Whilst looking for a copy of a Porsche mag this morning in my local newsagents I inadvertedly picked up Max Power magazine and couldnt believe how thin it was. It was in a sealed bag so I couldnt read it but I just noticed it was half the thickness of when I used to buy it in 1993 when I had hair!!

Also noticed a distinct lack of the other mags. The main tuning mags seem to be more difficult to get hold of these days. Redline is almost non-existent in our area and EVO and Performance Car are also only available at main WH Smiths lately.

Whats going on??

 

we have the same problem here, redline is in good supply as is "shit power" and "fat car" but i think the majority of the sales of car mags have been hit by not having tits all over it and having small 14/15 year olds getting it to go to the toilet with after homework... although the mags i have to admit (most of them anyway) do appear more detailed to the car enthusiasts readups that they want these days.

 

I was reading the new Fast Car mag (not read one since 2003) same shit

Ask your newsagent to order the mags you want as most have an order sheet with names etc.

 

more people developing taste mate and reading proper mags.

 

Ha, no - just less people buying mags! Max now sells under 20k (down from 280K in it's prime) and Performance Car sells well under 10K! When sales drop, stocking drops and you get kicked out of the supermarkets and big retailers

We're doing ok, but that's because the one make mags generally have a loyal fan-base, and less fickle readers.

 

They must be quite worried about their jobs!

 

i have always seen max power as the chavs choice

 

i think the last time i got a max power mag was bout 2 years a go, i bought it, 10 mins later it was in the bin
i just get the odd copy of fast ford now, a lot better mag

 

Well the staffing levels are considerably smaller than they were then, but let's just say that I won't be applying for any jobs there.

To be honest the vialibility of the mag is more to do with the publishing company, and their overheads. Someone like Unity can produce a magazine that sells only a few K as it's a small business with small overheads, wheras Bauer Media (ex-EMAP) need to sell big to turn a profit - hence why they've just closed Arena when it was allegedly selling 30K.

And then there's ad sales to consider too - which is why so many magazines lie through their teeth about circ figures!!! We'll be ABCing our figure soon (www.abc.org.uk) but a LOT of magazines refuse to.

 

Sounds promising Dan which is why I continue to support and advertise in Fast Ford.

Performance Ford is hard to get hold of and they seem to change their editors and staff writers as often as some people change their pants. Three key editorial staff Dave, Nick etc leaving in the space of a week?? Its not good for consistency. People like a regular editor behind the magazine that they put their hand in their pocket for and support each month.

Incidentally...whats happened to Renton?? And Redline??

 

There's no denying it's tough times for magazine sales, but we've increased our market share and have a good solid readership behind us.

Renton got out of the mag game to persue other ventures. I'm sure he'll be on here again before long! Redline's still alive and well!

 

Last time i bought a Max Power mag, i was still at School & Lucy Pinder had just started Modelling (non Topless) lol. & you could still buy a MK6 Escort for good couple of grand LOL


Times of changed, I bought Redline ages ago & it was a good mag after it had its ''turn'' around!


but i don't really buy any mag's these day's, no point in when you can get the stuff on the internet!

 

Lucy Pinder fresh out of the box. And more importantly her box nice and fresh. Hmmm! That was a long time ago! Max Power used to sell 250k a month. Thats big business. And they wanted Ł700 for an advert the size of a credit card. How times have changed.

I enjoy Redline since its revamp.

But you are right, the internet is such a good resource and its free.

 

Hush your dirty mouth!!!!!

 

Max Power reinvented itself not long back but i don't think its done any good.
I read a copy ages ago and the only stuff worth reading was a test on headlamp bulbs! The features were lame really and it still carries the reputation of being the chavs choice. The glory days are long behind them.
The Bauer buy out of emap was ultimately to get the really strong brands so i can see a few titles disappearing eventually, there was already some "restructuring" before the buy out.

 

I have been getting the big 4 ford mags since 1989 (or from when they started) I also used to get CCC, max p, fast car, practical classics, popular classics, custom car and street machine every month from then aswell
don't get them now except for practical classics (and of cousre the 4 ford ones), but I do buy practical performance car every month as I believe that has found a niche market in over 30's wanting to make older/wacky cars go/handle better and is a dam good read..

steve

 

i am not sure about the car mags but i have a few friends that work at future publishing and they have said they have seen sales drop, i suppose in todays market it is a non essential item and and easy way to save a few quid, i still buy them though....

 

Their error was reinventing it literally every couple of months, without letting it 'settle'. As a result the reader's never really knew what to expect, so it lost it's regulars, and failed to attract any new blood, hence why it's dying on its arse. They clearly panicked whenever they got the sales figures through and thought "Shit, that hasn't worked, let's try something else".

There are a bunch of factors that have erroded their market, but most of them are their own doing!

 

The ONLY modified car etc mag i used to buy was Redline. I found it to be the only such mag where the features were well written and for adults, not kids. Plus Rentons Sierra & BMW were awesome and i enjoyed following the progress with them! Your Golf was ok as well Dan...

Fast Car & Max Power (although not to the same extent as Fast Car) used to do my head in. It's was like it was written by kids for kids! No offense to anyone of course, thats my personal opinion. As generally happens though i kinda grew out of that scene a bit and now like most on here stick to the enthusiast magazines such as Fast Ford, Performace Ford etc. PPC is a magazine i find particularly good, although i can rarely find a copy of it anywhere!! Should think about subscribing really!

