Hpi Mag

[fr0st]

I wouldn't mind seeing a car magazine with a DVD attached full of track day footage, interviews, car show fottage and other car stuff. The only thing better than looking at nice cars is hearing and looking at nice cars

You obviously wouldn't be able to do it for every issue, but as a once off to get people back into the magazine it'd be great.

[R31Nismoid]

Bring back Speed Magazine

Got it in one.

Nice BIG magazine, lots of articles that are good solid reads. They also backed a lot of local clubs and stuff.

I like seeing who is around in the scene.

Skyline clubs, Enthusiast clubs etc. Good to see support and stuff surrounding what the "common man" does

1. I don’t think you can publish a credible magazine and at the same time sell products that are used on the cars in that magazine. You are hardly going to see a critical article on Ottomotto products. If I was an advertiser I would not like the obvious bias towards Ottomotto products in comparison to mine.

4. In a similar vain, they need to tone down the what I call “fully sick” approach. Where every single modification is THE best. I know it’s a tough line to tread, if you are critical of peoples’ cars, then they won’t want them in the magazine. But it does wear a bit thin when you read that a T51 is a spot on turbo choice for a 2.5 litre road car.

1 & 4 sit extremely well for me.

Also some featured cars, often are making some "interesting" claims.

When you know a certain setup isnt capable of 11ty billion kw's... but in the article it says it does.

Kinda leaves me wondering if the people writing actually have some idea of what they are writing about

[racsov500]

gay phrases like 'street cred' are seeping in

[gtr660hp]

Hi Adrian, I agree 99% with what you said, except;

1. My ethics would stop me publishing a magazine and owning an import business selling parts that are obviously aimed at the same audience as the publications. Maybe that’s just me, but I don’t see how I can be impartial when I have my own interests to protect.

An example, Ben stuck a KKR turbo on the RB24 and the results (based on my opinion and experience) were disappointing to say the least. But there was zero critique, if it had been another turbo (not one of theirs) would it have copped a bagging? I would like to think so.

2. Product guides are great, except they have deteriorated into a list of products/suppliers with ZERO technical input. My daughter, who knows almost zero about cars, could prepare a better product guide for potential buyers. It’s the editor’s job to get content, if he/she can’t get it, then they aren’t trying hard enough.

3. The letters to the editor are for guys asking advice on their cars, not for feedback on the magazine itself. Hence why Martin mostly writes the responses. I can’t say as I have ever seen a critical (of the magazine) letter ever printed.

Don’t get me wrong, I know how hard it is working against printers deadlines. I used to write 4 or 5 magazine articles a year and I remember the editor was always on my back to finish them in time for review and sending to the printer.

cheers

since when has selling magazines been about ethics-it all revolves around $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[ookami]

HPI lately has way too many Ads, i know ads make money but still its getting worse by the issue. Like the articles on the seats, how many times do they want articles on seats they didn't inform me of bugger all and was pretty much a 5 page advertisment for the seat brands - obviously their getting despret for articles. Also the content is at times very vague, the finer details can make the article so much more informative - ie spring rates, cam lift as well as duration, turbo configuration (A\R, Wheel trims etc). Also the articles are often written like a novel, how many descriptive words can you use in one sentance and still not sound corney??

[djr81]

Actually, just once, I would like to see the blah blah whatever buyers guide include SOMEONE who has a shop in WA. Just once.

[Chris32]

I stopped buying HPI every issue as soon as Drift Battle came out. Between HPI, Zoom and Drift Battle, its all spread way too thin

I haven't bought HPI for over a year now, have a flick through at the newsagent but thats about it

Went downhill a little as soon as it went monthly, then slid further as soon as Drift Battle came out. Still some ok stuff in there but its all a bit boring now

[d0p3y]

Drift Battle was a stupid idea IMO as now HPI is lacking and Drift Battle is nothing special either. If the two combined again it would be an improvement.

HPI just lacks anything different - it's always S13s and Skylines... SNORRRRRRRRRRR

Lacks quirky Jap adventure articles lately too.

Old issues rocked..

[Adam_RSX]

I've got every issue of HPI thats been produced and I've found that over the last year or two I've pretty much lost interest in the magazine. I couldn't really give a shit about thousand horsepower GTR's or shiny Silvias, they're boring and serve almost no purpose. When HPI started they featured cars that you could use on the road, now its pretty much just show cars.

Apart from the useless 'buyers guides' which they've always done but have lately been getting even worse, the other really annoying thing they always do is when they do a feature on a car show or an event they mention interesting cars then don't show any photos of it. Same with feature cars, they mention parts of the car as if there was an accompanying photo of that part of the car but there isn't one, and you cant see it even in the corner of one of the other photos.

I wish they'd show more Japanese trips and more backyard modified cars and more of the weird cars in Japan. More of a focus on older Japanese cars would be good aswell.

[Interloper]

the other really annoying thing they always do is when they do a feature on a car show or an event they mention interesting cars then don't show any photos of it. Same with feature cars, they mention parts of the car as if there was an accompanying photo of that part of the car but there isn't one, and you cant see it even in the corner of one of the other photos.

haha, i know exactly what you mean, i end up flicking through the 3-4 pages the article's spread over looking for the relevent pic with no luck

[xRHETTx]

CAnt be bothered reading the rest of the thread but i think HPI is going downhill too.

I remember a year ago or so the editor saying that they would never have big product "reviews" in HPI. And now, guess what, they have pages of wheel, seat, turbo, electronics, etc etc etc so called "guides". Its all just advertising.

Perhaps if they had critical reviews of the products and dealers it would be better.

It needs more meaningful tech articles and less shit.

And me i dont even like the cars they usually have, what do i care about what other people are doing to their cars with $200k budgets? I want to know what i can do to my car, the average person who maybe spends a few grand a year on their car.

[sigsputnik]

my 2c on this

- i used to like speed, not so much because of the magazine itself, but because it reminded editors of other mags that there was some competition in the market. when speed went away, we lost a lot more than just another news outlet.

- hpi is no longer worth it, to my mind. the sections i enjoy most are the project buildups, the diy, the tech letters bits and lastly the car writeups: mostly, i liked it best when the editors and authors went to town with their own knowledge.

- the 'product reviews' make me feel a bit of a dunce. in every case i've seen, they're not just shallow ads, it's obvious that the content is also written and supplied by the workshop themselves. uh, ok.

- i do not believe that product reviews must necessarily involve bias. it isn't the nature of the beast at all. have a flick through a music mag like Q or mojo and check the number of one and two star reviews. they have a huge readership because people know the mag can be trusted. the same goes for music and restaurant reviews: every now and then you have to provide a negative review to keep the readers thinking you're honest. so in the end, that comes down to...

- who do the editors want to satisfy? sorry, but there is no way i'd be advertising my own workshop in my own mag. i want my readers to see me as reliable and impartial. if the consumer stops buying the mag, the workshops won't be interested at all.