Wheels Magazine - General feedback on magazine!!!

[basteve]

Oh sorry! Im pro Australian and that obviously is my problem. I like our country and believe practice will make perfect. Australians many of them rubbish what we make. I don't. I don't buy any Ford focus either because its not Australian. Only Ford Australia but that will die soon and there will be Mercedes Benz Taxis or Toyota's, Sooner or later we will make NOTHING! That's sad in my perspective. If everyone supported what we make surely that's a good thing. Oh well looks like in the end our industries will fail but there were some who tried to support it. As for the magazines maybe they are no longer bagging the battling Aussie product. But i stopped reading them. Who knows they may be printed in china? not sure maybe wrong. Too many imports will destroy our industries . Not many care about it looks like. Toyota are reliable perfect cars. Id rather push my Ford than have one of them. LOL Sorry went off topic a bit but the magazines don't rate the Ford Australian product very highly. Sometimes they may do but not often .........

[Kryton]

Originally Posted by basteve

Oh sorry! Im pro Australian and that obviously is my problem. I like our country and believe practice will make perfect. Australians many of them rubbish what we make. I don't. I don't buy any Ford focus either because its not Australian. Only Ford Australia but that will die soon and there will be Mercedes Benz Taxis or Toyota's, Sooner or later we will make NOTHING! That's sad in my perspective. If everyone supported what we make surely that's a good thing. Oh well looks like in the end our industries will fail but there were some who tried to support it. As for the magazines maybe they are no longer bagging the battling Aussie product. But i stopped reading them. Who knows they may be printed in china? not sure maybe wrong. Too many imports will destroy our industries . Not many care about it looks like. Toyota are reliable perfect cars. Id rather push my Ford than have one of them. LOL Sorry went off topic a bit but the magazines don't rate the Ford Australian product very highly. Sometimes they may do but not often .........

Pro Australian.........
And what country was your computer made in?
What about the clothes you are wearing?
How about your fridge or the food in your fridge?
Just like everyone else, your only pro Australian when it suits you.

[JG34JA]

I'm an avid reader of 'old' Aussie motoring magazines, even collect a few if a specific model is of interest. I've certainly noticed the changes. This is a reply to the discussion on bias or lack therof, rather than the OP.

Firstly, back then the magazines (and the whole country really) were pro-Australia. For example when the LC Torana won the Wheels car of the Year in 1969, local content was a big part of the scoring process. The Torana, with 95% from memory including the new Trimatic alloy gearbox was not only innovative, market splitting and well executed but it was Australian and the magazine was pushing this. The writing style, presentation and font suggest simplicity and many technical features are included. It is telling to see breakdowns of piston speeds and braking pressures reported and evokes a time when technology was quite simply more accessible to the layman, who understood it.

The drives that are reported were focussed on the cars, and the yearly spectacle of Bathurst was backed by road tests on our open highway system, devoid of speed limits and quite a bit of infrastructure back then. With expensive air travel (would air travel still be cheap if they didn't get depreciation perks?) the best way to get around Australia was in a good car. And there were some beauties: the XY GS 302 driven at 80 miles constantly between Sydney and Melbourne returning 13L/100km (very good!), the 350 Monaro on a ski trip, the P4 LTD doing similar, and the immortal HO up the Hume story for example, with a photo of the dashboard that graced a thousand walls in years to come.

At the same time there is a questioning of the continual upsizing of models from XR onwards - suggesting that the 'best size' for a midsize Australian family car exists at about HR/XP levels, and 13-1400kg. Sales of midsize cars in Australia today might suggest that this is still the case.

If you keep reading, something appears to happen in the writing by about the mid 1970's, as the market opens up. The journos see a generational shift and as the old fellows leave the new fellows start to increasingly question the domestic product, while noting its slipping percentage of sales. Interior space is not as well used; economy, ride, handling, specification and quality cop attention. Honestly, it's like reading about cars in Australian magazines today. The XD Falcon cops the review "Last of the Dinosaurs" for goodness sake! Unhappily for that editor, the Jurassic has continued for a further 30 years...

I can only hope for a similar 'generational change' in the editors and focus of Aussie motor reporting (and it looks like the internet will provide it) that is a shift back to what was, before it's too late. We are instantly globally connected now and there are rooms for many niches - why not one voice championing Australian cars? Or one actually publishing technical data in full?

