EcoModder magazine?

[Piwoslaw]

There are so many automotive magazines, many of them specialize in certain areas, like trucks, hot-rods, tuning, etc. But I've never seen a magazine dedicated to eco cars and ecomodding. Sure, many magazines will mention that a new EV or hybrid is being planned, there may be a fuel economy test every once in a while, maybe even a special "green" issue (though not on recycled, unbleached paper), but nothing permanent.

When a newspaper dedicates its automotive section to performance cars, with 6-7 digit pricetags, 3-4 digit horsepower, and 1 digit MPG ratings, the article is written to make you drool. The engine has larger displacement than the trunk. Every detail of the car is mentioned as if no car could funtion without it. Fuel economy is almost never mentioned, but superb acceleration and max speed are repeated over and over again.
But when the paper reviews an economy car, let alone something really thrifty, suddenly nobody's drooling. Yeah, it gets 50mpg in the city, but who cares when it has only 60 horses under the hood. So what that with some care you can get triple digit mpg's when it seems like it takes ages (11 seconds) to get from 0 to 60mph, so the max speed is a mirage anyway. Sure, you can fit 5 people plus lots of luggage, but who's going to want to ride around with you? Who's even going to notice you? Yeah, it costs only 25 grand, but you don't get the exotic wood driving wheel or even the 120-speaker 5-dimensional all-around-inside-and-out super sound system. Bummer. Not worth it, unless you can't afford anything better. But next week we'll review something more driveable, the Abarth version of the Bugatti Veyron.

See the difference?

So if there are scores of magazines on cars, baseball, knitting, mp3 players, etc, isn't there at least one dedicated to using less fuel?
Or maybe EcoModder-on-Paper shouldn't make its way onto the newsrack? At the moment EM (and a few other other similar sites) are communities at a very high level. There is lots of info here and it is not diluted. There is probably more news to be published than in a fishing magazine. Does the art of fishing change so much and so quickly that 5 or 10 120-page magazines have to print a new issue every month? (I know that at least 80 of those 120 pages are advertisements.)
Or maybe paper mags are on their way out, and interest in saving fuel came around when physically printing magazines is doesn't ever compare to on-line versions?

BTW: How often does a driver need to get to 60mph in less than 5 seconds? What percent of a car's life is spent at speeds close to (above 80%) its max speed? Maybe a few minutes during the whole 20-30 years the car is on the road. So who cares?

[cfg83]

Piwoslaw -

This magazine does exist :

Magazine: Green Car Journal

It's dedicated to green cars, but not ecomodding. Here are some of it's articles :

Going Green | All Articles on Green Car

CarloSW2

[Clev]

Magazines are dead; they just haven't been buried yet. And frankly, shipping bundles of painted paper around the country isn't the most green way to go anyway. :-)

[Phantom]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

What percent of a car's life is spent at speeds close to (above 80%) its max speed? Maybe a few minutes during the whole 20-30 years the car is on the road. So who cares?

My car is never at 80% of its top speed but spends considerable time at 74% of it's factory top speed. The factory limited the top speed to 105mph (easily achievable) with the limiter removed the top speed is between 160-180mph so considering that I only run at < 48% of top speed with all else being stock.

[Matt Herring]

Most paper magazines have been reduced to electronic (online) subscriptions now to cut costs...but I like the idea of Ecomodder having a magazine dedicated to what is going on in our world and people/places around us that are contributing to it.

I have a few online subscriptions and they are great...easy access from my phone so I don't have to carry them around and the price is lower than the paper version since costs are lower for the publisher. Depending on the "hobby" or "business" there are still alot of people that like the paper versions to collect. Some people are crazy enough to buy two copies a month...one to read and one to collect and preserve!

[brucey]

A mini magazine (Zine?) or dedicated news site might work.

But as far as big car publications, they're only still around to sell you stuff. The last time I opened a car magazine, it was literally more ads than information. I counted. To top that off, all the information was just automotive pornography. "0-60 blah, skidpad blah, 1/4 mile blah" with a lack of information in real world driving situations.

But I dont know many thrifty people that are thrifty enough to hypermile save gas to buy a magazine to try and have more ideas to save more gas.

[jason1973tl]

I think there are more people like myself, that are growing in number, that find pleasure in trying to get the best mileage possible. Kind of like the horsepower wars, but with fuel efficiency. Don't get me wrong, I love my automotive pornography, but a magazine with real cars in real situations is the way to go. Personally I want someone(I guess I'll have to build it if nobody else does), to build a car without all the ridiculous doodads and stuff I don't use. A good stereo with 4 good speakers, and maybe AC. I don't need 5000 lbs of rolling tank to haul my little ass to work every day.
I do think magazines are dead though, the web is updated every day. I haven't bought a magazine in I don't know how long.

[Clev]

EM does kinda have a mini-zine already. (Click "Blog" on the menu.) They just need to update a little more often.

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by cfg83

This magazine does exist :

Magazine: Green Car Journal

It's dedicated to green cars, but not ecomodding. Here are some of it's articles :

Going Green | All Articles on Green Car

Thanks Carlos. So this is a real paper magazine? Never seen it...

Originally Posted by Clev

EM does kinda have a mini-zine already. (Click "Blog" on the menu.) They just need to update a little more often.

We need to update it a little more often. We make up the EM community and it's up to us what goes on here. The Mods are doing a good job as it is, mostly behind the scenes, but they already have enough work.

[Schelter]

Magazines are paid for by ads, and I'm sure after they run the spots for the half dozen hybrid cars they will run out of advertisers. Not like there's any big companies making parts.