Local Car Magazine eg Torque

[Hishercar]

I have been buying on and off local car magazine for more than 20 years and finally thinking of subscribing to Torque because their Sep issue this year promise that they would be very differnt and bigger and better

 

there is something glaring is unlike their foreign counter part, their reports by resident writer including Dr. Winston Lee, Dr. Andre Lam and Mr. Christopher are often personal taste and opinion.

 

Infact, once I took the magazine along to see a new car that they had reported on which I would it contradictory because the car actually fits my taste.

 

So, in short, do you guys think it worth reading our local car magazine or should I go ahead and subscribe.

 

thanks

[Mockngbrd]

there is something glaring is unlike their foreign counter part, their reports by resident writer including Dr. Winston Lee, Dr. Andre Lam and Mr. Christopher are often personal taste and opinion.

 

 

 

 

isn't that what car reviews should be all about? Opinions and thoughts from the individual writers? If you want to hear good stuff bout cars, go read the factory brouchures.

 

And besides, no one car is going to satisfy everyone, if you are interested in the car, go ahead and try it for yourself.

 

 

But with that aside, i'd havto say the recently revamped Torque isn't too bad. Much better then when they had those 'girls' on the cover. it was trash back then and made me stop buying the mag totally. Even till today i don't buy it cos i've already switch to foreign mags. Gonna be hard to get me back to Torque after they screwed up

Edited October 26, 2008 by Mockngbrd

[Deathstalker]

I will not buy Torque, for the following reasons:

 

(a) I can borrow most issues of said magazine from the local libs, or I can browse it FOC@local bookshops - just to be a bit patient; a bit like fishing, I'd suppose...

 

(b) A lot more info, IMO, can be found on the Internet, i.e., engine mods, car reviews, than the one published in it.

 

© Save money in this economic crisis...

 

(d) Torque for this issue, is bigger, yes, but IMHO, the content still remains pretty much the same.

 

The only car magazine that I do occasionally buy is Hotstuff - this mag can't be borrowed & it's vaccum sealed, & plus it's chockful of addictive car mods & babes...

[Picanto]

this mag must depend on car ads to survive. therefore if there are negatives about a model, they may write a bit about that, then use clever wordings to cover it up. in short, its a biased review. at the end of the day, we must still go and test drive the car.

[Julian]

Yes, Torque has improved. Used to buy Auotcar Asean every month but now not any more as they should be called Autocar Malaysia. All ads are from Malaysia... WTH

[Relagsingh]

local mags are crap. period.

[Spas]

Writer opinions ARE the focal point of car reviews - as with all other kinds of "review-journalism". As readers, you try to ascertain your opinion's compatibility with the author's. If you find that how you feel about a car is like how the writer felt about that same car, then you can more or less find his future reviews note-worthy. Provided the guy's consistent which is one of the hallmarks of good writers.

 

But I'm no avid reader of car magazines - local or foreign. I stick to my carscoop and jalopnik and the occasional car shows on TV. They're usually free or already paid for.

 

Besides, the girls in local car mags as with the girls in other local mags usually look like skinny guys in bikinis. I don't know about you guys, but I don't have a Changi Village fetish.

[Babysaint]

I have been buying on and off local car magazine for more than 20 years and finally thinking of subscribing to Torque because their Sep issue this year promise that they would be very differnt and bigger and better

 

there is something glaring is unlike their foreign counter part, their reports by resident writer including Dr. Winston Lee, Dr. Andre Lam and Mr. Christopher are often personal taste and opinion.

 

Infact, once I took the magazine along to see a new car that they had reported on which I would it contradictory because the car actually fits my taste.

 

So, in short, do you guys think it worth reading our local car magazine or should I go ahead and subscribe.

 

thanks

 

 

basically i feel that car mags are just to look at pics no offence...

whether the review and ur taste of the car, i belief that the writer has written abt his/her personal view on that.. like many of us we have different taste.. =)

[Count_dukulangsat]

Quote "Besides, the girls in local car mags as with the girls in other local mags usually look like skinny guys in bikinis. I don't know about you guys, but I don't have a Changi Village fetish. "

 

I think you've been reading too much of Hotstuff and Hypertune...

