Send to a friendTT April 30th, 2007 12:30 PM Link
I don’t see a problem with the redesign and I’m a subscriber for many years. Things change, people need to get over it.
Car And Driver Magazine Continues To Receive Redesign Flack
Written By: Chris Paukert
Car and Driver readers continue to be incensed over the magazine’s controversial redesign, and after a curt response in March’s Backfires column to reader letters by Ed. (“We paid big bucks for this redesign, and we ain’t going back.”), the magazine may just be reconsidering their stance.
In a print-only, full-page article in the June issue’s Upfront (entitled “Redesign Hate Mail”); C&D informs us that they received even more hate mail, with the tally running “139 to 8 against the redesign and our attitude.” That means that their cumulative tally (by their count) was 303 to 21. Ouch.
The powers that be decided to parse and print a whole ream of missives, the overwhelming majority of which were vitriol-filled. A sample:
“…This thing is not a joy. It is something only a mother could love. Hey, you’ve merely destroyed a kid’s childhood. That’s okay, things change. You are the future. You can’t even get your Web site right. I couldn’t find the unsubscribe button.”
“…frankly, it’s like seeing your teenage daughter come home with a stud in her tongue. You still love her, but it’s painful to look at.”
“You have turned the magazine into BMW’s iDrive.”
The fact that they continue to print so much hate mail makes us wonder: Perhaps C&D’s editors didn’t jump out the redesign window—maybe they were pushed? It’s entirely possible (likely, even), that the questionable new look was foisted upon them by their publisher, Hachette Fillipacchi. After all, their editors needn’t have been so “full disclosure” about the ensuing mess, but they’ve chosen to be—perhaps because the only way they could take issue with their defenestration was not in the boardroom, but instead in the pages of their own magazine?
The article (page 48, for you fellow subscribers), finishes on a hopeful note—the editorial staff appears to have been genuinely caught off guard by their readership’s negative reaction, and they close with this:
“But keep your eyes on these pages. Maybe we have run over our own foot. A redesign always has elements of a work in progress, and we’ll likely be making tweaks in the months ahead. In the meantime, we’ve got Ed. Signed up for a Dale Carnegie course. [Won’t do a bit of good—Ed.]”
With many WINDING ROAD staffers and contributors having had their words published in C&D—not to mention many friends on its staff (and most of the rest of us having been faithful readers and subscribers for years), we can only say that we hope that our cross-town neighbors at Hogback Road can put things right, because we still enjoy the read.
25 Comments
TT April 30th, 2007 12:38 PM Link
My last yearly subscription cost around $3 / yr to C&D, so I expected a lot of ad filled pages. My Car Magazine (UK) subscription costs somewhere like $80 USD / yr so I expect a little better, and they deliver.
Mark April 30th, 2007 12:39 PM Link
I’ve been reading C&D for decades. The redesign is fine and not a big deal. Apparently some people have life pretty good if they can spend all their energy complaining about a magazine re-design.
JW April 30th, 2007 1:13 PM Link
I don’t see anything wrong with an update…but like they say “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Jeff April 30th, 2007 2:26 PM Link
I don’t have a problem with it. There’s a bit too much yellow for my tastes, but it’s not a deal breaker for me. I like the acceleration results more, in particular, but it’s not as bad as everyone says it is.
It will never come close to Road & Tracks data page. That thing must have been designed by god.
Ralph April 30th, 2007 2:28 PM Link
Quit long ago. Boring. Self-absorbed. Trite.
Hasn’t been worth s–t since Davis left.
Drew April 30th, 2007 2:54 PM Link
I don’t have a problem with the redesign, either. Because the redesign is so major, that created backlash. There have been magazine reworks many times in the past, but we’re in a more cynical era where negative voices are commonly expressed. The magazine is thinner, and I know that has fueled resentment among newsstand buyers and subscribers alike. I think the layout has improved. I didn’t care for C&D’s previous format. It was better than Road & Track’s, but behind Motor Trend. It seemed cluttered and thin on substance. The C&D publishing staff did print reader complaints, and that is something to respect. Does anyone think C&D will go back to its old format? Of course not. I’m not a devout C&D reader, so I’m not crying over this matter.
jacksprat April 30th, 2007 3:10 PM Link
I looked at my first redesign-era CandD and the words, “What on Earth have they done here?” jumped from my mouth. I’ve rarely enjoyed CandD at any rate, but I don’t understand their redesign. It was sort of thrown on us like a Pontiac Aztek.
