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Chicago Auto Show: Motor Trend Has Wood For Tundra
Here it is in all its glory: The winner of the highly-coveted Motor Trend Truck of the Year Award, the Toyota Tundra. Just look at all those steel girders! When Ray (who had been locked up in the press room for most of the day) saw this shrine to the golden calipers, he just couldn't help but get an up close look. More »
Here it is in all its glory: The winner of the highly-coveted Motor Trend Truck of the Year Award, the Toyota Tundra. Just look at all those steel girders! When Ray (who had been locked up in the press room for most of the day) saw this shrine to the golden calipers, he just couldn't help but get an up close look.
4:00 PM on Fri Feb 8 2008
By marnold
2,126 views,
36 comments
blogging the auto bloggers
Truck Trend Admits to Hummer H3T Embargo Screw-Up
One of the big buff mag boys over at the House of Trend is showing some remorse over the Motor Trend empire's embargo-breaking for fun and profit. Mark Williams, chief truck-lover over at Truck Trend, is manning up to "accidentally" publishing their latest issue ten days early and revealing the new Hummer H3T a week and a half early (though curiously forgetting to apologize to Suzuki over the new Suzuki Equator embargo blunder). Mark says "...it looks like we were the ones who screwed up the whole thing...and no doubt the subject of a few heated conversations at General Motors..." More »
blogging the auto bloggers
Motor Trend Gaming Google on the 2009 Corvette ZR1?
While covering the Barrett-Jackson auction this weekend, specifically the $1 million purchase of the first "retailable" 2009 Corvette ZR1, we did a quick Google search for the 2009 Corvette ZR1 in order to pull up our old story on the new super-Vette from the General. When the results came up, we noticed something rather odd. No, not Motor Trend being the first result — we mean, come on, they're Motor fuckin' Trend — the fact that Jalopnik is merely a step behind them says little about us and more about Motor Trend's inability to leverage their brand name on the internet — and about how low they've let their brand name go. But we digress. What was weird was that they've got their "exclusive" "scoop" on the ZR1 set up in the "roadtest" section of their site. What? Do they know something we don't? Was there some super-secret drive of the new ZR1 they partook in with Chevy? Our sources at Chevy say no. So what's the reason? More »
motor trend
Auto Buff Book Gets Feelings Hurt, Not REALLY a Bunch of Sleazy D-Bags
I got a call — a 29-minute phone call, actually — last night from Angus Mackenzie, Editor-in-Chief of Motor Trend. Apparently he was quite offended by our little site calling them a "sleazy bunch of d-bags" on the Corvette ZR1 post we ran on Thursday for being the first to break the embargoed news on the internet. After explaining to me that they didn't actually break the embargo because they received a copy of AutoWeek on their desk a few hours before the embargo broke, and since a printed magazine sent to a subscriber is totally the exact same as a mass communication medium like the internet, he went ahead and decided to "scoop" the rest of the world by running his
industry news
Motor Trend Names Toyota Tundra Truck Of The Year, Likes The Alliteration
Motor Trend tapped the bulging Toyota Tundra as the 2008 Truck of the Year, besting GM's HDs and Ford's F-X50 Super Duty pickups. The trucks were pitted against each other at Chrysler's Yucca, Arizona testing facility, where the editors could have fun throwing them through various road conditions. They also hooked the trucks up to 7,500 and 10,000-pound trailers, just for kicks. The vehicles were judged in three categories: Superiority, Significance and Value. The Tundra just ended up being more significant, more valuable and more superior. [Motor Trend via PickUpTruck.com]
industry news
MT names Cadillac CTS Car of the Year, Needs Help Paying For Gas
