My autoweek rant

I just sent this to the editor of Autoweek:

Fwiw I haven't been a fan of them for years, but I did download their free ap for the iPhone & have been enjoying it. Car news, motorsports news, and some of their reviews. The ads aren't bad(Forza-3 when it's loading) and it's updated frequently. Did I mention it's free???

You have a 69 AMX?

Interesting. My wife mentioned last night that it's time for her to re-up my Autoweek subscription. I thought for a moment and then told her to hold off while I decide what to do. I'm on the fence, and I may very well switch to another mag. GRM is of course paid up for a couple of years.

Any suggestions on another magazine to subscribe to instead of Autoweek? I'd love to subscribe to EVO or another English mag, but the price won't pass the smell test.

classic motorsports mag?

sachilles wrote: classic motorsports mag?

That seems like a great idea!

I've had an AW subscription since the late 80s, and I was >< this close to canceling it last year, but I decided to hold on for another year. I don't think I'll continue after this year.

Unlike the original poster, I don't expect AW to cover things like autocross and HPDE. We are a fairly small slice of the market, and GRM serves us nicely. I expect AW to be a general-interest car and racing magazine, and it's there that they are letting me down. The every-two-weeks thing is a major negative, especially with regards to their racing coverage. But by far my biggest problem is the "lifestyle" crap about watches and other such stuff. I don't need that garbage in a car magazine.

Also it doesn't help that Dutch Mandel is such an arrogant Bob Costas.

Datsun1500 wrote: Please tell me you did not send it exactly as written with the grammar and spelling mistakes.

Doh! Proofreading would have been a good thing.

Thankfully, I was saved by yet another typo....I had put awletter@crane as the email address instead of awletter@crain. This caused the email to be rejected, which allowed me to fix it prior to resending.

Datsun1500 wrote: If so they will most likely ignore it as "not one of their target market subscribers" anyway.

They'll do that anyway. I don't care; it was worth saying. That magazine is dying, and it wouldn't hurt to remind them that there are other demographics they could target.

drmike wrote: Interesting. My wife mentioned last night that it's time for her to re-up my Autoweek subscription. I thought for a moment and then told her to hold off while I decide what to do. I'm on the fence, and I may very well switch to another mag. GRM is of course paid up for a couple of years. Any suggestions on another magazine to subscribe to instead of Autoweek? I'd love to subscribe to EVO or another English mag, but the price won't pass the smell test.

0-60 is a great mag as well...so is CM. My only subscriptions right now are 0-60 and GRM. I need to get a few more because I'm not at UCF and I can't sit in the bookstore during my breaks and read all the new mags anymore :(

I am down to just GRM, Racer, and 9Magazine. I mainly subscribed to 9 because they are publishing one of my articles.

about 6 months ago, I had 15 magazine subscriptions. Most, I have let lapse. I have GRM for an additional 8 years, and if things continue the way they are, an additional 10 years beyond that.

There are only two on my list, GRM and Classic Motorsports, then all the books that you guys tell me about, Max Brooks is the E36 M3

I've considered Top Gear magazine as another fun one. If I'm going to read about cars I'll never actually own, I'd like to read entertaining articles about really interesting cars I'll never own.

Salanis wrote: I've considered Top Gear magazine as another fun one. If I'm going to read about cars I'll never actually own, I'd like to read entertaining articles about really interesting cars I'll never own.

I read an issue at a Barnes and Nobles, and it is really good...a bit pricey if I recall correctly, though. (It was very thick; maybe they don't publish it that often.)

+1

I picked up a copy of that the other day. It has no bearing on reality (like the show) but it is well written, and the photography is cool. I'm thinking of subscribing.

Most of the auto publications have no bearing on reality for 99.9% of the population. At least Top Gear has the good sense to realize this.

I'm letting my subs to Automobile , AW , and Vintage (something) go.... I've kept GRM and R&T (just for the Peter Egan articles)

Yeah, its kinda pissed me since it went from autoweek to automonth!

Andrew

Tom Heath wrote:

sachilles wrote: classic motorsports mag?

That seems like a great idea!

