Zig Wheels out at Rs.10 a copy (A Times of India presentation)

rutvij · 10th December 2009, 17:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by ganesh_evo75

Thats a great news cause Adil is back into mainstream, and we all know Adil is an great person when its Auto journalism.

Yeah right. Adil was the person in charge when OD was launched.

I had bought the Oct issue and the quality of paper, photography and content was top notch. Only problem was the size of the magazine. It was difficult to hold while reading.

Asifgrkhan · 21st January 2010, 00:38

Just got the January copy.
Price has been raised to 25 and even the subscription form with has a 300/year subscription price. This has to be the fastest price increase ever.

Still amazing value if you consider the other car magazines.

Hope they do no make a habit of doubling the price every couple of months.

Mpower · 21st January 2010, 04:16

But still...Overdrive is at Rs. 125 now if I am not mistaken??

vasudeva · 21st January 2010, 09:21

Rs. 10 is Rs. 10 too many for crap. They anyway make their money from selling news space for various models/manufacturers. It should be free. At least then by selling it to the Kabadi, we get some value.

Sn1p3r · 21st January 2010, 11:22

I find Zigwheels and the articles to be bad, not below par but bad. It is just content writer changing the text of the USP of cars by manufacturers. No personalization to the content. Out and out an ad magazine and whatever the price all a total loss.

TBhp rules, secondly if I have the time I will read the same content on web on many websites. Our forum is top notch and a bible for everything auto. Soon all the manufactures will realize the same and invite us as well for so called "Exclusive".

A suggestion for Mods: We should have a mechanism to check authenticity of joining group members as TBhp is a force to reckon with and I fear that we should not be a playing field for SEO and content writers from auto-industry.

Cheers!

recshenoy · 21st January 2010, 12:16

I have never bought any auto magazine till now be its 10 rupee or 100 rupee. in college i used to buy them in second hand mart to collect pics of cars!

none of them cover in depth like T-BHP!

Asifgrkhan · 21st January 2010, 13:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sn1p3r

I find Zigwheels and the articles to be bad, not below par but bad. It is just content writer changing the text of the USP of cars by manufacturers. No personalization to the content. Out and out an ad magazine and whatever the price all a total loss.

Cheers!

I beg to differ. The January issue which I picked up yesterday at Odessey had a decent comparo between the Cruze and Laura and a good article by Adil over the new Bullet 500.

All magazines and newspapers are supported by ad content. If there were none, then you or I could not afford to buy these niche magazines with limited (comparatively) sales. I did not find the number of ads any significantly more than that in ACI or OD.

We should commend these guys with offering an option at 1/4 the price rather than begin armchair critiquing just of the sake of that.

Remember 15 years back, all news papers used to be 3-4 rupees a copy. The ToI came up with the 1 rupee introductory offer and all others had to match. Now 15 years later, the cosumers are still paying less than 3-4 rupees for our daily broadsheets.

Competition is always welcome from the consumer perspective.

Dont knock competition.
Else we would be raving about buying a brand new 2010 HM Ambassador Mark 6 or 7 with a 55hp petrol engine for 9 lakh rupees or a "sporty" Premier Padmini S5 with a 39hp petrol and cross ply tires for 8 lakh rupees.

rpmx1000 · 21st January 2010, 13:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by recshenoy

I have never bought any auto magazine till now be its 10 rupee or 100 rupee. in college i used to buy them in second hand mart to collect pics of cars!

none of them cover in depth like T-BHP!

No doubt about that , but it's good to have a different perspective too.

vasudeva · 21st January 2010, 15:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Asifgrkhan

All magazines and newspapers are supported by ad content. If there were none, then you or I could not afford to buy these niche magazines with limited (comparatively) sales. I did not find the number of ads any significantly more than that in ACI or OD.

There are explicitly separate and distinguishable ad pages which is acceptable, and then there are the ads and plugs in the regular columns, which is not and is in fact dishonest journalism. Why should I pay for that??

indianchiefrsd · 21st January 2010, 16:04

I never get the excitement about cheap Mag's. I like cars and I like reading about them like mad. Its best the info I am reading is real and true and not biased in anyway.