Motor Trend has chosen the Cadillac CTS as its 2008 Car of the Year, attributing the win to sharp styling, great driving dynamics and luxury value — pretty much, the car rocked every category. For the General, it marks the first time in ten years that the company has taken home MT's top award. The Corvette won the Golden Calipers in 1998. Cadillac also has a special place in COTY history: Motor Trend's very first Car of the Year award went to Cadillac in 1949 when the award was given to an entire company, not just a single car. The CTS beat out the Audi A5/S5, Chevrolet Malibu, Dodge Grand Caravan, Honda Accord, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Scion xB and Volvo V70/XC70 finalists to earn the award. The testing consists of a barrage of track tests and a 28.5-mile road loop to explore everyday driving characteristics. And finally, in a sign that gas prices really are out of control, Texaco has become the official fuel of Motor Trend by supplying all of the gas for COTY testing. Full press release from the General after the jump.More »
industry news
Motor Trend Selects CX-9 as SUV of the Year, Calls It "Zoomy"
Motor Trend has named the Mazda CX-9 its SUV of the year. Weighing in at 4,633 pounds, the Motor Trend editors were impressed the hulking seven-seater didn't handle like a moose riding a walrus through a slalom course. In fact, the editors seem to think the CX-9 possesses a rare amount of agility...something that could only be characterized by a saying like "zoomy." But, considering this year's SUV shootout was unusually small, featuring only 11 vehicles made up of the Buick Enclave, Hyundai Veracruz, Jeep Liberty, Jeep Patriot, Land Rover LR2, Nissan Rouge, Saturn Vue, Subaru Tribeca, Toyota Highlander and Toyota Land Cruiser, we're hardly surprised the CX-9 came out as the "zoomy" choice. [The Commerical Appeal]
sold!
Primedia Sells Enthusiast Side Of Self For $1.2 Billion
Looks like Motor Trend, Automobile and Hot Rod — among many other enthusiast books — are being traded to Source Interlink, the home-entertainment distributor, for a wad of 1.2 billion dollar bills. Source Interlink's best known for their supply chain system that serves up magazines, books and DVD's to about 110,000 retail store locations. We're assuming with such a powerful and technological savvy supply chain operation, we won't be seeing any more embargo breaks due to "not knowing when the magazines hit the stands." But we digress — the deal sends over the entire enthusiast division at Primedia including all 70 magazine titles, 90 websites, 60 event programs and 400 branded products. That's right, branded products — like the above Motor Trend 10 million candlepower cordless rechargeable spotlight (available now on sale from Amazon for only $30.99 — remember folks, Motor Trend — the brand is a name you can trust!). Check out some more of the branded products below. More »
news
Second Motor Trend Blogger Takes Swing, Same Result
The Motor City
news
Motor Trend Blogger Attacks Blogosphere, Hits Self
Todd Lassa, the self-proclaimed "Motor City Blogman" over at Motor Trend's blog, took a moment out of his busy schedule yesterday to provide some much-needed commentary on the state of the automotive blogosphere. Lassa, who appears to consider blogging to be defined as running print articles on something he calls a "blog," takes a few quick and dirty pot-shots at the automotive blogosphere. We'll be providing further commentary shortly on some of his specific attacks — mostly because we're too busy laughing at two of his comments to do much writing. The first is that in an attempt to get to his pummeling of the blogosphere (how meta is that?) he glosses over the problem that the Mulally-Bush story was started by an icon of the mainstream media, The Detroit News. The second, is that he attacks trained journalists for "chasing bloggers' stories." Seems to us like maybe his problem's with the mainstream media and not the blogosphere — but whatevs, he's just a "Blogman" anyway, what does he know? More »
news
Sweet Peet D. On Motor Trend's Car of the Year, Again
We write many items in the space of a week. We know what burnout is like. We know how easy it is to fall back on time-tested gems like "notgonnahappen.com" and "the answer to the question that absolutely nobody is asking." Or alternately crap about Detroit that nobody but Detroiters would care about, like the Ham Center. (Which, to be fair, is actually in Warren.) And well, we feel like the Autoextremist has fallen into retread mode: once again, he's bashing Motor Trend's Car/Truck/SUV/Skateboard/Unicycle of the Year award. That said, his deconstruction is good, and we're very much opposed to the sorts of synergies the Sweeter Peter is on about here. More »
