Auto Express

Auto Express has been around for almost 16 years. Which is nearly the same length of time as some misguided driving inspector in Reddish licenced me to drive motor vehicles until 2038. As I have been a (mild) car nut for most of that time, I remember buying the first issue when it came out. This week we are on issue 820, and I suspect we have had about three quarters of the issues in between. It is therefore high time I sat down and analysed what ...
...my test and shortly before Auto Express was first published, my first car was a Ford Capri Mk 1.6 1972 1600GT (XEX 836M) in White for which I paid a princely £80 for…and sold two years later to the scrap merchant for £45. I knew I should have kept it….it would have probably been worth at least £80 again by now!

Anyhow - this Auto Express magazine? Why is it that I steal it from the weekly shopping bags and try and get to read it first ... more

Auto Express has been around for almost 16 years. Which is nearly the same length of time as some misguided driving inspector in Reddish licenced me to drive motor vehicles until 2038. As I have been a (mild) car nut for most of that time, I remember buying the first issue when it came out. This week we are on issue 820, and I suspect we have had about three quarters of the issues in between. It is therefore high time I sat down and analysed what I like about it for you (nothing to do with the prize category for this month at all, you know).

Of course my motor tastes and needs (and budget!) have also changed a good deal since then. In 1987 when I passed my test and shortly before Auto Express was first published, my first car was a Ford Capri Mk 1.6 1972 1600GT (XEX 836M) in White for which I paid a princely £80 for…and sold two years later to the scrap merchant for £45. I knew I should have kept it….it would have probably been worth at least £80 again by now!

Anyhow - this Auto Express magazine? Why is it that I steal it from the weekly shopping bags and try and get to read it first in my household? Ok. Let’s have a go at telling you.

Auto Express (Part of the Auto Europe group) typically runs to about 100 pages of motoring news every week. Broadly speaking there are six main categories of magazine articles. In no particular order these are:

Regulars
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The regular section contains all the bits and pieces that your average motorist might be interested in.

No magazine is complete without its letters page, and AutoExpress has a regular two page spread for letters and correspondence from readers on all matters motoring. There is also the often entertaining column written by Mike Rutherford. A typical post bag has several issues on motoring and the law as well as writers giving tips and information on their own experiences of car ownership. And the Petrol Shop Boys cartoon, not to be missed.

On a similar vein is the Watchdog column - where readers at the depth of despair with the motoring industry can write of their plight in the hope that Auto Express will have greater clout in the problem resolution. This two page spread typically contains the ask the expert column and the road/weather watch map..like you could do something about either… but still.

The regulars section has a regular feature on different products (The Product Test) available to motorists – you know to enable you to select the best purchase at Halfords. Now this can be absolutely anything at all from chammy leathers to steering lock contraptions and other gadgets and gizmos which are often a bit too anoraky for my liking. This particular issue happens to be car fire extinguishers. Enough said.

Normally it would have been two pages which I would have skipped over but in the interests of research I did read it and confirm that at least 20 fire extinguishers were reviewed and star rated. To save you the bother the best buy is deamed the “Firemaster 1000PR” at £24.99. So there you are.

The Rear View column is a half page column on the final page of the magazine which is always enjoyable and is often a rhetoric look at the world from the motorists eye. It is currently being penned by the Daily Telegraph columnist Andrew English.

Of course no self respecting car magazine would be complete if it didn’t have the several page of car prices each week. I guess if you are a regular reader this might be overkill, but then if you are an occasional reader you would want to have this kind of information. The list prices of over 3000 new cars are given, together with the very useful “Aim to Pay” column, which gives you the average of what that particular model is selling for across the country that particular week. I find that is a useful piece of information especially if negotiating a hard deal isnt your strong point. There is also a used prices column which you are better avoiding altgoether if you can’t accept that the car you bought four months ago has depreciated £1500 since then (SOBS!!).

That’s all the light reading out of the way but what about serious motor journalism?

