In terms of outlook, Auto Express and its big rival Autocar do look very similar, both priding themselves on objective, in-depth coverage and up to date news stories. And with 30,000 regular subscribers and about double that number in total weekly readers, Auto Express has led the industry ever since its inception at the end of the 80s. Auto ExpressĪutocar may be the UK’s longest running car magazine, but Auto Express is the country’s biggest and busiest – no other publication even comes close to matching its dizzying 1,100 car tests each year. But it is still remains one of the foremost car publications in a market it essentially built from scratch. That said, Autocar may no longer lead the pack as it used to. However: A lot less specialised than many of its competitors, with only a moderately successful social media presence and an extremely sober looking website, it mainly presents itself as little more than a trustworthy news source these days. Its strong opinion pieces remain freely available online, and continue to stir up emotions and spark debate. One of their strengths to this day have been its minute performance detail sheets, which include, among others, gear acceleration and speeds in gears.įast forward to 2017, meanwhile, and Autocar magazine has lost a lot of traction. It has also expanded into emerging markets, founding an Indian subsidiary. Over the course of its more than one hundred year long history, Autocar has been in the driving seat of the industry for many years, essentially inventing the road test and premiering some of the most legendary vehicles. Set up in 1895, it boasts an almost uninterrupted run of weekly releases, a history no other current competitor can even remotely match. After all, this magazine was the UK’s very first publication covering automobiles. Autocar MagazineĪny survey on car magazines definitely has to start with Autocar. As different as they are, though, there’s one thing all of them have in common: They all offer both print and online editions, allowing you to begin your journey of discovery in whatever format you prefer. These are the seven best UK car magazines, from the big to the small, from the mainstream to the niche-oriented. If you, too, not just enjoy driving, but finding out more about car culture and technology, we now have the perfect guide for you. It should therefore hardly come as a surprise that printed car magazines have suffered gravely from online competition – including their own websites! For more than two decades, print runs have gone down, cutting in more than half the readership of some of the flagship publications, while forcing others to close down entirely.Īnd yet, car mags still clearly serve a purpose and it definitely looks as though they will be around for some time. This is especially true for a fast-moving industry like the automobile sector, which prides itself on constant innovation and progress. Today, the relevance of a publication is measured in minutes and hours and no longer in weeks or months. Ever since the advent of the Internet, the pace of news has accelerated.

Are car magazines a thing of the past? It would certainly appear so.

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