I know it is old fashion to want print mags but I still enjoy them. After recieving this months Car and Driver I fear the end is near, it is very thin. Autoweek then Automobile and who knows which is next. I spend plenty of time on online sites but will miss print. If it wasn't for Tire Rack and Weathertech they would all be gone. Motor Trend is last to have any signifacant number of pages.

 

Motor Trend has fantastic "Netflix for car guys" full of shows. Some of the key writers now produce shows.

 

Sadly, February was the last month for my favorite, Auto Restorer. They ceased publication entirely. My sister worked in advertising for years as a media buyer, doing the demographic research and placing ads in the right magazines to match the target customer. They tried venturing outside of magazines into billboards and online, but it didn't work out as I guess it was just too different from their specialization. They shut it down a couple years ago. Not enough print magazines left to advertise in. I still get Corvette Restorer but now I mainly just watch amateurs sharing techniques on youtube.

 

I dropped my subscription to a favorite motorcycle magazine years ago when the editor-in-chief got canned due to disagreement with the "Chief Brand Officer." I didn't even know there was such a thing before then.

The last car magazine I subscribed to was Grassroots Motorsports, which I still like but I dropped because I was stacking them on the end table more than I was reading them. I suppose my changed reading habits are indicative of why printed media is fading away. I still get a daily newspaper, but that's about it. I need some time away from the screen.

 

I like both formats but need less screentime. I read print newspapers and the car mags left. But read all of our books on kindle and I read the rest of my mags on kindle as well.

 

I've always held Motor Trend in low regard because their Car of the Year picks are questionable at best and downright delusional in many years. Someone even put together a handy graphic recently to make it easier to tally up the mediocre vs the truly exceptional. https://www.budgetdirect.com.au/blog...ar-winner.html

If it's quality you're after, go with the British publications like Evo. They're significantly more expensive than American magazines because they're not entirely funded by Weathertech but even the ads they do have tend to be more upmarket, e.g. proper watch manufacturers instead of the sketchy one whose product is "normally $699" but can be yours for the special price of just $39!
Even the paper used is thicker and more pleasing to leaf through.

 

I don't subscribe to any of the major paper mags any more for the reasons listed, reduced pages and increased ads. Only time I grab one these days is in the airport. I always enjoyed Road & Track and Cycle World mostly for the Peter Egan content. There are some good mags like Dice and Hop Up that are less ads and more content but less ads=$60 for 6 yearly issues so it's a trade off. To any of my fellow cycle enthusiasts I cant say enough good things about Motorcycle Classics magazine; great content and minimal ads.

 

I do get into the british mags, Top Gear ,etc. Then the price starts to bug me. I think I'll try them again

 

My local library subscribes to something called PressReader and that gives me electronic access to 202 car mags from all over the world and it is free. It has 7455 publications in total.