I've noticed that the magazines have gotten awful thin with a lack of advertising, especially the aftermarket themed ones. Think we'll see some of them close up in this mess?

 

actually... there has been a bunch of magazines that have closed doors... or pages for that matter. http://www.magazinedeathpool.com/magazine_death_pool/

 

Here's hoping Automobile doesn't make it. Or at least, they have to let Jamie Kitman go.

 

I currently hold no subscriptions - first time since... well, ever I guess.

Got tired of seeing the same old cars and the same old people racing at the same old tracks month after month. How many supercharged 5.0 coupes can be printed in glossy paper for Pete's sake??? I look at the Nov 07 ad from Summit and it's the same in Jun 08.

Due to travel, busy at work, trying to build a 40x60 barn and fence in a few acres for our horses, adding a 30x50 onto my existing shop, finishing my Cobra resto for national show competition this year, and trying to spend more QT with the family as a whole... sitting on the sofa to read a rag that I have basically read 100 times before seemed worthless. I let em all go exp. The only one I'm missing (a little bit but not too much) is Hot Rod. The new staff did some nice things with that rag and it was obvious they were getting back to the roots of the good stuff. I might pick that one up again when they send me the "12 for $12" coupon.

The rest of them... the multi-brand copies need to stop pitching the Toyota/Honda rules crap and start looking at domestic product with an unbiased eye or they will never see my mailbox again. As for the domestic ones (like MM&FF and 5.0 in my case)... Not many folks can drop $30k on a new car and then run straight out and void the warranrt by adding a $3500 blower kit or a $5500 turbo kit to their new car. I'm sick and tired of reading about these, so I let the subs expire. If they will get back to basics and do some low-dollar mods, resto tips for fox-bodies, or basic how-to's with short cuts (like a better way to replace the heater core on a fox body for example)... I'll ante-up the $20 for a subscription.

Until then, if they want to cater to the Toyota/Honda folks or the spoiled rich kids that get $1000/week allowance to blow after their parents give them a $30k car in the first place... well they can let those same people buy their publication and be happy with it. I won't be buying it.

 

Same here. There was a time where I subscribed to a dozen or so mags. It's just the same old crap though. I simply CANNOT bear to look at another red '69 Camaro.

 

I have a subscription to Cycle World and Smithsonian.

That's it.

I do, however, tire of Cycle World's never ending pandering to the 1000cc and 600cc repli-racers and Ducati (which could paint a turd red and sell it for $50,000 and they'd lap it up...).

 

LOL, Playboy still seems to be doing okay. More ad's then ever. MT is very very thin this past month.

 

I still like GRM, but I don't subscribe to it anymore. I always like to check out the $200x Challenge though.

I'd subscribe to a well done 3rd gen mag, if anyone would do one.

 

Print media is dying. The internet has been slowly killing it, and the current economic downturn is hurting it even further. Especially niche enthusiast magazines.

 

This. Newspaper especially. They're all drowning. The ones who figure out how to turn a buck online (or elsewhere) will be the only ones left standing.

I still get C & D - got a subscription for a billion months for nickels a long time ago. PB too, but that will always sell.

I've noticed Hot Rod has gone up in quality as of late, but I don't subscribe.

 

I work for the biggest name in the industry... we are taking a beating!

 

You hit it on the head.

Think about it. If something wound up on the internet today, it wouldn't be in a car magazine until the March edition. By then it's old news.

Their car tests are still interseting, and on occasion when I see something I want to keep as reference, I'll buy it on the newsstand, but I don't have subscriptions anymore.


Charlie, you are also right. It seems that all the car mags do the same tests with the same cars more often than not.

There really isn't anything anymore that jumps off the page and makes you go through bookstores looking for it the way, say, Car & Driver's "Double the Double Nickel" article did back in April '78.

The upcoming Camaro SS, Mustang GT, Challenger R/T article Car & Driver's now trying to get together will likely be in that league, but this is a very rare occurence.

 

Seems like its the same with tech articles, recycled ad-nauseum. I can't remeber the title, but IIRC Circle Track Magazine used to be a favorite when it came to engine/chassis tech stuff, nice in depth articles sometimes going on for a few issues, Super Chevy seemd to be the same at one time, they had a fantastic article on headers some years ago.

 

Great minds really do think alike, eh?? I've never subscribed to GRM either, but I buy one when it has articles that appeal to me. I admit to having a subdued interest in picking up a wholesale Miata, gutting it, and killing some cones GRM style I've always loved the true "grassroots" direction of that mag.

I woke the RS up yesterday just long enough to let it idle in the garage for 20 minutes to keep the battery charged...no matter how many times I get in a third gen Camaro, it just feels like home to me Interior-wise its not perfect (still kind of needs a carpet, headliner and driver's seat outter bolster, otherwise its clean), but there's something about a blood-red third gen sitting on polished TT2s, with dual 3.5" pipes poking out the back that gets my blood pumping Its still slow, but it doesn't sound like it...

As for other mags, I NEVER thought I'd let C&D lapse...but I haven't subscribed in well over a year. MT keeps going only because my parents renew my subscription for Christmas every year. Automobile I let die 2+ years ago, and R&T continues because they seem a little bit less biased (albeit they don't have the interesting comparison tests C&D does), and I think Peter Egan is hilarious. He reminds me of myself if I was 30 years older and liked British cars more

For specialty mags, I will always get GMHTP (even though, as a 4th gen owner, I'm sick of 4th gen features!!!!) and Hemmings Muscle Machines. HMM, IMO, is the best magazine out there right now...period.

 

Spike's "Powerblock" TV shows are the same ... shows like Horsepower TV that have been running for upwards of 10 years have pretty much run out of things to do and products to pimp for their advertisers.