(Made a couple of grammatical fixes on Sept 17, 2002.)
I first subscribed to "European Car" in 1989, when it was known as "VW & Porsche." As you can discern from that title, the focus of the magazine at that time was on Volkswagens and Porsches, and I happened to have one of each back then. The mag also gave a bit of coverage to Audis, and I had one of those, too. At the time, I was in editorial heaven to find a magazine so focused on my automotive passions.
Within a couple of years, the magazine swiftly morphed into "European Car," with a broader emphasis on all european car brands, although its preference for German cars lingers to this day. I estimate that coverage of Porsche, Volkswagen, Audi, Mercedes and BMW accounts for 75 percent of the magazine's editorial content.
Of the non-German content, almost all the rest is for British, Italian and Swedish cars. There is almost nothing about French or Spanish cars, probably because neither of those countries has active sales in the US.
Greg Brown is the editor of EC, and I find his writing clear and on-point. I almost always read his editorials. There are some other columnists; in the Oct 2002 issue, the only columnist was Kevin Clemens, who wrote a witty and smart story about trying to properly recycle things in today's America.
Other regular EC coverage includes a section called "World News," where there are short blurbs and pictures of new car announcements and products. These are often at the higher end of the scale... the Oct 2002 issue has coverage of the BMW Z4, the Audi A8 and the Porsche 997 framing a bit on the new VW Microbus. "World News" can also have a short article about a european automotive event, such as a special gathering by a certain manufacturer's faithful in a picturesque spot. ("British Car Day at Chateau Elan" was in the Oct 2002 issue.)
A section called "Tuned" discusses what you can do to customize (both for performance and looks) a specific model of car. In the Oct 2002 issue, it was a car that I had never heard of, a "boutique car" called the Ginetta G4.
You then reach the primary editorial section of EC. In the Oct 2002 issue, there is an article on the new Saab 9-3, a buyers guide on Porsche Turbos, a review of some fancy wheels for Porsche Turbos, a review of the 2002 Porsche 996 Twin Turbo, a gushing article on the Gemballa GTR750 EVO (which is a super-performance Porsche Turbo), a lovely pictorial article on the famous Greenwich (Connecticut) concours, a short fun article on a tricked-out new Mini Cooper, a good article on a tricked-out VW Golf, an article about a company called Wheel Power that supplies performance and appearance parts for BMWs, an informative article on the Healey Hundred vintage sports car, a long-term test of an Audi A4, a similar report on a Porsche 911, a long project article on brake upgrades for the older Porsche 911, a project article on racetrack preparation for the BMW M3, a review of some performance parts for the BMW 328i (exhaust and computer components), and a section on new parts and tools for european cars.
Heavily interspersed with the above is a large quantity of ads. These ads can be pretty informative and I have bought many things from companies that I found in the pages of EC.
As you can see from the article list of the Oct 2002 issue, there is a heavy bias toward German cars, particularly Porsche. The Porsche tilt is heavier than usual in this particular issue, but it's almost always laden with one German manufacturer or another. This is okay by me, as I still own two German cars.
The content of the articles is almost always about speed and I have a philosophical problem with this. I like to drive fast, too... but I will not drive at astonishing speeds on public roads, like is often described in the pages of European Car. I have had a car on a racetrack and enjoyed it very much -- this is clearly the place for putting the hammer down and finding your limits. Driving substantially above the speed limit on public highways is dangerous to innocent people and unlucky animals, and I think EC is far too cavalier when its writers talk about blasting through the desert at 120 mph.
On the positive side, EC has recently started backing up performance claims with scientific testing on a dynomometer, showing "before and after" charts detailing the effect of performance equipment. This is really terrific.
The photography in EC is pretty good -- sometimes excellent -- and much of it is done by the writers of the articles. Les Bidrawn, Tim McKinney and Ian Kuah are three regular writers who are also talented photogs. One of the writers (Sherri Collins) is a woman. While just about as drunk with speed as the rest of the editorial crew, she does bring a refreshing woman's perspective to her articles.
The writing is a mix of the straightforward (such as step-by-step project instructions) to the oh-so-California-hip about blasting through a canyon to that awesome burger joint. Although the magazine has gotten better about shedding its California perspective, there is still a fair amount of stuff that seems skewed to West Coast weather and sensibilities.
There is frequent coverage of racing events, which is of little interest to me. Obviously, there are people who read this stuff. However, there was almost nothing about racing in the Oct 2002 issue.
There are a fair amount of typos in European Car. I work at a magazine and can say that it is truly hard to stamp them all out... but I think that EC should work harder at this.
Finally, European Car is really a selling machine for the advertised products. The layout and editorial content work in concert to deliver you to the advertisers. My magazine does this too... but EC does it to a much greater extent. Since many of the ads are pretty informative, this is not such a bad thing. Just be ready for a lot of ad clutter, particularly for products that you just got done reading about.
If you like european cars -- particularly Porsche, Volkswagen, Audi, BMW and Mercedes -- you will very much like European Car magazine. If you want to find a magazine that gives you a lot of information on Jaguars, Alphas, Volvos or Range Rovers, you will probably be disappointed in European Car. And forget about Citroens and Peugeots... there is almost no coverage of these brands.
Recommended:
Yes
Primary Reason for Buying: Product Reviews/Information Recommended For: Hobbyists/Enthusiasts
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