Classy mag, needs to lighten up a bit

As I note in my Car & Driver review, I've been a long time subscriber to that magazine. I especially loved it when David E. Davis was editor. Then, back in '86 or so, he departed to start a new magazine. A press magnate, I believe it was Rupert Murdoch, offered him the opportunity to start his own magazine. Lured by greater editorial freedom, and probably by more cash as well, Davis jumped at this chance.

So what did he choose to do with this opportunity? American car mags are not the best in the world. Not even close. If you haven't before, spend the $7 or so and buy a copy of Car, which comes from Britain. Car is at once far more sophisticated, far more thorough, and far more humorous than any American car mag. Other British car magazines are not far behind.

What Davis set out to do was create an American car mag more like those in Britain. I wish I could write that he succeeded, but Automobile in many ways still fails to measure up to Car. It comes close to matching it in sophistication, but somewhere along the line Davis lost the humor he had at C&D. Without it, Automobile can be a little stuffy at times. In this respect it is more like Road & Track than Car.

That said, the editorials in Automobile are far better than those in any other American car magazine. Thankfully its writers tend to avoid using the magazine as a vehicle for the expression of their own political views, unlike those at C&D. The columns by Kitman and Cumberford (on design) are often particularly good.

The strangest thing Davis did was eliminate quantitative road tests. All of the numbers published come from the manufacturers. I assume he figured this would allow the staff to concentrate on writing. It would also help the budget. As a result, this mag is not sufficient in itself. If you subscribe to this one, you need another to get some test result numbers.

Finally, Automobile seems to test fewer cars than other mags. I used to subscribe to it, but felt that there were too many issues that seemed low on content. Any issue of Car has about as much content as all of the American mags combined. Go figure.

In a next to ideal world, I could combine the articles in C&D with the editorials in Automobile. In an ideal world, Car would have an American edition. That's what Davis set out to create, but he ended up elsewhere.