It was for me...I subbed to CM just as a reaction to some troll on the forum claiming GRM was going under. Maybe it's because I'm an older guy, and recall many of the cars they talk about so well, but I have to admit I've seriously enjoyed it. I may be wrong, but I've been calling it GRM for people with money. Yeah, there are articles about really expensive cars, and some "Hemmings Motor News"-style columns about who's buying what at the collector car auctions, but there is also a lot of good old fashioned GRM-style "best bang for the buck" and "just get out there and do it!" stuff.

That being said, I still pick up Hemmings from time-to-time. My local Autozone carries it between Hot Rod and whatever mag has replaced Sport Import Car. They've kind of turned it into a magazine (pretty good columns on working on cars, living with older ones, and damn good articles on sourcing parts), since online ads have mainly replaced print ads. Whenever they have something other than an American car on the cover, I buy it.

Tom_Spangler wrote: I've had an AW subscription since the late 80s, and I was >< this close to canceling it last year, but I decided to hold on for another year. I don't think I'll continue after this year. Unlike the original poster, I don't expect AW to cover things like autocross and HPDE. We are a fairly small slice of the market, and GRM serves us nicely. I expect AW to be a general-interest car and racing magazine, and it's there that they are letting me down. The every-two-weeks thing is a major negative, especially with regards to their racing coverage. But by far my biggest problem is the "lifestyle" crap about watches and other such stuff. I don't need that garbage in a car magazine. Also it doesn't help that Dutch Mandel is such an arrogant Bob Costas.

Pretty much how I see it, too. Twice I've sent coherent notes to AW, and both times, I've not gotten a reply. One was actually asking about my renewal that's coming up later this year.

Since they didn't reply on my renewal, it does seem as if they are not interested in keeping me as a subscriber. And based on what is in the magazine, they are probably right. This week's features are a $78k Audi, a $100k Tesla, the relevant volt, a $140k Audi, and a $110k BMW. In lifestyle news- a 2 day $10k driving school for Ferraris. Yea, that's me in a nutshell...

While sad that the magazine has taken this turn, I have no choice but to turn my back on them.

For other magazines, it's very similar. I got a renewal notice from R&T for $20, when I can go on line for $10???? When I questioned it, they offered me the $10, but didn't address the writing and content.

In one year, I'll end subscriptions to my 3 longest standing magazines- Autoweek, Road & Track, and Car and Driver- all of which I've had for about 25 years now. All of them are cheap enough to afford quite easily, but none of them are worth it. It aint the economy, folks.

(what's funny- our local paper, the Ann Arbor News, had a big cut back just over a year ago- cutting content and size, which sucked the life out of the company to the point where they closed, and now we have the bi-weekly AnnArbor.com obomination- VERY, VERY poorly edited web page (news is posted by time, as opposed to importance- so something important in the morning will get buried by fluff by the end of the day) and an equally poorly written paper that came out twice a week- I dropped that after my free month. Sad how Jouralism is bailing on their art, and blaming the web.)

Eric

Yeah, AW isn't any good anymore. I've been subbing for a few years, mainly because I keep getting free sub offers. I'll keep getting them as long as they are free.
I have GRM and can't see that ever changing. I don't know if any of you read my letter in an issue a few months back but I'm not working now but skrimped and scavanged to get enough loot together to re-up GRM this fall. Even when you are broke you gotta live.

I have given up on magazines featuring new cars except some English ones keep me from getting those often. So my subscriptions are GRM and CM. I subscribed to Sport Compact Car for years but when that went down the hole, I got switched to Modified Mag. I canceled that crap. I also buy Racecar Engineering every month.

Wow, I cannot afford Racecar Engineering...

Though, I do occasionally buy F1 Racing... with RE, I would at least learn something.

I wrote a very similar letter to AW, specifically whining about too many trucks and SUVs.

In 1993!

Glad to see not much has changed.

I lost most of my enthusiasm for AW after Satch disappeared.

I probably shouldn't buy it but I use it quite a bit with the Formula SAE team at my school. Thank goodness for Barnes & Noble membership cards (and knowing my parents phone number).

I've concluded that any other magazine subscription I have is merely fodder to pass the time between new GRM's. Basically: Look at their pretty pictures, laugh at their "comparison" tests and throw it in the trash as soon as GRM hits the mailbox.