Why is that? I used to subscribe to them but their bias toward BMW alienated me.
I don't mind it when a car wins a road test when its good but they usually decide before they have driven the cars. Freaks me out.
Anyway, I still feel that UK Car produce the highest quality magazines and though their articles can be one sided they do get some good exlcusives...
I would have liked to have been a part of this conversation, but as usual, I'm late again. I'll do my best to keep up.
I first read Car about two years after the split with Performance Car (2000?). It was enjoyable then, and a breath of fresh air compared to the usual US magazines I was reading. SCC has always been good (although with the departure of Jacquot et. al., the new group has a lot of work ahead of them), and Automobile is tolerable, but Hemmings aside, it's all rubbish. Rubbish writing, rubbish photography, and to top it all off, I was never crazy about their opinions.
I found EVO just after Car, and it was a breath of fresh air compared to
Car. I still read both, with SCC, and some occaisional other stuff (I scan Leno's column in Octane every month, but never buy it). Car has long since lost it's way since Alexei Sayle & Tom Ford left, Russel Bulgin died, and this new idiot editor joined. I missed all but one LJK Setright article.
He was interesting, and it's a shame that Car still rides on his coattails long after he's gone. The layout changes are both random and poorly thought-out. The writing has devolved to becoming more about the people (i.e., the writers themselves), but the photography is still okay. Not great, but okay. I still read in the hopes that the new editor will wreck some Ferrari and be sued out of existence, but I won't read much longer if that doesn't happen.
EVO lost it's way a bit, but it's still close to the ideal magazine I like and it's coming back to what I first read in issue 24. The writing is by far the best, keeping the focus on the cars, not the people or locations. The photography is hit-and-miss this year, but Kenny P remains top-notch at all times. Others have at times been too close, too far, too low of an angle...anything that prevents you from actually seeing the car or it's interior. I think their increasing attempts at gaining legitimacy with things like racing (now in Le Mans series!) and the Westfield project says a lot about their character, and does a lot for their ability to discern what comprises a quality drive...I think.
I think by now we can all agree that all car publications have biases in one form or another. Some are more obvious than others (Honda Tuning), but when a group of people bond and write about cars together for a long enough period of time, they start to have similar opinions. This creates a bias, and it is inevitable and unavoidable. It's hardly limited to the auto journalism industry. Just look at your IT department.
As for Car's review of the R8, I have yet to even see it. We here in the US get Car & EVO much later than Europe. I'd subscribe, but my local post office enjoys butchering anything over 2 oz., and for the US it costs the same as the newsstand anyway. I enjoy these magazines because it fulfills two enjoyable things for me: reading, and learning about cars. Outside of Consumer Reports, that's all anyone should take from this stuff. Try not to take any of it too seriously.