 

Panic would be right as in their prime they were chucking money around and lording it up like local celebrities. A couple of guys were cool but some well..............

I used to buy Max P, Fast car, PF, FF, Classic Ford, Retro Cars, total off road and a few others now and again. But as broadband developed i stopped buying so many. I subscribe to ff and i buy retro cars but will get a subscription soon. The rest of the stuff i want i can find on the net. At an average price of Ł4.00 each its a lot to spend when i can find just the info i want on the net especially when you find a lot of stuff repeated across the mags eventually. I know thats the problem with mags suffering falling sales but i picked the ones i enjoyed reading the most and stuck with them.

 

i think ill stick with my fast ford subscription, dont realy think much of redline, fast car and the other chavvy ones lol i do occassionally buy practical peformance car tho has some gd articals although its a bit thin

 

Future Publishing (who do fast ford) are the right size IMHO
They are big enough to have reasonable distribution deals and a decent level of staffing for things like proof reading, but small enough to manage to keep magazines afloat on a far smaller scale than emap.

Personallly, if I was fulltime on a magazine, I would want it to be total vauxhall, fastford or redline, I reckon thats as close to a safe job as you can get in the world of car mags. Plus I respect the way they present the mags too

 

You clearly havent read redline properly since it was rebranded (the issue with Martin Hadlands escort on the cover) IMHO if you are lumping it in as a "chavvy mag" as its nothing of the sort these days, all the fanny etc is long since gone and they have some quality tests and reviews.
Their tyre test article for example, was absolutely spot on, really good bit of journalism.

 

Luke Wood is in the hot seat now, and having worked with Luke and knowing what sort of person he is, I can only see PF getting better and better from here on

I get what your saying though, constanly changing doesnt help anything. But I dont think thats what's happening here, think its more that people wanted to move on to do other things and having a little re-shuffle now and then stops things from getting stale.

 

i cleary stand corrected lol ill have to pick up a recent copy then see what think

 

couldnt agree more! i stopped reading it a long time ago due to all the rubbish i was not interested in, then had to make a train journey so ended up buying redline with the Norris Evo on the front. I was very surprised and thought it was what a good modded car mag should be about, it covered all makes and had articles on things that were informative and intresting. A good example of rebranding

 

Are you having a laugh? I buy it every month regardless, but the number of errors is frankly comical!!

Case in point is the boost controller fitting guide this issue - (Picture 8) - attach the vacuum pipe to the wastegate do you? looks like an actuator to me - fast ford.

Granted not everyone is as anal as me about proof reading and errors, but if you are publishing every month you should be.

Tell you what they should do is a feature "what's wrong with fast ford" every month like FHM did where you get Ł20 for every error you spot. I'd be certain to get a week's free diesel every month

 

Must admit the only mag I buy now (I'm a subscriber) is Evo. I find all the others very repetitive, and Performance & Fast Ford whilst being good I find are usually 'much of a much'. If you've seen one 500 horses Cosworth or 300 horses RST, you've seen 'em all........

 

I only buy Fast Ford, from all the car mags, accasionaly classic or retro ford if im bored or there is a epic car on the cover,
Performance ford is total tosh in my opinion.

 

Hands up - the wrong words went in. It was put in at the last minute, and the error slipped through. So what else it so wrong with the issue?

 

Fair play

 

fast ford for me on subscription and Performance French car for the missus. bout as far as it gets really, the features are spot on in fast ford as are the details and how in depth they go compared to the likes of max power etc.....as dan said its a one make mag, suppose that the likes of total vauxhall and the likes will be doing ok as well despite a wee downturn as well being a focused group to one make etc...

more than likely a few mags will be heading down the drain to the likes of what REVS did a few years ago.... proof that its not just the car making and sales that get hit when the economy starts to dwindle.

 

As ever the mistake is spotted the second the mag comes into the office, but it's always too late. There are few things as annoying as spotting a mistake, not being able to rectify it, and waiting for the first person to point it out!

The size of the team, and the workload means that mistakes are virtually impossible to eradicate, but I'd like to think they are few and far between and not as widespread as Bigchez suggests.

 

I'd still have a job at any of the mags - my dream job!

In fact Dan, you interviewed me for a Editorial Assistant position at Redline

Max went through a really strange period of being a kind of lifestyle mag, where they interviewed celebrities. What the hell was that about?!

 

Sorry I didn't give you the job! Which one were you, as we had loads of applications for it?

 

Who was the lad with the grey RST in PF, has he left now?

 

Nick, and yes he's gone.

 

Not as sorry as me!

It was a couple of years ago, although I did re-apply for the more recent position too.

 

I have pretty much stopped buying mags now, the only ones I get on a regualr basis are Fast ford and Performance ford.

Most articles I find are too dumbed down, and rarely give enough depth of what has actually been done, and end up as a long worded spec list, with a bit of background about the owner etc.. I do love the tech articles by Stu, as they are well written and interesting to read.

I suppose the biggest problem with a one-make mag is trying to keep finding interesting and new things to write about that will appeal to the target audience.

 

When did Nick leave PF? He'd been there a while, good lad - how come he went?

Rick.