Automobile

Product Description

Product Description

This magazine is edited for automotive enthusiasts interested in the impact the automotive world has had. Its focus ranges from cars and machines to road tests and road trips. It also includes reviews of new vehicles, tips for vintage car collectors and information about auto sports and the automobile business.

Product Description

This magazine is edited for automotive enthusiasts interested in the impact the automotive world has had. Its focus ranges from cars and machines to road tests and road trips. It also includes reviews of new vehicles, tips for vintage car collectors and information about auto sports and the automobile business.

Product Details

• Format: Magazine
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• Publisher: Source Interlink
• ASIN: B000H1R17C
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
This magazine subscription is provided by Synapse

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A bit cerebral and pretentious, June 26, 2007

By 

Some Guy (Redwood City, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Automobile (Magazine)

I'm afraid I can't say much to recommend Automobile unless, like me, you're hopelessly addicted to cars and will read almost anything about them.

Since it's inception, Automobile has always struck me as a bit snobbish and self-satisfied. This, despite not being very interesting. Their mantra has been "No boring cars!," yet it's usually a somewhat boring magazine.

They have some really great (and funny) editorials, and tend to be more honestly critical of cars than other mags, so for that they get 2 stars. But if you want to read great car reviews, this isn't for you. They're always very short, and comparison tests are given woefully inadequate space.

In many ways that's another of Automobile's problems - it's too small.

My overall impression over the years is that they'd really like to be England's CAR magazine, and even share writers (mainly George Kacher), but just aren't that good.

****Update on 12/20/2011****

I'd like to reiterate the last sentence of my original review: They would *like* to be seen as modeled on British car magazines, but they are just not that good. I've been reading several since roughly 1991 (Car, Performance Car, Evo, Performance Car (Part 2), Complete Car, BBC Top Gear and some more short-lived tryouts I can't recall), although I've trimmed that down to Car and Evo now. Automobile falls so short any comparison is folly.

Space is a major issue (oh lord, I've gone and made a pun). Automobile is the smallest of major U.S. car magazines. It feels just terribly thin in your hands. Even though I just received an amazing offer to renew my subscription, I'm going to pass because it's just a bore now.

Jamie Kitman used to be funny. Now all he does is whine. I can read complete articles of George Kacher's drives in CAR, so why read cut-down versions in Automobile? Road and comparison tests are still far to brief and uninformative. And now, for the last few months they've made things even worse with page after page of intensely dull travel guides masquarading as automotive journalism. If I was interested in where they ate, how nice their hotel carpets were, and sundry other details about absolutely everything BUT the car they happen to be driving, I might renew. But enough is enough.

They had their moments, but are the Saab of car magazines. And for those who don't know, the news this morning announced that Saab has finally died for good. I don't wish such ill on Automobile, but they lost me a long time ago.

Automobile is less interesting, and less likely to make you smile or challenge the reader, than when I first wrote this review, and I'd give it a single star now.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Automobile Mag, April 13, 2007

By 

Ray Burger (Orange, Ca USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Automobile (Magazine)

I subscribe to three car magazines. Road and Track, Car and Driver, since the 50's. Automobile replaced Road and Track as I my favorite from the first issue. It has the most color photographs and the best writing of the three.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best American Car Magazine, March 28, 2011

By 

Leslie R. Schumacher "Lrschum" (Saint Paul, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Automobile (1-year auto-renewal) (Magazine)

Automobile is, bar none, the best American car magazine. It reminds me of how most American magazines used to be before the downturn in printed media in the late 1990s, i.e. gorgeously produced, with unobtrusive ad placement, and totally readable. Like its closest overseas counterpart, Car, it is intelligent, pragmatic, and forward-thinking. The details on car design and news on the automotive industry are much better than in Motor Trend, Car and Driver, and Road & Track, while the columnists are smart and interesting every time. Finally, they do not hold the conceit that car mags like Car and Driver do that their purpose is to "defend" cars from crazy environmentalists who want to take them away from the red-blooded Americans. Instead, they understand that it is possible to be concerned about the environment while at the same time see no problem with burning some gasoline. They stay out of politics because it is appropriate: owning and learning about and loving cars has nothing to do with one's political affiliation and it shouldn't. The other car mags could learn a thing or two from Automobile.