Best Auto Magazine Shootout

[imac]

i remember having somewhat gone thru this not too long ago, but i dont think we've ever had a poll for it. i'm only gonna include the major magazines, but i'll leave an 'other' option for anything else you want to consider, and feel free to discuss why you love/hate certain mags.

 

[hilmar2k]

AutoWeek, hands down, no contest.

 

[BluMicaR]

Where's Zoom-Zoom??

BAAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH!!11!!1!! LZOMGORG!!@!1

I am actually a fan of 'Car and Driver' m'self

 

[haze20]

The old Sport Compact Car was the best. When all the writers moved on it lost alot of good content.

 

[jred321]

grm. it's about people who actually drive their cars



ps - probably get a better response in OT with this thread since it applies to all other car owners on the site not just MS3 owners

 

[MikeHTally]

I read most of 'em regularly. C&D, R&T are faves, as well.

 

[Rotary_Powered]

http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/

 

[Redlinez]

As a buyer of car magazines and certified magazine car spec freak, my honest opinion is Car and Driver is the overall best magazine out there. When Motor Trend changed their format and photo style a year or so ago, they fell quite distantly in my ranking. Can't stand it, but I still subscribe through one of those dirt cheap places where I get 2 or 3 years for $10. Autoweek is a waste of money IMHO. They stopped doing actual testing of cars. Road and Tracks' numbers have always sucked in performance testing.

 

[imac]

car and driver out to the early lead.

maybe its just me, but i couldnt seem to get over how objective C/D was in the recent comparisons i've read. it seems to me that they'll go through a comparison, you think you know exactly what order the cars are going to go in based on the performance numbers and what kinds of things they said about each car in the article, then you flip to the back page and they award 1st place to a car for some ridiculous reason, like trunk space or road noise from the tires.

 

[Brets3]

I grab Automobile mag on a regular basis. FYI: The August 08 issue has a great article "5 Giant Killers" which features our Speed 3 and some others. (GTR, Z06, EVO X, and the G8) Really nice write up.

 

[imac]

I grab Automobile mag on a regular basis. FYI: The August 08 issue has a great article "5 Giant Killers" which features our Speed 3 and some others. (GTR, Z06, EVO X, and the G8) Really nice write up.

yea, there was a thread on here about that a little while ago. i picked up that one too, and i agree, pretty good stuff. even though automobile isnt big into comparisons, i still think their writing is better.

i think im gonna have to throw down the whole $18 to get 2 years of it (headbang)

 

[Dizzel]

Sport Compact Car. I agree its not as good as it used to be but its still a fav.

 

[imac]

Sport Compact Car. I agree its not as good as it used to be but its still a fav.

i actually have an old issue of sport compact, maybe from 2005, where they spy a mazdaspeed3 test car. it was pretty cool to read after actually buying one, because they were pretty much dead on with everything that they hypothesized about it.

 

[Alexsered]

Sport Compact Car, real cars, with real mods. None of that SuperStreet porno stuff

 

[chief_wiggum]

I get both Car and Driver and Motortrend -- Car and Driver has really started to disappoint me, I'll let that subscription run out. I know it's not in print, but I really enjoy Edmunds Inside Line online; good reviews, comparisons and witty, but not juvenile writing (i'm looking at you C&D).

 

[oaklandopen]

car and driver out to the early lead.

maybe its just me, but i couldnt seem to get over how objective C/D was in the recent comparisons i've read. it seems to me that they'll go through a comparison, you think you know exactly what order the cars are going to go in based on the performance numbers and what kinds of things they said about each car in the article, then you flip to the back page and they award 1st place to a car for some ridiculous reason, like trunk space or road noise from the tires.

true one of C&Ds cars could win because of something like features and amenities, but isn't that something the average consumer is looking for anyway? not everyone is going to see a car as being just engine specs and 0-60 times, or else C&D wouldn't be what it is, it would just be another sport compact or something like that. you open a performance oriented mag and you won't see an idle dB level test, you open a C&D and you might find a several page article on minivans.

and you gotta love their april issues too, wish i still lived with my parents cuz my dad subscribes to R&T, C&D, and MT, i used to be a whiz on stats, now not so much

 

[imac]

true one of C&Ds cars could win because of something like features and amenities, but isn't that something the average consumer is looking for anyway? not everyone is going to see a car as being just engine specs and 0-60 times, or else C&D wouldn't be what it is, it would just be another sport compact or something like that. you open a performance oriented mag and you won't see an idle dB level test, you open a C&D and you might find a several page article on minivans.

and you gotta love their april issues too, wish i still lived with my parents cuz my dad subscribes to R&T, C&D, and MT, i used to be a whiz on stats, now not so much

the specific issue im talking about is comparing more or less high end street-legal racecars... and they knock on the dodge viper ACR for being just that. i understand that in a minivan or econo-commuter car comparo, comfort and features would be a very key issue. hell, it's the main reason i'm driving an MS3 and not a CSRT4. but to knock that viper for being exactly what it is built to be, it didnt make any sense to me at all. maybe they didnt outline their objectives or criteria before hand well, because i thought they were looking for a balls to the wall thriller in that one, and the viper sure as hell had the most balls of the group... just enough to net it 4th place out of 4 cars.

 

[my3needsaname]

This isn't really a question you can ask since the they all have their strong points.
Motor Trend has the car of the year issue and is the highest rated.
Automobile has amazing pictures and is very well written.
Car and Driver has very good write ups on every car they test and it's very thorough.
Road and Track used to have the best pictures and very good write ups...before something happened to my subscription...or my mailman started stealing my magazines.

Really, I'm going to have to say that I would take Car and Driver and Automobile over the others but they all have their strong points.

 

[oaklandopen]

the specific issue im talking about is comparing more or less high end street-legal racecars... and they knock on the dodge viper ACR for being just that. i understand that in a minivan or econo-commuter car comparo, comfort and features would be a very key issue. hell, it's the main reason i'm driving an MS3 and not a CSRT4. but to knock that viper for being exactly what it is built to be, it didnt make any sense to me at all. maybe they didnt outline their objectives or criteria before hand well, because i thought they were looking for a balls to the wall thriller in that one, and the viper sure as hell had the most balls of the group... just enough to net it 4th place out of 4 cars.

i have seen that ACR in a few mags, and yes it's specifically for race applications so who cares about mpg and whatnot, but C&D has been one to take into account all areas of a car.

the thing is when someone opens a C&D an article is more or less going to be about a winner or loser. you open a sport compact or eurotuner and it's going to be a one car article about all the aftermarket stuff some guy did to his car. you open a motorweek and it's gonna give straight stats about the newest model out.