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.
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.
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After subscribing to other car magazines I have found to be this one the best. I still receive motor trend and even though is good, it gets kind of boring at times (car and driver is almost the same). After reading Automobile at Borders I felt in love with it. The content is very refreshing, the articles are well put together, and they have sections (like the one where they analyze a new car styling) that I really enjoy and make it feel authentic. Every month, out of three car magazines i receive, this is the first one I read.
Automobile's long term tests are also the best since they actually update them online at least every week and discuss a lot of little details that only an owner will notice. Highly recommend it for anyone looking into buying a new car.
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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.
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Automobile magazine emerged from the creative mind of David E. Davis, Jr. who founded it in 1986 after leaving Car & Driver abruptly. Their moto: "No Boring Cars." This moto has largely succeeded. Davis left several years ago he's in his 70's so he's entitled to slow down and left the editorship to Ms. Jean Lindamood Jennings, also formerly of Car & Driver. Personally, I think she is brilliant, but Davis and the suits didn't agree. She assumed the position of "President," while Brit Gavin Conway joined as the new editor in chief. Jennings colum returned to it's traditional place on the back page. She is charming, sharp-witted, and just a share irreverant. Like I said, brilliant. Other notables include the incomparable Jamie Kitman and the newly discovered Ezra Dyer. Both write with a candor unmatched by any other automobile publication.
The downside: the magazine is a bit thin. They charge as much or more than other magazines for a subscription, but include less "stuff" each month. Their tech stats also pale in comparison to others. But if numbers are your thing, read Road & Track or Car & Driver. However, if you read to read, you'll love Automobile. Personally, I just subscribe to them all.
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It just doesn't get any better than this, trust me. If I were stranded on a desert isle and had to choose recv. the big four (Cycle World, Motorcyclist, Sport Rider, Cycle News) or Roadracing World, I'd pick the one issue of R&W every time. Nuff said. -ds-
