Hpi Mag

[D-limo]

Does anyone else rckon HPI seems do be going down hill? The last 5 or so issues have slowly been pushing my position of an 'avid reader' to more like 'meh didn't quite finish reading all of that one, hope the next one is better'

Are they getting over comercialized? I feel they are loosing focus somewhat, in that they are trying to please a much larger fan base than say 2 years ago.

[blk180]

one of the SAU members was in this months mag i see. yer little shit of late.

[yogi000]

Does anyone else rckon HPI seems do be going down hill? The last 5 or so issues have slowly been pushing my position of an 'avid reader' to more like 'meh didn't quite finish reading all of that one, hope the next one is better'

Are they getting over comercialized? I feel they are loosing focus somewhat, in that they are trying to please a much larger fan base than say 2 years ago.

i cant agree more

just not as appealing as it once was.

[yoshimitsu9]

i also agree! i only read the articles with the modded to the shit house supra/skyline/watever and thats all that really gets my attention and nothing else entices me to read it. i do like the guides on turbos and wat not as well as that toyota century they were rolling the guards on a few issues back

[WazR32GTSt]

i hate the "product review" style things like hte seat review they had in the latest issue

what i like is the tech articles.. eg the atuoamtic gearbox overwiev was GOLD. i also like their other tech articles like when they have their project car (drift ca, hpi r34, rb24 project etc)

I have to agree that it's changed a bit but not all for the worse, except the product review parts!

[HKS_SSQ_BOV]

When i statrted reading HPI, it was best ever mag, but now, it seems i stop half way, and than finish reading it year later on. I wonder what ever happened to the Old school 240Z, that he had, but seriously they should start up a new project, maybe a RVR, or maybe a non-turbo supra.

This issue, HPI70 seemed bit to sluggish, but diffentily loved the part about old school nissan race cars, but it seems their just putting in same old cars, over and over with simliar mods, getting tired of seeing a GTR on the front cover, how bout a cappuccino or modded Stagea?

(Love the road trip when they went, that makes me wanna go to japan)

one more thing, i think HPI is starting to run out of ideas.

[Mulkers]

It has been overtaken, in my mind, by sister mags drift battle and zoom,

[D-limo]

one more thing, i think HPI is starting to run out of ideas.

Definatly.. And it would it's seem easier to adapt to the 'ricyer' style articles where they know they will sell X number of magazines per month.

Totally agree with RVR Hyper sports gear as a new build up car.. Awesome little car with so much potential.

I collect every DB and the last couple of issues(especially #13) have been a little dissapointing compared to earlier issues.

And the Dvd that was included in the latest HPI issue - Possibly the worst thing HPI has ever been affiliated with IMO.

I'm not here for HPI bashing in any respect, just please don't follow down the Fast Fours route!! Keep it for the real enthuisiasts.

Edited August 20, 2006 by Drift_Limo

[VB-]

another one agreeing here, its getting kind of 'boring' nowm and as some-one else said, i also love the technical articles, and found the one about auto trans to be a good read, as i dont understand that much about em. zoom has sorta gone the same way too in my eyes, with less 'zoom' technical, and more 'hot 4's' technical. still my 2 fav mags though

[Konrad]

another agreement here- when was the last time they did a buyers guide? 2000? it all seems to be hot4'sish in its articles now, actually theres another mag that went downhill so i stopped buying it.

Anyone remember the old school hot 4's? it had great technical articles, and proper product reviews (like they get 10 subwoofers and test them back to back with no biased opinion, these days its all just paid for advertising where they go "omg look at this new product its awesome cos....".

[racsov500]

its still pretty good. I like following the project cars and reading how they do stuff, instead of just looking at other peopels completed cars. The most interesting section was interpriment or something, in the back, where they would do a small write up on a more bizzare or unknown import. that was awesome..

[zaffa]

Yeah I agree that its getting somewhat boring. I like the odd articles however every issue is becoming the same cars all the time mods different paint and whilst I dont mind drooling over a 500ps GTR but seeing it as the cover car every month is making it harder to fork out the $9-$10 every month to pay for it.

Maybe we've seen it all beofre and we're just being too picky...oh and ditto to product reviews from me!! For example the seat buyers guide was a joke. It not a buyers guide as such more like which companies sell which seats. None of the seats were tested etc and whilst feedback was given on some of the seats there was no clear review of any product. End rant ...

[Links]

As much as I'd hate to say it, i've now been purchasing Autosalon magazine over HPI..

Used to get Speed -> HPI -> Autosalon..

I did have a 6 month subscription.. but it just wasn't cutting it..

Why.. well.. I find value for money Autosalon is better..

Not only that, but maybe if they combined the sister magazine's - drift battle & HPI, i'd probably buy it.. chuck Zoom into that as well and I guess i'd almost pay $18 for them.. becuase that's what I think they are worth.. I do like the fact that they have old ones chucked in, but if they do that to sell it's a worry..

[nfi]

I have to agree I think HPI are going down hill pretty steeply in my opinion. I have been considering writing to them for sometime but can't really put a finger on what has gone wrong. I think its just the passion that has gone.

Look at what used to be in the mag:

- Car comparisons comparing everything we care about

- Trips to japan

- Detailed unbiased tech ads

- Power ups of various cars

Just to name a few.

Now the magazine is just full of cars sitting in one spot with a spec sheet waffled into 2 pages. Pretty disappointing.

Speed magazine were very good at capturing not just the spec sheet but the way it drove and the excitement driving it evoked. You used to be able to read an article and feel what it was like to drive the car!

HPI used to have that passion for the cars and the industry but I just think they are probably a bit bored and lost enthusiasm. Need to get some new staff to bring the enthusiasm back!

To me the perfect example of this was the absolute joke of a DVD that came with the latest edition. I couldn't believe how bad it was. I don't think you could look any more amateur if you tried!! The old HPI would never have let that be attached to their mag.

[Blitz]

Bring back Speed Magazine

[WazR32GTSt]

i second the "bring back speed magazine" campaign!

but as far as feature cars go, they can only show what we, the import community, are producing

people are only pouring money into top notch cars, not lower range cars..

[Wink]

Third on bring back Speed

I even had a subscription to it!

HPI seems a little amateurish in its presentation - not many qualms about content though - whereas Speed was like Motor (glossy, excellent layout etc) but for Jap sports cars.

[blk180]

yer speed was great got every mag 1-22 i think.

[Konrad]

still hpi are getting a aristo tourer V as their next project car - should be interesting reading at least (these cars are one of my favourites next to the jzx100 chaser)

Perhaps we should get an e-petition together to send to them? i'll gladly sign. I think the problem is alot of staff have changed (off the top of my head didn't it get a new editor a few months ago??) i'm not saying the current staff aren't doing their job or anything just i think maybe they've taken it in a different (wrong to some??) direction??

Thoughts?

[Links]

I believe Ben(Editor or Columnist) is also on this forum - also runs otomoto..