HOT ROD goes to a $30/year quarterly?

I just saw this and figured I would share, but I haven't seen an official announcement. 
 

https://help.motortrendondemand.com/hc/en-us/articles/21232231896461-MotorTrend-and-HOT-ROD-Magazine-Quarterly-Issues-Price-Increase-and-Customer-Offer

MotorTrend and HOT ROD Magazine - Quarterly Issues, Price Increase, and Customer Offer

Current magazine subscribers should have received an update that the magazines will be changing from 12 monthly issues to 4 quarterly issues.  As a part of that notice, you may have some questions, including how to get your code for MotorTrend+ or need help to redeem it.

 

Questions & Answers

Q1: Which magazine titles are changing to quarterly issues and having a price increase?
A: Both MotorTrend and HOT ROD magazines will be transitioning to premium-quality, quarterly issues starting in the Spring of 2024. Along with this change, the annual subscription price will be adjusted to $30 per year for each title.

About ten years ago I got an offer for a year of HOT ROD for $5.00

I felt like I was grossly overcharged.

The magazine was nothing but advertising. At least Rod and Custom still had content.

I was a Hot Rod subscriber for a while. Seemed like every six months they announced that Freiberger was out and that Freiburger was back. Some good deep tech, but it was moving toward checkbook builds so I didn't bother renewing. 

This sounds like they want to be Rodders Journal and lean into their history. Probably a good choice. 

Sick the Mag is the competition. Bailey charges $32/quarter. You get one issue which is a double issue per quarter kinda. It's more an awesome conglomeration of thick paper with great sharp photos and decidedly above average story/editorial content. Oh and there is only 3 or 4 advertisers per issue. Think more coffee table style than cheap and chuck. 
 

Edit: Forgot to include the Hub magazines.

I subscribe to golfers journal, a quarterly that is more expensive- but with excellent editorial and less advertising.  Seems to be an editorial trend. 

Didn't they learn when they brought this out previously as a Roadkill Garage magazine? And it quickly died off?

Sometimes I wonder if Car Craft should have lived and Hot Rod had died.  Maybe that's personal bias.

This makes me sad.  Hot Rod was my introduction to this hobby:  Found a bunch of boxes of old magazines (~1984-1987 or thereabouts) at a garage sale as an 8 or 9 year old.  It left quite an impression! Later, vividly remember reading the crusher camaro series circa mid 90s. Then I discovered GRM.... :D

Sports Car Graphic - oh, wait, we have GRM!

Imagine if the $100 Black Friday deal was for one year instead of 10...

(I wouldn't be mad, keeping this place going is key and it takes resources to do so)

BRING BACK ROD& CUSTOM! (Again)

It sounds like it could be a good move. stopped subscribing when it was $5 a year too. They seemed to struggle for decent content and I don't have the time I used to for reading basically the same how to/ad across several of their magazines at the time.  I'd be in for a collection of well written articles a few times a year. 

pres589 (djronnebaum) said:

Sometimes I wonder if Car Craft should have lived and Hot Rod had died.  Maybe that's personal bias.

Car craft was always my favorite. Had more of a GRM vibe.

I wonder what Hot Rod looks like these day?  I haven't picked one up in....so long I can't remember when.  I imagine it's just a print extension of Roadkill since Motortrend seems to be showcasing that.  If that's what people are into then they should take the price increase just to get print.  I love when GRM shows up and I can sit with a cup of coffee and read something other than a screen.

RonnieFnD said:

I wonder what Hot Rod looks like these day?  I haven't picked one up in....so long I can't remember when.  

I still have a subscription that I'm waiting to run out, and I did not plan to renew even before this move. It's not very good, very shallow, very repetitive. All the car features are "John wanted a Pro Touring car unlike anyone else's so he ordered an LS7 from Mast Motorsports, a T-56 from Tremec, a chassis from Roadster Shop and wheels from Forgeline and has his own unique Pro Touring car that's just like everyone else's." And I get that the LS motors are hot right now, but the amount of LS testing they do is absurdly repetitive and just barely different enough to the point where you can barely tell the difference from last month's tech article. "Last month we tested cathedral port LS heads on a 9.5:1 compression 376. This month we're testing cathedral port heads on a 9.6:1 compression 376."