between the lines
Between the Lines: Long-Term Testers
Of all the sleazy little quid pro quos practiced by the mainstream automotive press — undeclared first-class junketeering, advertising that looks like editorial, editorial that looks like advertising — the long-term test car is the most offensive. I'm sure editors can think of 500 reasons why it's OK to "test" a Ford GT for a year. I can think of one good reason why they shouldn't: It clouds their editorial judgment. IRS auditors note: Buff books like Motor Trend are some to the worst offenders. They've assembled entire fleets of freebies; erstwhile journalists dip into the company key bowl like sex-mad suburban swingers. And when it's time to "update" readers on the writers' favorite perk, what's the chance they'll pull their punches? More »
between the lines
Between the Lines: Motor Trend on the Cadillac BLS
Despite the warm hotness that is the CTS-V, the words "Cadillac" and "small" go together like "male porn star" and "small." Cadillac obviously forgot to learn that lesson back in '81, when they released the "Cimarron by Cadillac". The badge-engineered Chevrolet Cavalier — complete with in-line four and four-speed manual — was the smallest, nastiest, most heinously over-priced Cadillac ever produced — followed closely by its replacement, the Catera. (People watching Saturn's decaying orbit should note that the Catera was a rebadged Opel Omega, imported from Germany.) And now, finally, the Cimmaron has a proper suck-cessor: the BLS. It's a Euro-only model, and Motor Trend's de-capitalized paul horrell likes it. More »
between the lines
Between the Lines: Motor Trend on the Mercedes-Benz S500
It s hard to believe a German car maker would follow the advice of Winston Churchill, but there it is. If you re going through Hell, Winnie admonished his admirers. Keep going. Translation: If your flagship suffers from an overdose of kludgy electronics, add some more. To its credit, Motor Trend s undercapitalized, unattributed, parenthetical (first test) mercedes-benz s550 grasps the electronic nettle from the git-go. To its shame, the buff book never once uses the r word. But if questions about Mercedes s reliability remain unexpressed, at least Motor Trend is willing to tackle the big issues surrounding electronic intervention. Like who actually needs this shit? More »
between the lines
Between the Lines: Motor Trend on the Chevrolet Tahoe
While the automobile industry gorges on gorgeous, unveiling wild and sexy concept cars in LA and Detroit, the real business of the car business grinds on. GM enters 06 with its financials on the crash cart side of perilous, and it ain t anything a turbo-charged two-door with all the luggage capacity of a grocery bag is gonna fix. Almost all the General s chips now rest on the little square marked GMT900: their new(ish) SUVs and trucks. So, is it a hit? Motor Trend s persistently undercapitalized (first test) chevrolet tahoe tells the tale. More »
news
Honda Ridgeline Named Motor Trend's 2006 Truck of the Year
It's a clean sweep for Honda over at Motor Trend. Earlier this month, the buff book named the Honda Civic its 2006 Car of the Year, now the Civic's truckish sibling, the Ridgeline, was named the magazine's 2006 Truck of the Year. The Ridgie, which hasn't been selling to Honda's satisfaction since its launch this year, beat out the Dodge Ram 1500, Dodge Ram Mega Cab, Honda Ridgeline, Isuzu i350, Lincoln Mark LT, and Mitsubishi Raider to claim the prize. MT editor-in-chief, Angus MacKenzie said the Ridgeline "is filled with innovation and clever solutions to everyday issues" and "encompasses all necessities a truck should have." (Except maybe a V8 and a full-length bed, but don't mind us.) The Ridgeline's independent rear suspension and novel lighting and storage solutions also helped win over the MT crowd, which considers value, class superiority and the level of "significant development on the new-truck scene" in their decision-making. More »
between the lines
