Revs

...alternative.

Revs magazine. Yes, the name again points towards the boy racer but it takes all of the good points and takes out the bad ones. What’s on the front page? Modified cars. No Jordan, no free ‘Bass Choons’ CD and no cheesy stickers to ruin your car with. This is a magazine that is aimed at those who like to modify their car but without making it look like a complete mess.

Now on to the funny ...
...can.

Revs is here to give us ideas, to show us what other owners have done and even the adverts are specifically targeted to make you aware of just where you can get hold of the parts you need.


So how does the magazine break down (in to those nice bite size chunks)?

Cars:
The whole point of the magazine. The front cover will as always give you a rough idea of what you can expect to find ... more

Birds, Bass and.. something else beginning with B. That’s right, the world of the boy racer is all about birds and hanging around in supermarket car parks on a Saturday night.

Well, for some of them anyway. I’m certainly not a boy racer on any kind of level but one thing is for certain – I love my car. I don’t care if Jordan is draped over my bonnet, I don’t want to have a car audio system that can go so loud that I can hear it from three miles away. I like to make my car look good and have a decent audio set up and that’s pretty much where it ends for me.

If you’re a reader of Fast Car or Max Power magazine (or have ever read a copy) then you could be forgiven for thinking that unless you’ve got 17” wheels, tinted windows and more speakers than a Limp Bizkit concert that you’re the odd one out. If that’s what you like then that’s absolutely fine, I have nothing against people who want their car to be a mobile disco. If you’re keen on modifying your car in a slightly more tasteful way though, you may want to consider a viable alternative.

Revs magazine. Yes, the name again points towards the boy racer but it takes all of the good points and takes out the bad ones. What’s on the front page? Modified cars. No Jordan, no free ‘Bass Choons’ CD and no cheesy stickers to ruin your car with. This is a magazine that is aimed at those who like to modify their car but without making it look like a complete mess.

Now on to the funny bit. My car is a Rover 416 Sli, an Automatic on top of that. If you know anything about cars you may know that Rover aren’t the first cars that spring to mind when choosing a car to modify. Peugeot, Ford, Vauxhall are obvious ones but you will find that not everyone wants to be the same so you will also see Rover, Fiat, VW and even BMW’s in here. The mag is full of cars and owners who are simply mad about making their four-wheeled beauties look as good as they can.

Revs is here to give us ideas, to show us what other owners have done and even the adverts are specifically targeted to make you aware of just where you can get hold of the parts you need.

So how does the magazine break down (in to those nice bite size chunks)?

Cars:
The whole point of the magazine. The front cover will as always give you a rough idea of what you can expect to find in the issue. The main feature car will be the big one from the cover. You’ll be given a rough breakdown of the cars featured with a small paragraph once you get to the index.
From the index you can specifically locate the car you’re interested in or of course (as most people do) you can just make your way through the magazine.

For the main feature car you can expect a decent four-page spread which contains small interview snippets with the owner of the car, a few good quality photo’s (still and action shots) along with the written review of what the car is like. To top all of that off you get a comprehensive breakdown of the car at the end of the write up. This shows you all of the modifications that have been made to the car ranging from engine modifications to ICE (In car entertainment). Some of these guys (and girls!) have spent serious amounts of time and money on their motors and in some cases it’s really taken to the extreme.

In a recent issue a BMW 3 series was featured that had an incredible amount of modifications done to it. Playstation 2, TV screens, modified suspension, twelve subwoofers (yes, 12!) oh, the list just went on and on. This was a car that takes part in some of the competitions that take place all over the country at big events. Not all of the cars featured are as serious as this though so if you’re just starting out and are looking for some serious and worthwhile modifications to carry out on your car then you’ll get some good ideas here.