TOI is known to sell just about anything for the right price, who's to say that they don't do the same. I don't regularly buy car magazines cos I do most of my reading in the library but even if I'd buy I'd still buy an OD or ACI or TG even at a 100 cos in the whole month a 100 is not a very large sum.

But as a move for the casual reader Zig's pricing is right. But from the point of view of a Avid car reader if Zig's not "A serious auto mag" then I could think of better things to spend my 10 rs and my time on.

Mpower · 21st January 2010, 18:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by vasudeva

Why should I pay for that??

except...you are not paying. The advertising companies are paying for the magazine that you read.

The Rs.10 or 25 is just token so that ragpickers dont grab all the supply.

Sn1p3r · 21st January 2010, 19:37

@Asifgrkhan and @Mpower

All vasudeva and I said is that it is not great to read the same article reworded by Topgear or other foreign publisher and twist to Plug-in the car. I remember reading the comments on Jetta. The zig-wheel guy was so annoyed with everything without talking about the engine or drive but all the rant was for money spent on plastics and then he fo no reason starts saying I buy it over any other car just because its based on Golf. That is ridiculous, may be he was trying to be JC.

IMHO I like TBhp over any other. Lots of data that you can always intelligently work out to your knowledge.

Competition is good but that does not mean the direction is good.

Cheers!

vasudeva · 22nd January 2010, 09:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mpower

except...you are not paying. The advertising companies are paying for the magazine that you read.

The Rs.10 or 25 is just token so that ragpickers dont grab all the supply.

My point is that there are explicit ad pages which anyone can identify and accept, and then there are articles which are nothing but ads and plugs. I see this in most of the auto mags and increasingly in general mags. Maybe correct if a particular mag has an editorial slant towards someone (eg, Hindu, HT, NYT, WSJ).

ACM · 22nd January 2010, 12:14

Hi I subscribe to Autocar & Top Gear, and get the Zigwheels weekly every friday free with TOI, plus pick up the Overdrive on and off every alternate month.

Yep the TBPH info and discussion goes to much higher levels of depth, but if the appetite is not satisfied then one needs to go further and read the other stuff as well.

The Zigwheels weekly main feature is more like an advt feature and noticibly so as it is the primary article and there are only one or two smaller side articles. It does affect the credibility as i don't see too much research into understanding the topic while vomitting out the info provided by the vendors.

Of course we are here referring to the Rs. 10 issue rather than these free friday weekly booklets and what I wanted to convey is that the quality of the fee weekly booklets in not really great, but how many of the common readers who read only newspapers vs being regular readers of magazines would figure this out? So for the serious fanatic the zigwheels is a fast read weekly content, but it will in the present form and quality of (rather lack of) edit not impress, but the for the masses it is free food for thought and appreciated. This would leave an equivalent imact on the Rs. 10 paid issues as well as the brand is the same.

GTO · 23rd January 2010, 10:49

Maybe it's just me, but if I had to read only one car magazine, it would be Autocarindia. Also leads the poll with a dominating 67% of votes!

21st January 2010, 00:38	#47
Asifgrkhan BHPian Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 104 Thanked: 177 Times	Just got the January copy. Price has been raised to 25 and even the subscription form with has a 300/year subscription price. This has to be the fastest price increase ever. Still amazing value if you consider the other car magazines. Hope they do no make a habit of doubling the price every couple of months.
	() Thanks

21st January 2010, 04:16	#48
Mpower Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Bangalore Posts: 10,409 Thanked: 1,730 Times View My Garage	But still...Overdrive is at Rs. 125 now if I am not mistaken??
	() Thanks

21st January 2010, 09:21	#49
vasudeva Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Delhi Posts: 2,221 Thanked: 212 Times	Rs. 10 is Rs. 10 too many for crap. They anyway make their money from selling news space for various models/manufacturers. It should be free. At least then by selling it to the Kabadi, we get some value.
	() Thanks

