Team-BHP > The Indian Car Scene


View Poll Results: autocar VS overdrive - Which is better
1.Overdrive 211 23.92%
2.Autocar India 576 65.31%
3.BS Motoring 95 10.77%
Voters: 882. You may not vote on this poll

Closed Thread
  Search this Thread
89,184 views
Old 13th November 2006, 08:41   #136
Team-BHP Support
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 14,842
Thanked: 27,803 Times

My two cents

Autocar India - good perspective of the India car scene - only con is the nwest is best syndrome

Overdrive - They went downhill but recovered fastand are more unbiased. Good focus on sports

Car India - I subscribe to Car UK - the original- Initially, it was good but i is going downhill except for one or two bits on tuners. Good photos and only one person drives the cars!!! We miss out on the really good stuff that the Original Car provides- I renwed my overseas Car subsciption

BS Motinring - It used to be good but my impression is that it is a bunch of blokes having a great time. (my sources tell me that the auto manufacturers give them the cars last of all since they will trash em. If you note Mercedes avoid giving them high end cars so thy are forced to borrow from DC who will trash em anyway!). As I read Business Stadnard, I never bother to buy it

Auto India - that old chestnut - great classifed ads
ajmat is offline  
Old 13th November 2006, 19:31   #137
Newbie
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 21
Thanked: 0 Times

I prefer Autocar India and BSM. Overdrive is quite okay also. Top Gear lacks good Indian content. Not read Car India for quite some time so cannot comment on it. Auto India is all but dead. I just purchased a copy of What Car? India a few days back and I found it to be quite acceptable.
mysteryairship is offline  
Old 13th November 2006, 23:22   #138
Newbie
 
Z_addict's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 8
Thanked: 0 Times
OD'ing on OD...

All pun intended....OD's spread out articles, comparo's and tech spiel works for me. AutoCar India - never picked one as yet and dont intend to in the near future as well. TG - good enough. I liked the series on BBC UK and like the mag as well.

My work and personal interest beckon me to delve into US cars more. Here, i prefer an online mag ( comes strictly as an electronic/online mag only!) - Winding Road ( www.windingroad.com). Also, the quintessential Motor Trend and Automotive News are always a good read apart from sundries.
Z_addict is offline  
Old 6th December 2006, 17:55   #139
BHPian
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: delhi/calgary
Posts: 286
Thanked: Once

I think auto car india is the better of the two
rubin2006 is offline  
Old 7th December 2006, 11:38   #140
Senior - BHPian
 
shuvc's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Kolkata
Posts: 2,913
Thanked: 352 Times

December OD issue.
6 car shootout report - Mumbai to Kolkata. The kmpl figures for the cars in the inset boxes are different from that in the consolidated numbers at the end of the report.
They still carry their 27kmpl highway figures for the City, whereas both the shootout car and the long term Vtec reports show < 14 (If I recall correctly). Pretty confusing for readers.
shuvc is offline  
Old 10th December 2006, 14:38   #141
BHPian
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 373
Thanked: 240 Times

I am a subscriber to OD since the past 6 months. Since OD is the best selling car mag, I went for it. But reading the opinions here, I have just returned with the Dec issue of ACI. Lets see which one is better.

Meanwhile ACI also publishes What Car. This may be off-topic but are the contents of both very different or more or less the same. What are your opinios on WC. Should I buy both. Also, I like reading technical / mechanical stuff not related to any one particular car. Eg: How to change oil, internal details of engine, engine tuning, exhaust tuning etc... Does any mag cater to these needs and still keeping India and India cars in mind?

Thanks,
kuku
herculesksp is offline  
Old 10th December 2006, 14:43   #142
Senior - BHPian
 
drifter's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Bombay
Posts: 1,488
Thanked: 75 Times

What Car is less technical...it is aimed at a car buyer who is not bothered with 0-100 times or the whats the power to weight ratio. It covers topics which a regular car buyer would be wondering about.

While autocar is all about international content and topics covered are more inclined towards the enthusiast.

Drifter
drifter is offline  
Old 11th December 2006, 16:26   #143
BHPian
 
Raajiv's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Monterey Bay,CA
Posts: 263
Thanked: 5 Times

ACI is far ahead in terms of Coverage,Reports and stunning pics.Also,OD focuses a lot on MotorSports and International car scene which can be got from F1 Magazine and other leading International car magazines.
Raajiv is offline  
Old 26th December 2006, 18:41   #144
BHPian
 
RacingForIndia's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Pune
Posts: 482
Thanked: 36 Times

The guys at OD have good writing skills, but then thats it. The magzine is not consistant with its figures and at times you feel that it is trying to make a point because it wants to, not because the point is there to be made.
OD was pretty darn good a couple of years back, but now I prefer ACI (Just for the record I buy OD, ACI, CAR and TG every month so I pretty much know how the mags inside out :P).

