Over the last year Road & Track magazine has moved upmarket. It has replaced its monthly printed magazine with a bi-monthly with around 150 pages. In addition, the magazine is offering access to events, services and trinkets for higher-paying members.
A base subscription goes for $75 per year. A mid-level “club” membership runs $475. A top-end “Founders” club goes for a whopping $975 per year (R&T, 2020).
This is an interesting strategy for navigating a difficult time for the auto buff media. In recent years advertising revenues have significantly declined. This has resulted in a great deal of churn among legacy media outlets. As a case in point, in early 2020 Automobile stopped publishing its printed magazine. That may have helped to give R&T more breathing room to cater to wealthier readers.
Changes better distinguish R&T from Car and Driver
In a way I’m surprised that R&T would remake itself so dramatically. For years it was the most staid of the U.S. auto magazines. The new level of experimentation may be partly a product of the magazine’s corporate parent Hearst Digital Media. They also own Car and Driver, so perhaps part of the goal was to better differentiate the brands.
I don’t stop by R&T’s website and Facebook page all that often because they post too much exotic car and racing coverage for my taste. However, they have offered at least a few articles that might appeal to auto history readers. For example, Brian Silvestro mimicked an approach frequently used on Collectible Automobile’s Facebook page by asking, “What’s the Best Classic Car Commercial?” (2018). This post was classified as “Entertainment,” which seems to sum up how seriously they take automotive history.
Road & Track | Facebook
- Free access to website; subscription/single-issue purchase required for print magazine
RE:SOURCES
- R&T; 2020. “The Track Club.” Accessed November 11.
- Silvestro, Brian; 2018. “What’s the Best Classic Car Commercial?” Road & Track. Posted June 12; accessed June 12.
This is an updated version of a mini-review that was originally posted January 7, 2018.
I was a subscriber with road & track when they closed down in late 2019 leaving me (and I guess others) holding the bag….as I still had 2 years left on my subscription with them. Today I received in the mail asking me to subscribe again and talked about the Continuous Service Program that Guarantees, hassle free service, uninterrupted delivery, right to cancel anytime, and money back guarantee. No thanks Road & Track!
Andy, thank you for sharing your experience with Road & Track. I wasn’t familiar with the particulars of their situation. I’m curious as to what was going on at the corporate level that would lead them to wait so long to get back to you. I would imagine that there are others who share your frustration.
received invoices from R T demanding payment . No Info on Opening Or Closing Date Of Subscription , or Number Of Issues. I Believe This Is Called Reverse Billing And Is Illegal In Canada. No Reply To My Request For More Info>
‘I don’t stop by R&T’s website and Facebook page all that often because they post too much exotic car and racing coverage for my taste.’
The same. Autoweek did the same, plus coverage of every fad, iteration or bit of minutiae about the Mustang
I had a subscription to Road and Track for about 16 years. I finally realized they were not going to get any better, the articles and road tests were deteriorating in quality, the writing no better (Peter Egan where are you?) and the policy of lusting after very expensive cars finally wore out it’s welcome. The class divide that R & T surfs is not for me.
I too was left holding the bag with almost 2 years left on my subscription when they folded. I would not have renewed anyway as they went into the toilet. All they talked about were 200,000 dollar cars and up. Most of us can’t even afford to register a car like that. They stole my money. Shit on them