21st January 2010, 11:22	#50
Sn1p3r Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Germany Posts: 1,022 Thanked: 231 Times View My Garage	I find Zigwheels and the articles to be bad, not below par but bad. It is just content writer changing the text of the USP of cars by manufacturers. No personalization to the content. Out and out an ad magazine and whatever the price all a total loss. TBhp rules, secondly if I have the time I will read the same content on web on many websites. Our forum is top notch and a bible for everything auto. Soon all the manufactures will realize the same and invite us as well for so called "Exclusive". A suggestion for Mods: We should have a mechanism to check authenticity of joining group members as TBhp is a force to reckon with and I fear that we should not be a playing field for SEO and content writers from auto-industry. Cheers!
	() Thanks

21st January 2010, 12:16	#51
recshenoy Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Mangalore / Bangalore Posts: 1,128 Thanked: 254 Times	I have never bought any auto magazine till now be its 10 rupee or 100 rupee. in college i used to buy them in second hand mart to collect pics of cars! none of them cover in depth like T-BHP!
	() Thanks

21st January 2010, 16:04	#55
indianchiefrsd BHPian Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Mumbai Posts: 74 Thanked: 0 Times	I never get the excitement about cheap Mag's. I like cars and I like reading about them like mad. Its best the info I am reading is real and true and not biased in anyway. TOI is known to sell just about anything for the right price, who's to say that they don't do the same. I don't regularly buy car magazines cos I do most of my reading in the library but even if I'd buy I'd still buy an OD or ACI or TG even at a 100 cos in the whole month a 100 is not a very large sum. But as a move for the casual reader Zig's pricing is right. But from the point of view of a Avid car reader if Zig's not "A serious auto mag" then I could think of better things to spend my 10 rs and my time on.
	() Thanks

21st January 2010, 19:37	#57
Sn1p3r Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Germany Posts: 1,022 Thanked: 231 Times View My Garage	@Asifgrkhan and @Mpower All vasudeva and I said is that it is not great to read the same article reworded by Topgear or other foreign publisher and twist to Plug-in the car. I remember reading the comments on Jetta. The zig-wheel guy was so annoyed with everything without talking about the engine or drive but all the rant was for money spent on plastics and then he fo no reason starts saying I buy it over any other car just because its based on Golf. That is ridiculous, may be he was trying to be JC. IMHO I like TBhp over any other. Lots of data that you can always intelligently work out to your knowledge. Competition is good but that does not mean the direction is good. Cheers!
	() Thanks

22nd January 2010, 12:14	#59
ACM Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Mumbai Posts: 4,745 Thanked: 4,361 Times View My Garage	Hi I subscribe to Autocar & Top Gear, and get the Zigwheels weekly every friday free with TOI, plus pick up the Overdrive on and off every alternate month. Yep the TBPH info and discussion goes to much higher levels of depth, but if the appetite is not satisfied then one needs to go further and read the other stuff as well. The Zigwheels weekly main feature is more like an advt feature and noticibly so as it is the primary article and there are only one or two smaller side articles. It does affect the credibility as i don't see too much research into understanding the topic while vomitting out the info provided by the vendors. Of course we are here referring to the Rs. 10 issue rather than these free friday weekly booklets and what I wanted to convey is that the quality of the fee weekly booklets in not really great, but how many of the common readers who read only newspapers vs being regular readers of magazines would figure this out? So for the serious fanatic the zigwheels is a fast read weekly content, but it will in the present form and quality of (rather lack of) edit not impress, but the for the masses it is free food for thought and appreciated. This would leave an equivalent imact on the Rs. 10 paid issues as well as the brand is the same.
	() Thanks

23rd January 2010, 10:49	#60
GTO Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Bombay Posts: 70,507 Thanked: 300,642 Times View My Garage	Maybe it's just me, but if I had to read only one car magazine, it would be Autocarindia. Also leads the poll with a dominating 67% of votes!
	() Thanks