Newsweek
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The Newsweek section typically has six or seven pages of news of the latest and greatest models being launched by all the major manufacturers. Making an entrance this week is a two page cover about the new Astra Coupe (or is it a hatch?) about to be unveiled at the Paris Motor show. And its not bad looking for a Vauxhall either..Other stories making the motoring news this week are a new citroen model, the fastest Jeep Cherokee in the West and the fact that picnic areas a la French style are getting the green light in the UK too. And you know those chevrons painted “2 seconds” apart on the M6 near Thelwall among other locations? Well apparently they are successful at cutting down tailgating and will be deployed more nationally. I hate them personally , how the hell am I supposed to intimidate Centre Lane Owners Club drivers now???

New Cars
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The New Cars section often has scoops on new models, even when they are taken out for road tests undercover and badgeless especially in Europe. This newspaper being part of a bigger motoring press means that scoops caught on camera abrouad are often incorporated into the UK magazine and I am no doubt vice versa.

The new cars section are typically an initial analysis of the vehicle including what will doubtless be a limited road test for the editorial team. This week looked at the new A3 Audi Diesel – a 2000 version of which I had as a company car. The review of the car had an easy to read style and contains useful information such as other manufacturer rivals and basic details on engine derivatives and their release date etc.

Features
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One of the current features which has been ongoing for the last three weeks is that of Motorway driving and Auto Express is leading National Motorway Month along with the RAC, BSM, IAM and the Highways Agency. This week took a look at the motorway skills of an overconfident Male 30 something driver from Essex who averages 30000+ miles a year and an older female driver from Bristol who has never been on a motorway since passing her test ten years ago. (It is not a stereotypical male magazine I promise!!) Suprisingly both drivers demonstrated a lack of basic ability in motorway driving – quite frightening when you think. The top ten motorways (or junctions ) are also named – selected more for the lack of driving skill than the fact that they are in themselves dangerous roads. The Glasgow Edinburgh gets a mention purely on the grounds that some of the slip roads are on the right not the left, so you enter and leave the motorway in the “fast” lane. So it’s easy to get caught out if you don’t know that beforehand. The Severn Bridge gets a mention purely for the fact the height frightens people and apparently the fact that the M25 is circular frightens people as well!

But features can be absolutely anything topical and the magazine regularly runs reader surveys of the best cars in terms of ownership, which given the readership are as good a gauge of reliability of a particular model as anything else you might read.

Road Tests
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The Road Tests section will be of particular interest to those trying to decide between competing models and manufacturers. Often three or four cars will be tested for driving load carrying abilities, price and so on. My favourite article in this section is the long term test, whereby a car is owned and driven by the magazine staff for a much longer period and a full report given on ownership (a bit like a CIAO review then!). These reports are particularly useful to get hold of on back issue if you are making an expensive purchasing decision.

Sportsweek
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The sportsweek section is typically 4-6 pages of news from the Autosport world, with a heavy focus on Formula One racing including race reviews and discussion on who is in talks with who for next season. AS motor racing goes, I enjoy watching F1 from time to time but I don’t know much about the other motor racing disciplines and races, yet I do enjoy reading this section.

In summary I like the magazine for the fact it is easy to pick up and read as much or as little as you want and still feel it has been good value for money. I have to say I used to read it cover to cover with a passion, and do so less nowadays, probably because in my earlier days of driving I was envious about every car that they featured just about! If I am skimming I probably wouldn’t read the road Test articles, unless they were of a car I had particular interest or previous experience of, but I always enjoy reading the shorter lighter articles whatever the mood.

Subscription
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£12.48 for 13 issues including free Ordnance Survey interactive CD rom, or £52.88 for 51 issues including same CD rom; saving 42% to 47% of the list price of £1.80 per week.

At under £2 a week this represents good value for money and even more so on subscription when it is under £1 a week!

www.autoexpress.co.uk

 

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