To see the difference between this feeble attempt to get current with the competition, and the masterful job done over at Motor Trend under a new administration, I begin to think that the cobweb-laced halls of CandD need new life at the very core before any re-do really matters to us and/or carries the book into the new world. There is such a thing (and much more often now) these days as overextending one’s administration, Mr. Csere.
CandD is an iconic brand and if its going to re-present itself it at least needs to do so attractively and not as if way too many cooks were in the kitchen scooching crap around. It hasn’t been a sexy book carefully crafted since Davis left, I agree, and now they’ve managed to make it less sexy still.
Diego Rodriguez April 30th, 2007 3:34 PM Link
Oh, the redesign is really good if you’re a purveyor of yellow ink… other than that, it lacks any shred of the elegance which was the hallmark of C&D circa 1980. Bummer.
Reilly Brennan April 30th, 2007 3:40 PM Link
Sorry, but: The best print magazine redesigns in America today are taking place in the shopping/female interest category. Go to the news stand and do an A/B comparison between five American shopping magazines and five American car magazines. It’s actually quite sad. As a magazine-obsessed consumer for decades it’s strange that the car magazines continue to design themselves into 1994.
On the other hand, nobody was reading Car and Driver for the great design, anyway. This is both a good and bad thing.
The Stig April 30th, 2007 3:44 PM Link
You’re kidding about MT’s transition right? “Masterful”? That magazine has sucked so bad as of late that I actually let my subscription lapse after 15 years of reading it. It’s some of the worst gibberish I’ve ever read in my life. And I haven’t missed it. I don’t really care for the redone look of C&D either, but at least the content entertains me so I don’t mind as much. It’s not the end of the world.
That same editorial in C&D made a good point when the editor commented “People only write in when they are mad” or something to that effect. By and large that’s true. Taken in context, and reading the comments presented here, maybe most people just don’t care enough to get that worked up about it. If you read any car specific forum on the net, any car will start to sound like a junker. Why? Because by and large people post issues or problems. You almost never see posts that say “Hey my car started and run flawlessly today! And yesterday! And all of last month!”
303 letters of hate out of how many subscribers? Doesn’t sound like it’s truly that big of a deal to me.
Jeb April 30th, 2007 4:09 PM Link
People bitch. More so now than ever, now that there’s an easier forum to do it. The redesign’s no deal-breaker for me, but I do wish there might be a little more of the long-format articles like JPIII’s drive across the Himalayas. I’m so happy they reprinted that in one of the 50th anniversary issues.
Now, the big question…who else misses MPH?
Eddie April 30th, 2007 4:59 PM Link
I do!
Don April 30th, 2007 5:17 PM Link
C&D’s redesign is simply too modern.
To wit:
The horrible penchant to promote the website on EVERY DAMN PAGE OF THE MAGAZINE! Who cares about the website?! If I wanted the website, I wouldn’t buy the magazine! Damn!
Also, the extra horrible penchant for that butt-ugly highlighted yellow text. It make me blind. It makes me ornery. I hate it. Period.
Lastly, Patrick Bedard’s columns. Literally the most boring crap on the face of the planet. He could learn something from John Phillips.
One good thing, though…C&D continues to give us reviews and comparions on cars we can AFFORD. I do appreciate that.
Kal April 30th, 2007 5:18 PM Link
I would agree with what Jeff said above. R&T got their data page right, its easy to read and concise. I’ve actually stopped looking at C&D’s data pages, I just figure R&T will have the same review within a month or so anyways.
E.Z. April 30th, 2007 5:22 PM Link
What’s MPH?
Veg-A-Mite Sandwich April 30th, 2007 6:13 PM Link
C&D has some decent editorial with the exception of Bedard whose articles are often boring, political and unfactual to the point of annoyance. Thank God they jettisoned Yates. Philips writes the most entertaining articles in the industry; he is clearly their saving grace. Csebe writes a decent column. The redesign, eh, I could take it or leave it, but it’s not as bad as people say.
R&T has a great design, but their editorial is crap. It takes me about 10 minutes to get through an issue cover to cover. I’ve found that many times in their one-page write-ups, they don’t even give pertinent facts like mpg and price. I can’t tell you how frustrating that is as a reader. Plus most of their articles are yawners except for a few by Peter Egan. I won’t be renewing my sub this year.
