That mag is just SO oldschool...maybe even a bit tired.

In the Sept. 2006 issue you have to go all the way to page 58 before you even get to the first feature article or any pics beyond ads.

The younger mags dive right into the articles and 'wow' type pics from the get-go....while with Excellence it's flip page, flip page, flip page, flip page, -25 times- and THEN you get to the meat.

Then they made this apparent gaff in their 'Letters' section:

in regards to 993 'Motorsound option'- 'Unfortunately, I do not know of anyone who has tested the 993 Motorsound option against the basic setup'. ( p. 34 )

then on p. 40, in regards to a question from a reader about the 996 Motorsound option- "While we haven't tested the exhaust systems on 996s and 997s, the original setups appear to be well designed and efficient...However, we did some extensive testing on the 993...'.

Excellence is beyond due for a makeover...as well as in need of a new proof reader- or do I have it wrong? Are not the above two quotes a contradiction? Or is it that they did extensive testing on exhaust alternatives for the 993 but never tested the Motorsound against the original?

 

I cancelled my subscription a while ago....

 

That's what pissed me off about that mag...I'd never subscribe to it. The best porsche mag out there, bar none, is 911&porsche world.

 

Yeah, 911 & Porsche World is good, as is GT Purely Porsche, but it's too bad their European!! As is the newer 911 mag on stands. Either Excellence needs a makeover, or their needs to be another NorthAmerican magazine!!

 

I subscribed to Excellence a few years back. After reading about three issues I decided I didn't care for it at all. I feel the same bout Car and Driver...needs new blood and fewer 50 cent words.

 

I am a subscriber to Excellence and am generally satisfied with the magazine. I agree that there is a large amount of advertising. The articles are well written and timely. Their opinions seem to generally make sense and they present a lot of pcar information. I wouldn't get too excited about an occasional mistake.

 

I still enjoy Excellence- Pano is the one that needs a makeover. I've been getting that for over 35 years now and it is getting old. Porsche could make the biggest piece of sh*t in the world and they'd gush all over about it...they just suck up to PCNA and PAG too much...

 

I'm with ski. I browse through my Panos, but that's it. If it didn't come with the membership I wouldn't buy it. Excellence has it's problems, but at least I read the entire magazine. Well, most of anyway.

 

A few more ads up front and it will be like GQ.

Five minutes to find the table of contents

 

Well, I'm a subscriber to Total 911, 911&PW, GT Purely Porsche, Panorama, Porsche Post, RS Magazine, Spiel, TIPEC, Excellence and 9 magazine and I have to say that hands down Excellence has the other magazines c-r-e-a-m-e-d in terms of quality of writing and having something different to say. All other magazines are fairly superficial in content and it's so refreshing to get Excellence's perpective. They're far more insightful into what porsche is doing and trying to guess their logic and what's next in store.

I like 'em all but -

If you like pretty pictures and vacuous writing go for GT Purely Porsche (newly updated)
If you like your reading a bit nerdier and badly in need of a makeover go 911&PW
If you like your reading firmly stuck to Porsche corps backside then any of the club magazines.

Panorama is a magazine too small trying to cover too much.

For insightful and substantial content it's Excellence everytime.

 

Missed Totoal 911! Great mag - needs wider content. Don't miss the Aussie expedition in the last couple of issues...

 

I subscribe to Excellence and never really noticed, I will now though. I agree with the negative comments about Panorama. The people that put out Panorama should pick up a copy of Roundel.

 

Agree about Roundel- when I was a BMWCCA member that was a great mag...and for the $, our 540i sport and M3 were great cars!

 

Excellence is like any other magazine that is attempting to keep a diverse group of readers happy. As the editor of a boating magazine, I know all too well how difficult a task that can be. I **** off sailboaters on a regular basis because we rarely cover them, but if I dare write about blowboats, the sportfish crowd goes nuts, waving their cigars and coming dangerously cliose to tipping over their cocktails while they howl in outrgage. Regardless of the topic a partiucular magazine covers, some will readers love each issue while others will say that issue was a waste of ink and trees.

Excelllence is still, in my opinion, the best US-produced Porsche pub out there. Panorama is boring at best, with only a few happy exceptions ("Restore This, Peter Egan" in the current issue, was pretty good). We won't even go there to discuss Chrstophorus. Ilike the UKPorsche mags, but it took ame a whiel to figure out what the hell they were referring to in the phrase "jammy bugger"

The bottom line is that YOU as a reader have the power to change any magazine. Stop buying it and the ad sales will drop. If that happens, the Publisher (the guy selling the ads) will be "motivated" to let his editor write what the readers really want. Send the editor a note outlining your views. You'd be surprised how efffective that can be, as long as your "demands" are reasonable. I doubt that Excellence can arrange to have Heidi Klum pose nude on every car they profile, although I am sure the editorial staff would love to see it happen.

 

Ah, so you read my letter then....



-Jim