Filed under: Aftermarket, Tuners, Lifestyle, Rumormill
Rumormill: Turbo & High-Tech Performance Magazine gets the axe
The first issue hit newsstands in June 1985, and after 23 years in the game, Turbo & High-Tech Performance Magazine is rumored to be at the end of its rope. In its late 90's heyday, Turbo Magazine boasted over 150 content-filled pages in each issue during the the import drag racing boom. And the small displacement engines of Japanese sports and compact cars provided the perfect platform to show off turbocharging technology. The complexities of a turbocharged vehicle used to intimidate many consumers and engine builders, but the vision of Turbo Magazine founder Kipp Kington brought the technology within reach of the average enthusiast.
But in recent years, the pages of the magazine have dwindled significantly. Even with an increased demand for smaller displacement, forced induction engines, Turbo has been left behind for shark bait. Its widespread distribution has been reduced to a trickle and finding an issue of Turbo on the rack became as rare as spotting Sasquatch. If the rumor holds true, we will be sorry to see it go, but its place in automotive history will not be forgotten.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Avinash machado 8:09AM (10/31/2008)
With so many car related Internet sites the print magazines are losing their readership. Perhaps many more mags might start closing down.
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jcar302 9:11AM (10/31/2008)
ya, i totally agree.
Autoblog itself has damaged my use of many magazines.
Having a good cell phone too doesn't help, because durings waits or boredom i can read auto websites right from my phone. Meaning i don't have to carry magazines with me.
addictive 8:23AM (10/31/2008)
Sweet pic of a nice Z32. Can't wait for Nissan to revisit that design.
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JayP 8:45AM (10/31/2008)
Print still has a place- like in the "library". I subscribe to a handful of mags, weeklys, upper-end and Hotrod (cheep and got a hat).
My free Car and Driver mag- I'm into month 3 and I'm calling today to end that subscription. It's terrible.
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Rick 8:49AM (10/31/2008)
I remember subscribing after I bought my '86 Mustang SVO.
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John P. 9:04AM (10/31/2008)
Hey, great car the SVO is. Turbo Magazine was better back then than it is now. To me anyway.
Ekow 9:00AM (10/31/2008)
Serves them right...that magazine jumped the shark on it's last editor change...it turned into superstreet. I had been a subscriber for 5 years, and I just couldn't bring myself to resubscribe.
grassrootsmotorsports is a great magazine if you are looking for one to add to your collection.
and no I don't work for them.
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jim 9:17AM (10/31/2008)
Expect many other magazines to fold in numerous genres. When the November issues of a few of the ones I receive came, I noticed they were significantly thinner. Since the editorial content was about the same, the loss was in 5-20 pages of advertising.
Few mags can survive that.
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2007RC46SP2 9:23AM (10/31/2008)
sad to see them go.
they lost to the rice mags :(
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Stone 9:40AM (10/31/2008)
Yeah, won't be surprised to if a few other rags fold in the near future. Content has become too repetitive. How many times per year do you need to have a "Wheel and Tire" issue? It also seems that certain import mags that had great articles in the late 90's (cough, cough) are now resorting to having bikini clad girls on every other page in order to get kids, I mean readers to buy them.
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Sid 9:40AM (10/31/2008)
I'm always on Autoblog (esp. since its the only fun website I can access at work). But I still love reading my Motor Trends and R&Ts.
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Red 9:43AM (10/31/2008)
I heard there were several others--very popular ones, at that--on the chopping block. It's hard to compete with the internet and automotive blogging sites and forums. I remember picking up a few of the magazine and saw the same Civic in 4 of them. I expect many of these mags will move exclusively online and others to just wither away and die.
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Tourian 9:47AM (10/31/2008)
This was the first tuner magazine I ever read. It used to be huge and watching it get chipped away over the years and becoming less innovative made it hard to justify buying it. Sad to see it go if that's the truth.
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Mark Atkinson 9:53AM (10/31/2008)
There are more than a few of us who have faced similar situations in the publishing world. As someone mentioned above, advertising is down across the board, and more and more titles will become extinct. However, I expect more than a few to find homes on the 'net!
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vwboyaf1 10:07AM (10/31/2008)
Well I think all the "import" magazines are losing business due to the fact that people are realizing that the "mods" they are doing to their cars are just doing more harm than good, plus you can buy a pretty high performance import car now-a-days straight from the manufacturer. There is no reason to slap cheap bolt on parts to your ride. The whole Fast and and Furious franchise also did untold damage to the "scene".
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Sean Morris 11:39AM (10/31/2008)
Turbo Magazines circulation has been really down the last few years. Only about 20,000 per month. Source Interlink bought about every magazine in the segment, and this caused the books to step on each other. The market gets smaller, some books needed to be killed off. The last I heard the book was supposed to last until the end of the year.
http://gtrusa.blogspot.com/2008/10/turbo-magazine-gets-axe.html
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Todd 11:59AM (10/31/2008)
Personally I think most of those mags have jumped the shark.
My personal favorite magazine was Sports Compact Car, it was a nice thick rag full of content. Looked forward to the USCC every single year. Two issues: the cars then the event.
This year, SCC decided to do something different, and I still don't know exactly what happened or who placed where.
I really wanted to work for them after Jschool, but now....
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Nateb123 2:41PM (10/31/2008)
I read the USCC for this year a couple weeks ago (the second issue just came in the mail for me) and the first issue is still on newsstands. So, not really sure what you're talking about. There's a big graph in it that shows the winners and how they did in each event, just like last year.
Personally, I hope Turbo doesn't disappear. They have been struggling, but they still put better info out than most. Plus, what happens to my brand new subscription then?
f3rg 6:04PM (10/31/2008)
Not surprising. I quit buying it years ago after ads began out-numbering articles. Once my current subs to C&D, MT, R&T and Automobile run out, I won't be resubscribing to those, either. I find out everything I need to know from Autoblog weeks before the magazines reach my mailbox.
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TTimeleZZ 2:35AM (11/01/2008)
I used to be an active reader of Turbo Magazine long time ago, but then I lost track of it.
I have always loved that white Z32 that I think it is or it used to be owned by the owner of Axis Wheels...Does anyone know where can I find hi-res pics of that particular 300ZX TT?
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