As a challenge for everyone, try taking your favourite car on a drive/road test somewhere in our wide, brown land and report back on it, review the car as best you can in the old style of Aussie motoring journalism. We might surprise ourselves...

[ryeman]

I also think the latest generation of enthusiasts is a shrinking % of the population combined with the sealed-for-life white goods that cars are becoming.

[The Snout]

Originally Posted by basteve

Oh sorry! Im pro Australian and that obviously is my problem. I like our country and believe practice will make perfect. Australians many of them rubbish what we make. I don't. I don't buy any Ford focus either because its not Australian. Only Ford Australia but that will die soon and there will be Mercedes Benz Taxis or Toyota's, Sooner or later we will make NOTHING! That's sad in my perspective. If everyone supported what we make surely that's a good thing. Oh well looks like in the end our industries will fail but there were some who tried to support it. As for the magazines maybe they are no longer bagging the battling Aussie product. But i stopped reading them. Who knows they may be printed in china? not sure maybe wrong. Too many imports will destroy our industries . Not many care about it looks like. Toyota are reliable perfect cars. Id rather push my Ford than have one of them. LOL Sorry went off topic a bit but the magazines don't rate the Ford Australian product very highly. Sometimes they may do but not often .........

You would rather push your Ford than have a Aussie made Camry ?

[UltraRun]

A mate works at Wheels. Or rather, worked at Wheels - he resigned the other day. He reckons the joint is falling apart and in the last four months the editor, junior journo, road test editor and deputy editor have all resigned. That's the entire editorial staff gone in four months. And the editor of Motor has called it quits too.
Apparently the management is obsessed with stupid facebook posts and tabloid crap.
So don't blame the journos for what you see, they all have bosses too and that's the direction they have been forced to follow.

[ryeman]

Originally Posted by UltraRun

?.....
Apparently the management is obsessed with stupid facebook posts and tabloid crap.
So don't blame the journos for what you see, they all have bosses too and that's the direction they have been forced to follow.

Telling it like it is..populism and mob thinking will always win...

[BP'93]

Originally Posted by UltraRun

A mate works at Wheels. Or rather, worked at Wheels - he resigned the other day. He reckons the joint is falling apart and in the last four months the editor, junior journo, road test editor and deputy editor have all resigned. That's the entire editorial staff gone in four months. And the editor of Motor has called it quits too.
Apparently the management is obsessed with stupid facebook posts and tabloid crap.
So don't blame the journos for what you see, they all have bosses too and that's the direction they have been forced to follow.

Interesting indeed. Well my rant I posted on their Facebook Page didn't even get a comment or anything towards it, considering I had to tell them that "I" comes before "L" & "M" :/

[JG34JA]

Originally Posted by UltraRun

A mate works at Wheels. Or rather, worked at Wheels - he resigned the other day. He reckons the joint is falling apart and in the last four months the editor, junior journo, road test editor and deputy editor have all resigned. That's the entire editorial staff gone in four months. And the editor of Motor has called it quits too.
Apparently the management is obsessed with stupid facebook posts and tabloid crap.
So don't blame the journos for what you see, they all have bosses too and that's the direction they have been forced to follow.

But the market IS blaming the journos, as the magazines slip into obscurity. Bring on the generational shift.

[wrongwaynorris]

Originally Posted by JG34JA

But the market IS blaming the journos, as the magazines slip into obscurity. Bring on the generational shift.

The generational shift is why we are where we are today , Michael Stahls father Max was a respected quality journalist Micheal is a blithering imbecile , if you need any evidence of this look at his chosen photograph he uses on his page in wheels . Shock value and Look at Me syndrome . his fathers generation were all about the cars , Michaels generation is all about themselves . Look at me , look at me , look at me syndrome .

[ryeman]

Originally Posted by wrongwaynorris

.........his fathers generation were all about the cars , Michaels generation is all about themselves . Look at me , look at me , look at me syndrome .

It's called twitter/Facebook, social media (I've done more interesting things than you) hubris but much more importantly, dumbing down.

