TTAC has a longstanding policy of exposing the sordid connection between mainstream automotive manufacturers and the mainstream automotive press. We feel compelled– compelled I tell you– to do so. A car is the average consumer’s second largest purchase. Propagating the myth that “there’s no such thing as a bad car,” or simply spinning spin on the spinmeisters’ behalf, is against the interests of the audience these publications pretend to serve. We’ve taken AutoWeek to task for their pro-everyone bias many times. But it’s a nuanced sort of deal, easily defensible by those who make their living riding on the carmakers’ gravy train. Except when it isn’t. The September 29 issue [print] has a full page, cardboard tear-out for the Danbury Mint’s ALL NEW! 1971 Plymouth Hemi ‘Cuda Convertible model. Pages 24 and 24 of Autoweek are headlined “Newly Minted,” cataloguing (literally) four new Danbury unlimited edition replicas, Shouldn’t that be freshly minted? Anyway… “While we usually offer a glimpse of scale models from a variety of manufacturers,” the subhead announces. “this time, we’re focusing on the latest offering from the Danbury Mint.” Storm in a teacup? Obviously. Indicative of a wider journalistic malaise? Absolutely.
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Stay tuned for next month’s track test of the DR Self-Propelled Field and Brush Mower.
My subscription is running out shortly so they are frantically e-mailing me and sending me urgent letters. I will not be renewing thanks largely to discovering TTAC. I think I might tell them that. Besides I’m tired or reading road tests on cars I have never even seen let alone be able to afford.
I let my subscription lapse over the summer and they keep sending me issues, probably to keep their circulation numbers up.
Here’s a letter I wrote to Crain. I wonder why AutoWeek never published it?
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Dear Mr. Crain,
After reading AutoWeek for twenty years, I have decided to let my subscription lapse. The quality of your magazine has declined to the point where I do not believe I am receiving appropriate value for my subscription dollar.
When I first started reading AutoWeek, I remember reading real news like supplier problems at Rockwell delaying hood production of the first Dodge Vipers, and banditos stealing truckloads of Focus engines. Now, the news section is but a rehash of company press releases and chat room rumors. Recently AutoWeek reported that the Ford EcoBoost V6 engines “would cost just $700 more.” But more than what? The base V6? The V8? The story didn’t say.
Content has also deteriorated. I remember whimsical stories like cooking on the engine manifold while driving. Now, many stories are poorly-written editorials. A recent article on fake exotics had no numbers to back up any of the claims made by the author, only that numbers were “exploding”, and didn’t even say why readers should care about poor knock-offs made in Asia. Some of the road tests are also written as if the author is having a conversation with a protesting reader, wasting value page space by telling readers to “bear with” the author.
While bad writing is annoying, these days there is less of it. One to two pages of every issue are wasted on a single “Truth and Beauty” picture, with another page wasted on a non-review of a motorcycle. There is a also constant stream of articles on people’s garages, and every issue has a story trying to sell readers miniature car models, watches, cigars, driving shoes, and other mundane crap. For the past year you have also included two pages in every issue rehashing your past fifty years, replacing content with nostalgia.
Editorial content has similarly deteriorated. There are a lot of poorly written guest columns, and the paid columnists do nothing but reminisce about old cars or dangerous teen drivers while simultaneously blasting all SUV owners. Recent editorials telling me to stop eating meat in order to drive my car with less guilt have convinced me you don’t know who your market is or what product you are selling. Mandel’s hypocrisy has risen to unbearable levels; in the same issue he blasted other magazines for bragging about test drives that never exceed 25 mph, you ran three to four pages of photo-shopped pictures of what a future car might look like, and the details accompanying the pictures were simply rumors and guesses.
Given the decrease in content and quality, the increase in the renewal price from $24.95 to $29.95 is insulting. I, for one, will not pay more money to receive what has become a collection of poorly written infomercials.
Respectfully,
(deleted)
Cicero
Stay tuned for next month’s track test of the DR Self-Propelled Field and Brush Mower.
LOL!
Followed by their best-selling issue ever, “Viagra vs Cialis: Showdown at the ED Corral”
Adub,
Excellent letter but far too well written (lots of big words too) for them to understand it!
I’ve given up on the magazine. I need to get a bird so I can put the pages in the bottom of the cage.
Is there a single US automotive print magazine worth the time it takes to read? I like a couple of the Hemmings publications, but those are about the old car hobby. I can’t find anything worth paying money for or spending time on at the newsstand regarding current production vehicles.
John Horner,
Simple, print out the roughly 20 TTAC editorials posted here every month, bind, then enjoy your awesome, free magazine!