Last edited by RacingForIndia : 26th December 2006 at 18:43.
RacingForIndia is offline  
Old 26th December 2006, 22:16   #145
BHPian
 
dustDevil's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Surat
Posts: 159
Thanked: 16 Times

I was a huge overdrive fan initially..... but then, as i started reading stuff from other mags, overdrive seemed stupid! My mind took some time adjusting to not being pro-OD but then it had to happen! Top gear makes a fun read and picture quality is the best.... but when it comes to overall quality, Autocar is 'THE' mag!
dustDevil is offline  
Old 26th December 2006, 23:36   #146
BHPian
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: umalla
Posts: 32
Thanked: Once

any reason to believe them?
--mostly marks given by them between 7--8(stars) for any car
---year of the car is not showing success and selling
----good command over english makes you confuse about their clear opinion about car
----indian road and traffic condition drive is most important and still not given importance
---mostly they are entertainment by company and so much huge amoumnt is spent by company so few drawbacks are not written
car compnies should take advise and report from team-bhp members for assured success!!!!
omvnbhatt is offline  
Old 26th December 2006, 23:41   #147
Senior - BHPian
 
jkdas's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Thiruvananthapu
Posts: 9,687
Thanked: 1,492 Times

Quote:
Originally Posted by shuvc View Post
December OD issue.
6 car shootout report - Mumbai to Kolkata. The kmpl figures for the cars in the inset boxes are different from that in the consolidated numbers at the end of the report.
They still carry their 27kmpl highway figures for the City, whereas both the shootout car and the long term Vtec reports show < 14 (If I recall correctly). Pretty confusing for readers.
yah, very funny people. Dont they have sense? chumma quoting numbers, should sue them for confusing people
jkdas is offline  
Old 28th December 2006, 02:52   #148
elf
BANNED
 
elf's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Bombay
Posts: 1,039
Thanked: 13 Times
No TopGear?

TopGear sucks!!! $#$###$#$##@$%$%#

Probably the stupidest magazine on the planet
  1. The layout's terrible.
  2. The colours are jarring.
  3. The print quality stinks.
  4. The contributors are relics from the past & in their editorials, can only blather on about 45 year old Fiats & long dead boring road trips.
  5. Typos aplenty. Looks like they don't know what a spell check is, & their copy editor can't see the mistakes because of his rheumy eyes.
  6. Who the heck is Anil Dharker & what makes him an authority on anything, let alone cars??!!!
  7. All their main articles are published for free reading in the Times Drive supplement on Fridays.
  8. They're complete morons - they'll go on for pages & pages about a car's interior, then publish one out of focus long shot where you can't see anything.
  9. The only decent article is in TG2 where they give you tips on how to buy a specific model used car.
Am cancelling my subscription mainly because Clarkson seems to have lost the plot completely.
Would've tolerated the rest of the crud if his two pages had stayed good.

Picked up Autocar India for the first time today. Quite like it.

Last edited by elf : 28th December 2006 at 03:01. Reason: Typos like TG... :D
elf is offline  
Old 28th December 2006, 09:32   #149
Senior - BHPian
 
sajo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Pune
Posts: 2,625
Thanked: 1,152 Times

I somewhat agree with elf here. The content is too garish for my tastes.
sajo is offline  
Old 28th December 2006, 09:53   #150
BHPian
 
sivadas's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 506
Thanked: 208 Times

Quote:
Originally Posted by elf View Post
TopGear sucks!!! $#$###$#$##@$%$%#

Probably the stupidest magazine on the planet
  1. The layout's terrible.
  2. The colours are jarring.
  3. The print quality stinks.
  4. The contributors are relics from the past & in their editorials, can only blather on about 45 year old Fiats & long dead boring road trips.
  5. Typos aplenty. Looks like they don't know what a spell check is, & their copy editor can't see the mistakes because of his rheumy eyes.
  6. Who the heck is Anil Dharker & what makes him an authority on anything, let alone cars??!!!
  7. All their main articles are published for free reading in the Times Drive supplement on Fridays.
  8. They're complete morons - they'll go on for pages & pages about a car's interior, then publish one out of focus long shot where you can't see anything.
  9. The only decent article is in TG2 where they give you tips on how to buy a specific model used car.
Am cancelling my subscription mainly because Clarkson seems to have lost the plot completely.
Would've tolerated the rest of the crud if his two pages had stayed good.

Picked up Autocar India for the first time today. Quite like it.
Being from the Times group(here in india), they are just showing their true colour/culture.
sivadas is offline  
Closed Thread

Most Viewed
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Team-BHP.com
Proudly powered by E2E Networks