If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Will someone tell Ciao!
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Will someone tell Ciao!
Member since:29.07.2007
Reviews:207
Members who trust:103
This is the oldest motoring magazine on planet earth & probably one of the best, written by true motoring nuts who live & breathe cars 24/7.
It is a weekly magazine that now costs £2.50 & they don't miss much when it comes to reviewing the latest models. The magazine starts with around 8-10 pages of automotive news. Being weekly this is an advantage over the monthly magazines as the news is more up to date. They provide many scoops on future models & often feature photos of cars that we will all see in a showroom in about 2-3 years time. Thier motor show reports are second to none & they constantly feature exclusives on new ideas & models.
For fans of motorsport they provide about 2-3 pages every week covering rallying & Formula One. This only increases if they carry out a special feature such as Lewis Hamilton winning the championship or an exclusive interview with a driver etc. If you are motrosport daft, I would look elsewhere.
Autocar is famed for its detailed road tests & after the news & sport sections they usually use the bulk of the magazine on road tests. They will feature one main road test every week with a handful of smaller ones, usually the first test drive of a new model is featured on the smaller tests & weeks later this will be followed up by a more detailed one.
The main road tests are usually 8 pages of incredible detailed information & high quality photos. They are the 'bench mark' for other magazines & extracts are often used by the car makers for their 'point of sale' material. The standard of photography used in the magazine is simply outstanding.
Large multi page features on newly introduced cars are limited to certain models, usually the best selling ones, these are often very detailed with information & photos.
A weekly feature in the magazine is a selection of long tem tests, they will run a series of models for around 12 months or 12000 miles & assess it. The problem here is most modern cars behave very well within 12000 miles so there is very little to report, they should do what some American magazines do & keep the cars for 50000 miles, that will sort out the 'good ones' from the 'bad ones'.
There are loads of other great features on everything automotive from basic cars to supercars & everything else in between. With well over 100 years of material thay must have an incredible archive to source information from.
However Autocar is biased towards German products & simply road tests just about every model that Germany Inc produces. I have lost count the number of BMW v Mercedes v Audi road tests they have printed in recent years. It is doubtful if you would ever see a comparison test with Hyundai v Kia v Proton! Hardly a week goes by without a feature of some description on German cars.
Despite that it is still a great magazine with good writers, good website, great features. This is a very additive magazine that is highly recommended.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
A good review with interesting stuff, just enough for me to rate VH though. The mag cost is high though working out as about £120 a year. I like the though of on-going testing. That makes good sense. Martin.
Bens__mummy 28.09.2007 23:02
Good review but could do with some more info to gain higher ratings. Take a look at other reviews to get an idea of the level of info that is needed to gain higher ratings. ~ Em. x
Sep 28th, 2007
(Nov 3rd, 2008)
very helpful by (21%):
helpful by (64%):
somewhat helpful by (14%):