Honestly, I'm surprised they are still holding onto print. It really didn't make sense when they started releasing articles on the website for free before the magazine came out. I'd see their Facebook page post a link to an article I'd never seen, I'd click on it and read it, and then a couple weeks later when the print issue showed up I'd open it and there'd be that article. To paraphrase Leonor Loree, "This is a helluva way to run a magazine."

I think this has something to do with Discovery getting involved with Motortrend years ago. That was when Roadkill started to go down hill (not that it could have continued in the way that it started). I rode along on a friends Motortrend online but I can't even get into that content when it is free. 

Just like Nick said, it was regurgitated crap. 

I have been a subscriber since I was a kid so I always kept it going. The price has always been so low that I just kept going. Over the decades there have been highs and lows. For the past couple of years it has been a real low (for my taste). The current editor seems to be a Luddite as a badge of honor. The mag appears to have shrunk and as previously noted it's repetitive. But it is still the granddaddy of car mags and it does have something of interest in every issue. My two tween kids like that mag more than I do yet they won't really get into GRM yet. That may say something about the target audience???

I hope this iteration keeps the wheels on the bus and leads to a new high for the mag. 

I used to subscribe to both Car Craft and Hot Rod. As a budding teenage gearhead, Car Craft was my bible! They had a GREAT run in the late 90's/early 00's where it was chock full of DIY articles, junkyard ID guides, and how to go fast for dirt cheap. That's where I learned you can yank an engine at the junkyard with a couple of sockets, a ratchet, and a battery powered Sawzall (aka The Tool). They were the best. 

Hot Rod with Freiburger at the helm was much the same, but with some hot rodding history sprinkled in here and there. Eventually, they both became boring ad catalogs with an article or two between the covers, and that's when I stopped reading them. 

I actually discovered GRM through Hot Rod! There was a blurb in there about the Challenge and Andrew Nelson's old Nova running real quick for cheap, so I ended up checking out what GRM was all about. And yeah, it was like late 90's/early 00's Car Craft, but for all types of cars and all types of racing. And it still is! 

About going quarterly: If they are going more for a historic vibe and stuff it full of good content, there will be an audience. We'll see how it does. 

singleslammer said:

I think this has something to do with Discovery getting involved with Motortrend years ago. That was when Roadkill started to go down hill (not that it could have continued in the way that it started). I rode along on a friends Motortrend online but I can't even get into that content when it is free. 

Just like Nick said, it was regurgitated crap. 

Roadkill started out as one of the best shows I've ever seen. Roadtrips in clapped out junk, stupid builds, etc.   Now from what I've seen it's just burnouts on a closed street in Detroit or something. 

Road&Track has gone the quality over quantity route as well, though bi-monthly. The issues now have the articles follow a similar theme and there are much fewer ads. 

Only complaint I have is their photography has skewed toward being artsy with blurry, close-up shots. And I miss the section views of cars in the reviews.

Tony Sestito said:

I actually discovered GRM through Hot Rod! There was a blurb in there about the Challenge and Andrew Nelson's old Nova running real quick for cheap, so I ended up checking out what GRM was all about. And yeah, it was like late 90's/early 00's Car Craft, but for all types of cars and all types of racing. And it still is! 

I remember the article where they did early Challenge coverage and there was a Triumph TR6 with a junkyard Eaton blower and a forklift carburetor so that it could run on propane with some remark of "They must not have seen what a stock TR6 bottom end looks like" that stuck with me as really funny for some reason. 

I have every Hot Rod issue back to June of 1967. Not sure if I will continue or not.

In reply to j_tso :

I grabbed boxes of R&T's from another local enthusiast that dated back to the late '70's.  It was interesting to go thru them and see just how good they used to be.  That stopped around 15 years ago.  I still subscribe but probably won't going forward.  I don't really like their new "lifestyle" format

Whew when I first read the title I was thinking "$120/yr for 4 issues?"

I subscribed growing up and into college. But haven't read it in years. Aside from GRM it was Turbo & High Performance or some of the UK/Euro car magazines once I hit college. In high school and college, about every 2 weeks I would go to the book store and check out what new magazines were out. 

j_tso said:

Road&Track has gone the quality over quantity route as well, though bi-monthly. The issues now have the articles follow a similar theme and there are much fewer ads. 

Only complaint I have is their photography has skewed toward being artsy with blurry, close-up shots. And I miss the section views of cars in the reviews.

One of the proudest moments in my professional career was when R&T did the section view of our ND V8 Miata.

The Hot Rod article on the car was pretty good, actually. Got deep into the CAN bus tech.