 

Recently, I have been buying Top Gear Singapore Edition...quite thick for the price

[Retrochink]

The new torque has improved alot since its makeover. Ive bought it as well and its filled with plenty of interesting reads in it. Ive the oct issue already. But sometimes I will switch to Topgear singapore. If you have noticed it, actually torque sorta copied topgear here and there.

[Modykoh]

imo, the mag is geared towards adv and commercial driven. so the comments/review, we can take for reference but not as basis.

 

why not buy as when u feel like? unless the goodies bag cover more then the sub fee..

 

nows aday..internet is very powerful...

[Kyojin]

local mags are crap. period.

 

granted, foreign mags have far more access to exclusive interviews, technical material, because of their sheer readership/circulation.

 

but what they lack is local context. how it drives on Singapore roads, is it what Singaporeans are looking for, etc. no doubt, there's a thin line where advertising dollars can blur objectivity, but you can sense it quite clearly from the style of writing and certain phrases.

 

in fact, there needs to be a certain level of sophistication and intelligence - which some people lack - to read between the lines.

 

if anyone thinks he can do a better job to improve the local mags, then i think he/she should start contributing to them for a start? rather than sitting anonymously behind a computer screen, wasting their natural talents.

[Hishercar]

Dr. Winston Lee, Dr. Andre Lam and Mr. Christopher Lee

 

What do you guys think of these local reviews?

 

I remember not too long ago, foreign car magazine often sent their in-hour reviewer for lessons how to test and evaluate a car for reporting

 

I am not sure if a medical doctor, dentist and a who lee are qualified

 

nevertheless they have been a long time in this scene

 

 

for eg. Dr. Lam is a shareholder of torque so there will be bias like some forumers mentioned advertisement revenue versus impartial reporting

 

 

 

the reviews are Ok but often irritating with opinions like

 

a bit of

a slight lack of

not acceptable but to some may be ok

 

 

 

these neither here or there kind of reporting drives me crazy

[Julian]

Top Gear Singapore is a good mag but most of the time, i read more of the local context and see pics only... not so much on the british part.

[Hishercar]

it is not fair to what you say in the last statement

 

 

we are consumers and they are sellers

 

we consumers what certain things they cant provide and we are paying money for it and it is not free

 

the magazine is not entirely trash but there are some areas that can be improved

 

 

 

there are critics out there making a living being critics

 

 

therefore most of us if we can do their job we wont be sitting anonymouly behing a computer screen typing crap

[Yc86]

local mags are crap. period.

 

Agreed.. I buy Hotstuff mostly for the advertisments and such, see car stuff for sale also quite shiok.

Once in awhile they feature some quite serious cars, so its like a eye-opener.

But mostly its ICE and blinged out ricers, can sat its quite entertaining also.

 

But i never regard Hotstuff as a magazine to improve knowledge on cars and such.

More for an entertainment value.

[Yc86]

argg... coz of ppl who keep browsing the mags, its hard to find a virgin one

They should seal up all and only give one sample...

 

Like at borders, sometimes i go and all the mags were raped before. such a turn off

[Kangz]

I have seriously thought of subscribing to it, but put off the idea after realising I only bought issues with reviews of cars that interest me (ard 7 issues out of 12 in a year). It's actually cheaper for me to buy it issue by issue at petrol stations.

 

Good thing about local car mags is that they feature cars that can be found in our market. For European ones (e.g. CAR), most of the reviews are on the diesel variants so they are not exactly relevant. Well, unless you just wanna read about aspects which have nothing to do with the engine.

 

The bad points have all been pretty much summed up by the rest here. One thing I don't like about local car mag is that the reviews are pretty short and not in depth enough. Overseas car mags are better (not including reviews under sections like 'First Drives' or 'First Impressions'). Local ones try to cover many cars in one issue but end up covering nothing.

 

Oh and the pictures... I like to see a general picture of the dashboard in a review, and not close-ups of stuff like gear levers and the handbrakes. Some pics feature close ups of the engine bay but how many people actually care whether it's pretty underneath the bonnet or not? Most of the space are wasted on those useless pics imho and not really featuring details that people actually wanna see.

Edited October 26, 2008 by Kangz