How to....:
A brilliant feature. Here the experts from the magazine show you how to carry out a certain modification to your car. This can range from simple changes to lights to more complex matters such as fitting in car audio and visual equipment.
Recently a feature on how to fit in car TV appeared and this in particular was a fantastic feature. It’s something that I’m considering myself (once I’ve got a spare £700 lying around) so I’ll be keeping my issues safe for future reference.
The guides are very comprehensive without virtually a single detail omitted so you don’t need to worry if you’ve never attempted the job before – if you’re reasonably confident you’ll have no problems whatsoever if you stick to what you’re being told.
They always make it quite clear if it’s a job that you can’t do although the whole point is that you can do it yourself so don’t be put off. Plenty of pictures are included highlighting the crucial parts and the whole written guide is a doddle to follow along with the pictures.

Contributions:
As with all good magazines there is a decent amount of reader input and Revs is no exception. You can write in to sound off about things that are on your mind or you can write to them to get advice and tips. The topics that are printed are usually very interesting and informative and you’re bound to find out things that you never knew before.

Advertising:
This may sound like rather an odd thing to mention, but advertising is a fairly large part of the magazine. It certainly doesn’t compromise the quality of the mag but you should be aware that part of the reason for buying Revs is as a decent guide to making and buying car modifications.
Whether it’s ICE, suspension kits, tyres or exhaust systems – this is the place to find out where you can get your hands on everything you need and/or want. The good thing is that with several advertisers for each type of product, you can check to see where you’re getting the best deal.

Car Buying Guide:
Let the Revs team give you their advice on what car you should be looking to buy and what you can do in the way of modifications once you’ve bought it. Several cars are featured and some extremely handy tips are mentioned if you do decide to buy one. Things to look out for such as vehicle problems are all mentioned so that you don’t end up having to carry out unexpected repairs five minutes after buying the car. The top modifications are also listed so if you can get a rough idea of what you can do to make your new bland looking motor look ‘the business’. Another really useful section in Revs.

Revs Test:
This is a great idea. Take a product and compare it to as many others as possible. The end result is THE product to own. Example: Steering wheels. Revs take several steering wheels (and I don’t mean three or four, we’re talking more than 25!) and then compare them all. The good and bad points are mentioned as well as manufacturer and price details. If you don’t know which one you want after the Revs comparison then you’re quite possibly the most indecisive or hard to please person on earth – OFFICIAL!

Revs Directory:
Definitely one of my favourite bits of the whole magazine, here you will find a whole load of items that have been given the once-over by Revs to make the ‘shall I buy it’ decision much easier for you.
Sounds, Style and Tuning are among those aspects featured here and the products that really stand out above the rest are awarded the desirable ‘This product is excellent’ award. These are the products that the staff at Revs would buy with their own money and the reviews are totally fair and unbiased.
You’ll be hard pushed to find a more honest review of a product – other than on Ciao of course!

Speed Shop:
Nearly at the end and here is the Speed Shop. This is where you will find modified cars for sale by the general public. Plenty of vehicles are for sale here with most featuring a small photo and a write-up. If you have a modified car that you want to sell (whilst reaching the target customer) this is a really good place to start.

Advice:
If you’re willing to have a go but need just a little guidance this is for you. Want to know about a car? Not sure about which size alloys to fit to the four-wheeled beast? Get asking and you may get your letter printed. If it’s the star letter you’ll even get a set of goodies for your car. Now you can’t say fairer than that now can you?

Subscribe!
Well, personally I don't because there isn't really much motivation to do so. Every magazine has the odd issue that is total rubbish but if you must you can subscribe for around £37 a year. You won't be making any major savings though so my advice is to have a quick browse and then decide if it's worth shelling out for on a monthly basis.

To sum up, Revs is everything that you want from a car modification magazine without including the more tragic aspects that are associated with the average boy racer.
If you love cars and like to make yours look that bit different from the rest then this magazine may be just what you’re looking for. Great writers with knowledge and humour along with great cars and decent photography make this a very worthy candidate.
And to think that this came from a Rover owner......
 

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