37 replies to this topic

[Montytom]

I have recently got back into minis and I thought that I would get the 2 main mini mags

 

Miniworld

Minimagazine

 

Now i used to collect these religiously and used to love to read them from cover to cover.

 

I bought them the other day and truth be told I wish I hadnt.

 

It now seems half of the magazines are taken up by adverts

The quality of the paper has gone way down hill and seems cheap compared to the thick paper of the older mags.

 

Now my preference was that the mini magazine was the better of the 2 but I think they have taken a stepback in quality as the older mags were glued and had a spine but the new mags are just stapled and after reading them a good few times the paper around the staples gets tatty.

 

the quality of the writing was superb and the pictures were perfectly done.

 

I must admit since being on here I have been spoiled with the restorations that are happening on here and they seem to be more personal.

 

Sorry for the long winded thread but I dont think I will be buying them again in anytime soon.

 

 

[MrBounce]

I think the trouble is there is very little in the way of original articles that haven't been done before. There are only so many "1380 Road-Racer" features that I can take reading about. I have learned a lot from the technical articles over the years I read them (1994-2004) but they did tend to get recycled every three or four years.

 

I think it might be worth the Editors' while to conduct a little market research and find out exactly what us Mini nuts WANT to read about rather than reading about the same stuff every few months.

[Tamworthbay]

As said above how much new stuff can there be? I prefer practical classics as it covers a whole range of cars and there is always something new to read about.

[HarrysMini]

You are basically just paying for half a book of adverts. I haven't bothered renewing my subscription this year.

[Cooperman]

General classic car magazines seem much better value with a lot of interesting stuff.

The Mini magazines (I call them 'the Comics') have run out of original material. All you are doing is paying to see adverts.

[a_woolhouse]

ive not bought mini mag for a while last time i bought it was august this year but only because my mini was featured in the ''your minis'' bit, havent bothered since i tend to read practical classics now instead much more interesting read :)

[mab01uk]

I have recently got back into minis and I thought that I would get the 2 main mini mags

 

Miniworld

Minimagazine

 

Now i used to collect these religiously and used to love to read them from cover to cover.

 

I bought them the other day and truth be told I wish I hadnt.

 

It now seems half of the magazines are taken up by adverts

The quality of the paper has gone way down hill and seems cheap compared to the thick paper of the older mags.

 

Now my preference was that the mini magazine was the better of the 2 but I think they have taken a stepback in quality as the older mags were glued and had a spine but the new mags are just stapled and after reading them a good few times the paper around the staples gets tatty.

 

the quality of the writing was superb and the pictures were perfectly done.

 

I must admit since being on here I have been spoiled with the restorations that are happening on here and they seem to be more personal.

 

Sorry for the long winded thread but I dont think I will be buying them again in anytime soon.

 

 

 

Note that Miniworld, Mini Magazine and Modern MINI magazine are all now owned by the same company.

 

More details here:-

http://www.theminifo...sold-to-kelsey/

 

In this months Modern MINI magazine (Nov/Dec) there is a statement by Kelsey Managing Director Phil Weeden in his 'Sidetrack' article that says despite rumours both classic Mini magazines now under Kelsey ownership will not merge in the foreseeable future. "Mini magazine and Miniworld will carry on majoring on the original car, while Modern MINI will focus exclusively on the R50 MINI onwards."

 

All three Mini/MINI magazines now owned by Kelsey Publishing:-

http://www.modernmini.co.uk/

http://www.miniworld.co.uk/

http://www.minimag.co.uk/

Edited by mab01uk, 15 October 2014 - 05:27 PM.

[DomCr250]

 

I have recently got back into minis and I thought that I would get the 2 main mini mags

 

Miniworld

Minimagazine

 

Now i used to collect these religiously and used to love to read them from cover to cover.

 

I bought them the other day and truth be told I wish I hadnt.

 

It now seems half of the magazines are taken up by adverts

The quality of the paper has gone way down hill and seems cheap compared to the thick paper of the older mags.

