Indian Car & Bike Magazines

[Sam Dinkar]

Yup. Sirish is with EVO. Good writer but seems to have lost his touch nowadays.

Auto India was great 16 years back but now its probably the dullest and most dim witted auto magazine in the country. Cyrus Dhabhar's articles are a sure shot cure for insomnia.

Business Standard Motoring got sold off to Delhi Publishing House. Boo hoo! End of an era.

 

[type-r]

i used to buy BSM, Autocar and TG... people going from here to theere. Manish Sarser was with ACI for a long time then changed to TG and now he's quit that as well i guess. Sirish's articles were good too at one time.

 

[tdcarlover]

https://www.facebook.com/Sirishchandran.fan/info
Check out this web page-facebook for sirish
Perhaps he is wearing 2 hats?-i liked his car critique at OD though!

 

[2-Stroke RND]

I prefer Autocar india and Overdrive, though as AMG said none of these is a vfm anymore.
OT- I wont name in public, but some automags do have biased reviews and one of the mags favours my favourite car manufacturer.

Certainly, it seems that a few magazines get bribes from manufacturers and write the review/comparo in favour of them.

Take your pick, guys.
Others will be updated as soon as they appear on the websites.


BS Motoring
image

Top Gear

I remember, still having this issue.

Meanwhile, ACI's 100th issue and tenth anniversary issue were costlier than usual, of which they gave a compact disc for the latter one.

Last year, the anniversary issue cost me Rs.150/-, and I think this time it should be around the same figure as well, and I believe that it is worth paying the extra amount for this special issue.

Right now they aren't offering much along with the subscription (earlier they used to offer a one or two scale models and some car perfumes but now there is nothing ).

It's all part of their marketing trick, so that we subscribe for a year for less price, just to escape from the high price of anniversary edition;

In 2008, Motor vikatan, a Tamil Auto mag, costed 40 INR as mrp; When I subscribed, I got 12+6 issues for Rs 360/-. Subscription costed only half of the mrp as I got 6 free issues.

 

[350Z]

This month’s edition of Autocar India is free to download due to COVID-19 lockdown. Do check out: May 2020 Magazine Issue - Autocar India.

Drive Safe,
350Z

 

[Akash1886]

Launch of MG Safety Fast Magazine | 27th July 2020

• MG aims to highlight its glorious near 100-year history by bringing back the ‘Safety Fast’ magazine
• The Award-Winning magazine is now coming to India on 27th July 2020.
• First published in 1959, Safety Fast is the official magazine of the MG Car Club.
• ‘Safety Fast!’ became the slogan and watchword of the MG Car Company in 1929.
• In two words, Safety Fast accurately described the subject which the magazine was, and still is devoted to – speed with safety.
• It is also correct and stands true today after nine decades of the Octagon’s existence for the brand.
• For MG, safety has always been paramount.

Regards
Akash

 

[dr_vm]

Just digging up an old thread, I had the misfortune of watching the Overdrive video review of the Nissan Magnite. To me personally, the review felt like that he was sticking to a predetermined script. He kept repeating words like some "budget engineering" or something of that sort .He kept stressing how this car is not a competitor to the kia sonet, He said its okay if you are looking at it as a hatchback competitor but it wont cut ice as a true comparison with "proper" sub 4 metre suvs like ..cough cough.. Hyundai Venue and Kia Sonet. He named Spresso as a potential competitor, Thank God he didnt name a used Nano. According to him,
the suspension thuds and the car nose dives on breaking and so on, which is in contrast to other reviewers from other auto publications, save for the reviewer who drives like a race driver on public roads(again strictly my view , no offence meant ) with the disclaimer that he drives really really safe, anyway thats for another day.
The next day a special feature of the Overdrive team taking the Kia Sonet on a drive to a hill station stares at me on my MSN homepage, how the car is so apt for the trip and the many features of the car " ventilated seats, fresh fragrant air, wireless charging and music played on the Bose premium sound system" Special feature: Trippin' with the Kia Sonet - Overdrive
Hope the hapless customers dont "trip" and fall while choosing their next ride with their hard earned money.
For me the Nissan Magnite is a credible attempt , a do or die attempt by a credible manufacturer in the hotly contested sub 4 metre segment. As someone coined it brilliantly, "it will be a little less car for lot less money".
Ofcourse the safety will be suspect until proven considering it was originally designed as a Datsun product. Hope Nissan proves me wrong.

 

[dr_vm]

I am seriously tired of these auto journalists of the present times.
What happened to objective journalism?
Earlier Autocar used to explicitly mention that the article is an advertisement feature in collaboration with the manufacturer. Which to me was fine as its a win win situation for both automagazines and the manufacturer.
Now they have changed the word to "branded content", I dont know what that is supposed to mean.
I have heard of branded shirts and so on but what is branded content in an auto publication ??
Now their senior editor has spent about a week with the BMW 2 series grand coupe demonstrating its luggage capabilities with grocery supermarket baggage. I dont have a problem with that, but I have a problem if there is an astute marketing behind it.
The target audience who has probably a 7 series or S class, who needs that second car for his family...
A week with the BMW 2 Series Gran Coupe video

Disclaimer :hmm.. these are strictly my subjective views and I may be wrong. My sincere request to all auto journalists is its very hard not to be biased if you tie up with the same people whose products you are reviewing.

 

[dr_vm]

To be fair to the autocar reviewer of the BMW 2 Grand Coupe, she did mention that the back seat isn't all that great and the price is not practical.
I am posting below some links of the content that I was talking about in my earlier post that is being offered by auto publications of late
Autocar calls it branded content and sponsored feature.
To answer to my previous post itself
Branded content in autocar jargon , is a feature where in they bring in an owners take on his new car purchase and sponsored content is where they work with the manufacturer for a feature. Anyways it can all get a bit too confusing.

Branded Content: Kia Sonet: Season's Greetings (Here was an owner's take on his Kia Sonet)
Branded Content: Hyundai Venue - A Space of Your Own

There was an owner's take on Harrier too,
Branded content: My Harrier, My Life
Overdrive on the other hand calls it Special feature

Author: Special Feature - Overdrive
Featuring the Kia Sonet
Special feature: Trippin' with the Kia Sonet - Overdrive
Special feature: Into the wilderness with Kia Sonet - Overdrive

Coming back to Autocar, the below video feature on the Sonet was really irritating

I rest my case!