Drew April 30th, 2007 6:21 PM Link
E.Z.:
MPH was a low-budget magazine targeting horny, under-sexed guys who read Maxim and FHM. It was a blend of Motor Trend meets Stuff, but with less than either. (Yes, that is possible.) In a last-ditch effort to find readers, MPH lowered its listing price to $2.
It wasn’t enough.
Guys, the best magazine was Motor Trend Classic, which faded out due to lack of advertisers. Apparently, AutoWeek and Automobile could be following it soon.
Michael April 30th, 2007 9:41 PM Link
If i cared about the magazines, I wouldn’t be here. The internet is the best place for information, bar none, and WR does a really good job of presenting it.
Plus, my girlfriend can’t bitch about all the old WR’s piled up in the bedroom. It’s a win-win.
Ken May 1st, 2007 8:53 AM Link
Oh dear, I’m torn between my opportunity to preach on the evils of Primedia and how much I dislike the new layout of C&D compared to the old. I’ll take the neutral high-road and respond to Micheal and say that, while the G/F can’t complain about the magazines cluttering the house, she can complain about when you start deleting pictures of her to make room off the hard-drive for all the issues of the magazine. Also, I agree that R&T has the best tech boxes but lacks in almost all other ways compared to C&D.
A. Wofford May 1st, 2007 5:07 PM Link
Since C&D Ed never tried to, I’m not going to make a logical augment here. I just don’t like it.
I have considered writing in, but I really don’t have time to try to change the minds of these arrogant idiots — they have told us in no uncertain terms; they don’t care anyway. Maybe they are hoping to drive their print subscribers to the website? That’s not going to work, have you seen that “masterpiece” — well, it’s a “piece” anyway.
Regardless of their reasoning or any indication that they may reconsider, I would simply let my un-renewed subscription speak for me. Nevertheless, seeing how much I have liked the magazine for nearly a decade, and the fact that I’m paid up for several in advance years now, I just can’t bring myself to cancel. I have recently been given a gift subscription to R&T, which like most, is a rag. I still can’t quite find anything which better suits me than C&D. So I have settled on being discontent with a magazine I had always liked. However, online resources like WR and my free print subscription to AutoWeek may soon absolve me of that guilt.
-A. Wofford
Macon, GA
P.S. I think I will just forward them this post. Maybe they will listen while they still have a chance.
MGBYG May 2nd, 2007 8:35 AM Link
I whole-heartedly agree with the notion that they have turned their data page into i-Drive…
In other words: They have gone with an aesthetic/design language that is too complex for its placement. Do you want to surf through “Windows” at 80 mph? No, a dial to turn up the tunes is all you need. They have tried to “Microsoft” the data sheet into some interactive powerpoint/excel graphic on a dead printed page.
They have failed as the data is actually more difficult to interpret. Each story and appropriate data has become longer than the average poop.
Blog About Toyota Cars » Blog Archive » Print? May 14th, 2007 12:59 AM Link
[…] Winding Road reports: Car And Driver Magazine Continues To Receive Redesign Flack. It’s not that… people give a damn about the layout of a magazine? We can understand, of course, that people have a love/hate relationship with all things cars, but we were just taken aback by people talking about it. We don’t know anyone, at this point, who gets any car magazines in print. […]
Robert Willis August 5th, 2007 7:57 PM Link
Hello Guys: I’ve loved Car & Driver as a regular reader for the past 40 years, and it’s painful to see what’s been done to the magazine in the name of being ‘current’, I’m also an artist with a penchant for great graphic design. GOOD GRIEF - it looks like you took a gung ho designer
with far more enthusiasm than skills; one who had no idea what the product was, or how it was used, and no understanding of readability!
Issues? Painfully super bold headlines that would stand out from across the room, as if winning design awards was the only interest. Okay, so they can ber seen across the room . . . . but they’re a HEADACHE sitting
in your face! Plus the data panels are the most anti-readable pages of garbage I’ve ever seen in a car magazine. They’re too miserable to even
try to read.
If the editor thinks spending big bucks for redesign assures success …. I think he ought to consider finding talent instead. Biting the bullet on this fiasco, and respecting loyal readers, would be a winner.
- R. Willis
Raleigh/NC
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