MG Rover's sake!
cheers, Sofa Spud
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Someone else has touched on Test Drive magazine and I for one have taken out my first ever magazine subscription (well if you don't count my subscription to Transformers Comic) because I happened to pick up a copy of this magazine by chance and found it a thoroughly good read.
Just goes to show these things are a matter of taste. I got a couple of issues of Test Drive, and while I was impressed with some things about it, I found the attempts at humour a bit tedious - in fact, verging on the woeful.
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I'm not an avid reader of car magazines, but I often pick a couple up when I'm going on holiday.
I bought What Car and Top Gear last month to read on the plane. If you believe What Car then the most interesting thing about modern cars is the quality of the plastics and how many cupholders they have because that seems to get as much page coverage as anything else.
Both magazines featured "previews" of the new Passat that were so strikingly similar I'm convinced they were just adapted from VW's press office propaganda without actually ever seeing an example of the car.
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What I find irritating about so many road testers is that they insist that handling is more important than all other aspects put together. They drive cars to extremes - fair enough, so they should - but then judge them on how they behave in extreme conditions. The rest of us don't drive like that, and want to see other virtues and vices givren duer consideration.
There are too many young men in charge of road testing: not enough of riper years, and not enough women. They will almost always prefer a BMW to an Audi - "driver's car" is the usual cliche that they use. BMWs are excellent cars, and I'm not anti them, but there are many ways, at least for some drivers, that an Audi is superior.
Test Drive, Diesel Car and What Car are a bit better in this respect, mainly because they do more extensive road tests.
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Hi - Aa far as I am concerned, this is a car magazine. I read it every day, some times for ten minutes, sometimes for an hour. The most important part of any publication, the letters page, is an important part of this magazine,which is why it is a pleasure to read.
Many years ago I studied classical guitar. My teacher, well known in the 'business' edited a magazine on the subject and often got tickets to review concerts. I often went with the official reviewer with the instructions 'you must not criticise a performance as we are all involved in the same business and any criticism will reflect on the business as a whole'.
This seems to be reflected in all the 'Giant Tests' I have ever read. The winner gets five stars, all the others get four and a half. This is why people like JC stand out like sore thumbs. Genuine criticism is not the norm.
Since I discovered this site, several years ago, I have not bought a car magazine. The opinions of people who are out there driving cars in the real world and the objective and practical views of HJ make this the best freebie around.
Regards DougB
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