[tranquilized]

I often come out to bat for Wheels as some here no doubt recall. I think some of the criticisms made here are valid, but some are absolute rubbish.

I've got every Wheels issue from the mid 1970's till now, and having read them all I agree that the overall standard of the magazine and the breath of information has declined substantially in the last 10 or 20 years.

The photos are more 'arty', the writing more 'charismatic', the information generally less technical. I think there are a few reasons for this - less car enthusiast than there used to be, higher and more consistent quality of cars, the internet - there just isn't as big a need for magazines like Wheels anymore. So they need to target the general population. That doesn't please the enthusiasts, but there just aren't enough of them to sustain a magazine in the old style.

Just like the TV show Top Gear used to be a dry, info-laden tv show on cars - it got axed cause no one watched it. Since it was re-jigged and now focuses solely on entertainment with cars as the general topic, it's popularity has soared.

Originally Posted by UltraRun

A mate works at Wheels. Or rather, worked at Wheels - he resigned the other day. He reckons the joint is falling apart and in the last four months the editor, junior journo, road test editor and deputy editor have all resigned. That's the entire editorial staff gone in four months. And the editor of Motor has called it quits too.
Apparently the management is obsessed with stupid facebook posts and tabloid crap.

This is unbelievable! The junior journo, I assume that was Daniel DeGasperi? He was writing 90% of the magazine for a while there, and while I liked his writing style, I couldn't take his insights or verdicts too seriously due to his obvious lack of experience, and was a major downside to the magazine...

The standard of Wheels has varied over the years depending on who the editor was. The 1970's through to the early/mid 1990's had Peter Robinson, Phil Scott, and Angus McKenzie - all brilliant journalists and true car guys, and the magazine was great as a result. I think it went down hill big time in the late 90's and 2000's, but then picked up again when Bill Thomas took over in 2010. He only lasted a few years though; Stephen Corby is the new editor so we'll see how that pans out...

Originally Posted by wrongwaynorris

Michael Stahls father Max was a respected quality journalist Micheal is a blithering imbecile , if you need any evidence of this look at his chosen photograph he uses on his page in wheels . Shock value and Look at Me syndrome . his fathers generation were all about the cars , Michaels generation is all about themselves . Look at me , look at me , look at me syndrome .

Micheal Stahl is an internationally recognised journalist who has won a few awards for his efforts. I love his writing style and make the effort to read articles I normally wouldn't be interested in when I see he has written them. Blithering imbecile? Maybe in your opinion, but don't forget its just that - your opinion

Micheal Stahl, John Carey, and especially Peter Robinson - they're all highly respected journalists and as long as they write for Wheels, I'll read it.


But the big one that gets trotted out around here all the time - that bias towards Holden at the expense of Ford.

It just doesn't exist. I've just never seen it, and I'm slightly biased towards Ford myself! The people here pushing that line would only be happy if there was a clear bias towards Ford - that would be ok! But because the Ford doesn't win every comparison, Wheels are biased Maybe try actually reading the article and the reasoning behind the result, and take the blinkers off...

And they never stuck the boot into Mitsubishi's Australian manufacturing. Actually that was the only time I did notice some bias - when the 380 came out they were raving about the thing, even though it was clearly behind the game the day it was released.

Originally Posted by wrongwaynorris

That is just the last incarnation of over 20 years worth of the same . And isn't one enough anyway . They state the car is better but still give the win to another car based on " polarising looks " . Looks are subjective NOT objective so it is quite obvious to anyone with half a brain what is going on . Maybe we should let the cars go at it at Bathurst for a thousand kilometres and then award the win to the " Best " looking car anyway , going by Wheels logic.

I cant recall this ever happening. Could let me know when it did - even just which cars were in the comparison in which decade, I'd love to re-read the article you're referring to.

[Madaya]

Not worried about Ford/Holden bias. But whether a Ferrari can tow a load to the tip, or a Lambo can accomodate the kids to school. Would Daimler give a nod to the burn out crap? I think not. Horseless Carriage. It's a motor car, let's not freak out about it. It's just a machine that (horses aside) helps us to get from A to B. (Not A to A).

[Ford17]

Thread bump, and a cross link to the YouTube video section in the Bar.

Interesting to see the faces behind the names at Wheels back in 1982.