Motor Trend (1-year auto-renewal)

Pros: Its cheap

Cons: Too many articles on high-end cars. Every month it seems like they re-review another Cadillac, or another Mercedes, or another Ferrari. Its very lacking in the economy car, and mid-size car categories. They tend to care little about value or fuel economy and too often leave out very common cars out of their comparison articles. They almost never go back and rereview a car they featured a few years back, which would be great to see how that car has held up after getting some miles on it. It totally lacks any mechanical articles, which would be nice once in awhile. All in all, I wouldn't subscribe if not for the ability to catch a good deal on it once in awhile (.50 cents an issue or less).

Motor Trend is a rather good, well written car magazine for auto enthusiasts. The articles are timely and full of facts and opinions about cars, new hybrids and the like. The quality of the paper is quite good and the print is always easy to read as well.

The cover "story" makes for a big splash but it's not sensationalism: the magazine backs it all up with a beefy article exploring the car, SUV or other vehicle in detail. The articles are peppered with well shot photos that enhance your understanding of what the article is trying to tell the reader.

There are ads and articles for a diversity of people; this month's issue, for example, has an article on the latest Bentley coming out. I suppose that's for the rich. SMILE On the other hand, there is also an extensive review--with photos--of the Hyundai Genesis Coupe. I think it's great they cover cars for people in all income brackets.

Look for more interesting articles. They review a Land Rover's performance in Argentina where apparently the vehicle must REALLY climb steep hills; and they take a "first drive" look at the Mercedes-Benz SL63 There's even a brief article on GMC's Sierra's first HYBRID vehicle--excellent!

Of course, you were waiting for me to mention this--the magazine has ads. In fact, it has LOTS of ads. This is one time, however, when I didn't entirely mind seeing lots of advertisements in a magazine. These ads provide the reader with resources for tires, noise canceling Bluetooth headsets, automotive accessories like heavy duty, strong plastic mats for the floors of your vehicle, and more. That's useful for readers who want to keep current on the latest supplies for their cars and, in the case of the Bluetooth headsets, accessories to make traveling by car a much better experience for so many of us.

Overall, I like Motor Trend. It's not for everyone; but it's great in my book. I like the articles that enable me to keep my ear to the ground for new automotive developments; and the advertisements also keep me updated as well.

Great job, Motor Trend!

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I think the basic impulse for Motor Trend is to rank an auto according to its acceleration speed. How fast does it get to 60? A tenth of a second is world-shaking and important. So is engine growl. The men who wrote these reviews are reporters who try for a fair and logical assessment of the vehicle. They are not consumers who are shopping for cars. I can't recall an article that mentioned exactly what goes into a featured car? Not a word and buddy, that is essential and I'll tell you why. For 20 years I was the marketing director of a mid-size American luggage company. We made our product in the factory I worked in. So I was familiar with every part and every component of our manufacture. Then our owner went overseas to manufacture our exact product. Well it wasn't exact. It was far from exact. Instead of being carefully sewn it was stapled. When our suppliers ran out of basic components, they simply purchased different ones, inferior ones knowing our product would sell on its former reputation. A current example of the utter lack of principle is Toyota. It's a money game and Motor Trend appears to be in on the game by not scrutinizing manufacture and componentry. So I am naturally skeptical of imports because engine roar and acceleration numbers don't tell me a thing about the dependability of the hundreds of parts that assemble in a new auto. And before I spend twenty, forty or sixty thousand for a new car, I want to know a lot more about its manufacture. I often wonder what Motor Trend said about my Olds. I drove it without trouble for eleven years and sold it to a fellow worker who gave it to his son who used it for four additional years through college. And maybe beyond? otor Trend is still here and Olds isn't. Is there something wrong with that equation?

velvetman

Chapel Hill, NC

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Several times in the past I've almost completely given up on Motor Trend. I even canceled my subscription on two occasions. My main gripe during those times? Too darned many trucks and SUVs. Sure, that's what the U.S. public seems to want, and "Trend" does appear in the name, but boooooring. When they released Truck Trend as a sister publication, I danced for joy and then fell flat on my face when MT seemed to STILL spend 2/3 of every issue on hulking boringmobiles.

In recent months Motor Trend has come full circle and again seems to be focusing on interesting articles about cars. Trucks and SUVs are hardly missing, but in that respect and others MT is tremendously better than it was, say, two years ago. The transformation is nearly astounding. I can still remember the first time I closed the back flap of the latest issue and suddenly thought "Holy smokes, that was GOOD!"

Now definitely worth reading again!

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I used to read MotorTrend until I started noticing a trend of my own. Every time a German car was compared to American or Japanese cars, the German would always win. When Lexus came out with the world's first 8 speed auto transmission, MotorTrend said, "That's too many gears". When BMW came out later with its own 8 speed auto, it was described as,"Seamless". When MotorTrend came out with its 2010 Car of the Year, the Volkswagen GTI won. Why? The GTI lost to the WRX, MazdaSpeed3 and Mitsubishi Rallyart in every category including 0-60, 1/4 mile, braking, interior space, handling, safety, and price but still came out on top. I wonder how much VW paid MotorTrend to get Car of the Year? How about MotorTrend's comparison of the Mustang and M3 in the article titled, "America's M3". These are totally different cars and of course the M3 won. Price-wise if you comepare the M3 to a Cadillac CTS-V, you'll find that the BMW M3 has no chance in any category with the Cadillac. These are just a few of the trends I noticed. When a lame car like the GTI won Car of the Year, I had enough and never picked up another MotorTrend magazine since.

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