 

Now my preference was that the mini magazine was the better of the 2 but I think they have taken a stepback in quality as the older mags were glued and had a spine but the new mags are just stapled and after reading them a good few times the paper around the staples gets tatty.

 

the quality of the writing was superb and the pictures were perfectly done.

 

I must admit since being on here I have been spoiled with the restorations that are happening on here and they seem to be more personal.

 

Sorry for the long winded thread but I dont think I will be buying them again in anytime soon.

 

 

 

Note that Miniworld, Mini Magazine and Modern MINI magazine are all now owned by the same company.

 

More details here:-

http://www.theminifo...sold-to-kelsey/

 

In this months Modern MINI magazine (Nov/Dec) there is a statement by Kelsey Managing Director Phil Weeden in his 'Sidetrack' article that says despite rumours both classic Mini magazines now under Kelsey ownership will not merge in the foreseeable future. "Mini magazine and Miniworld will carry on majoring on the original car, while Modern MINI will focus exclusively on the R50 MINI onwards."

 

All three Mini/MINI magazines now owned by Kelsey Publishing:-

http://www.modernmini.co.uk/

http://www.miniworld.co.uk/

http://www.minimag.co.uk/

 

Thats really interesting because the Miniworld lot came out of the Cars and Cars Conversions stable (Link publishing) originally from Croydon and the Mini Mag lot were part of Future publishing in Bath.

 

I still get Mini Mag on a monthly basis, but I agree 100% with everything said above, lots of adds and little or no new information  ...good example is some of the new MED work on cranks, looked really interesting but not a mention in the magazine, I found out about it via MED's website. 

[stevearch0]

Who needs a mini mag when we've got the forum!!!!! Damn side cheaper too! Photos, restorations, tech help, opinions....... need I say more

[carbon]

Really interested to see this topic pop up, by coincidence I sent in an email to Karen Drury (the editor of MiniWorld) at the weekend. My feedback to Karen was that one of the main reasons I keep buying MiniWorld is the technical articles by AC Dodds.

 

I know a lot of the technical stuff tends to get recycled, but in my opinion the articles by AC are still breaking fresh ground. Take his November 2014 technical article as an example - has there been a previous write-up going into the real detail about how to optimise clearances on the A-Series oil pump? I don't think so.

 

AC's articles are not just talk about theory, they also give the dimensions and tolerances you should be working to. Now if he would just collect all of that into a single volume that could be a worthy successor to DV's 'Tuning BL's A-Series Engine'...

[mab01uk]

Also a lot of good technical information gatthered on the Minispares Blog:-

https://www.minispar...ver.aspx?page=1

[Mini Manannán]

Isn't it the same with all magazines (or most of them) regarding the recycling of old ideas? I dumped my Practical photography sub for the same reason, previous to that it was some mountain bike mag.

[surfblue]

Im into the Landrover scene as well and I find their 2 major publication, LRO and LRM to be of much better quality than the mini offerings and I had bought both mini magazines from the very beginning - no longer do!

[Big Man]

Who needs a mini mag when we've got the forum!!!!! Damn side cheaper too! Photos, restorations, tech help, opinions....... need I say more

 

Totally agree!

 

Also I got fed up reading about how "enthusiasts" pay thousands out thousands of pounds for others to do the work then the car is featured or drop a super dooper million pound enging on tyres that cost twice as much as my mini!   I like the cheap as chips advice on here,  my mini is meant to be a cheap hobby :)

 

must be because im just a tight Geordie lol

[stevearch0]

Who needs a mini mag when we've got the forum!!!!! Damn side cheaper too! Photos, restorations, tech help, opinions....... need I say more

 
Totally agree!
 
Also I got fed up reading about how "enthusiasts" pay thousands out thousands of pounds for others to do the work then the car is featured or drop a super dooper million pound enging on tyres that cost twice as much as my mini!   I like the cheap as chips advice on here,  my mini is meant to be a cheap hobby :)
  My sentiments exactly.:0)
must be because im just a tight Geordie lol