I'm surprised nobody has started a topic about the new updated Used Car Buyer magazine with extra added Honest John content!
Am I the only person that reads it?
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Well you have. Seems to be a distribution problem. My local WHS hasn\'t got it yet. And I haven\'t yet had one in the post.
HJ
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That's a shame, it's worth waiting for. A good read and all the better for your increased contribution.
Regards
Paul
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It's interesting to see how the various car-buying mags appeal to sections of the car-loving/cars-as-transport public.
In a flash of nostalgia I remembered the days of the mag 'Buying Cars' which I suppose was the spiritual predecessor of UCB - great cars out of reach when new, but tantalisingly just a small car loan away when 'pre-enjoyed'! Who could forget articles espousing cheap Porkers, Range Rovers, Mercs and BMWs to us folk driving around in Cavaliers and Metros...
It became the over-sanitised Car Choice, and some of the original mavericks (like a certain Quentin Willson) went on to greater things (like advertising cheap inkjet refills?). The old mag used to run great articles on car dealer lingo - describing a motor's features as having 'bidet' (rear wash wipe etc). I suppose the Internet has supplanted some of the type of banter I used to appreciate in the old mag - sites like HJ and Pistonheads.
Before the relaunch of UCB it was a solid, practical mag more in tune with today's market so I look forward to getting hold of the new improved version.
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I worked for Steve Cropley on Buying Cars. I used another name. How I got in there was by pitching another magazine idea at Haymarket, 'The Truth About Cars' (copyright me). Haymarket was worried about anything that would eat away at What Car?, its most profitable title, so bought Steve and Buying Cars and rather than buy my title idea got Steve to give me some work. It seemed okay because, like Jeremy Clarkson, Quentin's writing skills were breathing new life into car magazines even though my stuff was very heavily edited and I had to keep trading cars for the real money. Then Haymarket moved Steve upwards, appointed another editor to Buying Cars, let him switch the title to Car Choice (so he could go on new car launches) and allowed the thing to die. But that's life. 'The Truth About Cars' is now 'Car by Car Breakdown', so I got what I wanted in the end even though it took time. Steve is now a head honcho at Haymarket. And even the editor of Car Choice found his niche as an online editor with Microsoft where he is making a fortune.
HJ
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HJ Do you know what became of John Evans? He used to write very well.
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The prior version of UCB l;ost its way imo due to concentration on new cars or nearly new.. Boringly sanitised.
The new version seems better but lots of BMW 3 series description .. and very little on buying one!
Frankly although it is more interesting than the prior one, the car by car summaries are in such small print as to be virtually illegible to anyone without 50/50 vision (I wear varifocals as short sighted in one eye and long in the other).
At present I would not buy it regularly - but then I buy nothing car related regularly...
madf
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In reply to Paul, no. He went on to become editor of a Haymarket caravan magazine, then disappeared. 14 months ago I was testing a car with Claire Evans (no relation to John), who also worked on Buying Cars and she didn't know what happened to John either.
HJ
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As I say on the Mike Brewer thread there is a real gap in the market for a publication of this sort, but HJ's story about changing the name so the editer could go on new car launches seems to prove my point that the blandishmnets of the car indusry are hard to resist.
The new Top Gear is another example, supposed to be Clarkson's rejection of the industry excesses then they spend the whole series banging on about stuff like the Konisberg which lets be honest (john) most of us will never see let alone drive/own.
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I think the new UCB is great - actually just started my subscription because of new presentation.
I only have 2 mags now on subs - EVO and UCB. might just cancel my EVO sub but thats another thread....
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I cancelled UCB a few months ago because it had become 'used £20'000 car buyer.' I also recently cancelled Autoexpress because of that baffoon Rutherford. His recent rant about being held up following a fatal accident was the last straw.
So, I've took the plunge and ordered What Car. It seems to stick to useful tests of ordinary cars. A rare thing indeed these days.
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John Evans is now Editor of Classic FM magazine. He gave me a couple of mentions in Autocar way back when. Seemed like an OK guy.
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I'm pleased to hear John's done well. I always thought he deserved to succeed, but the good guys don't always come out on top do they!
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I worked for Steve Cropley on Buying Cars
...and how that brings back a few memories. Not just HJ by another name, Quentin before he became famous, but also people like Richard Wilsher and his tales from the inspection pit. A real gem.
Briliant magazine when it was independent, but it was never going to be long before one of the publishing monoliths came along, made Croppers an offer he couldn't refuse...and then did the usual corporate thing and sucked the life out of it. Mate of mine described the culture at one of the usual publishing suspects as akin to a dark alley where original ideas were lured and quietly strangled so that they could continue to churn out the same old tosh as everybody else.
Odd thing is, there are more magazines than ever on the market. The odd one does a decent job in its niche, but I really struggle to find a broad-based mag that isn't either full of teenagers driving cars they'll never afford and writing sub-Clarkson drivel, too much like a printed anorak, or secretly aimed at car dealers (Autocar). Used to like Car but that's been well and truly EMAP'd since it left London; absolute shadow of its former self.
What Car is okay, but, to quote a certain song, I still haven't found what I'm looking for
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Well, well. HJ at Buying Cars along with ex-Car Cropley. So that's where he came from!
I well remember a series of articles about a Porsche 911 that Cropley ran to see how affordable Porker supercar motoring could be - naturally they got good deals and a good car by using trade contacts and know-how. Jeez I was envious!
As I recently said in another thread, What Car? is actually full of sound (new) car-buying advice and bags of data. Sounds boring but v useful. Autocar: repositioned for a 'younger' audience dotty about horsepower, top speed and 0-60, but quite good for the more exotic motors.
Other big motoring titles? Forget 'em.
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