# Bimmer Magazine



## fso_BamBam (Dec 9, 2002)

Somewhat off topic, but here it goes:

I recently got an offer in the mail to subscribe to Bimmer Magazine. The pamphlet they sent was pretty good, and I'm thinking about joining. But I thought I'd check here first, to see if anyone here has a subscription and what you think. 

I've been getting Roundel for 3 years, since I joined the BMW CCA, and I think it's a great magazine, right up there with Racer and Motor Trend, the other 2 I get. Do you think Bimmer is similar to Roundel, and getting it would be overkill? Or, does Bimmer offer additional value, and is different than Roundel?

Thanks for any insight.


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## bmw325 (Dec 19, 2001)

I tend to read Bimmer at Barnes and Noble. Most of the articles seem like "puff pieces", and since it doesn't come out every month-- the content can be a bit stale. I'll read any car magazine I can get my hands on-- but I don't think i'd bother paying for this one. I got that pamplet too-- and did briefly consider subscribing.


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## flashinthepan (Jul 25, 2003)

I get Bimmer & I like it,

Its not quite as good (IMO) as Roundel & Car & Driver.

But I enjoy the Magazine !

Another good magazine is "Autoweek"

Enjoy


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## Plaz (Dec 19, 2001)

Motor Trend? Yeech. Horrible magazine, IMO. If I had to pick one of the big three US car magazines, it would be Car and Driver. That being said, I intentionally let my subscription lapse.


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## F1Crazy (Dec 11, 2002)

I subscribe to Bimmer and highly recommend it. They feature a lot of informative articles about new and old BMWs, tuner cars and my favorite - BMW race cars. It's a magazine about BMW so they will highlight the best what these cars can offer but I don't think it's pampering, they can be very critical. There are less articles about BMW events and less editorial blah-blah than in Roundel and it's a plus in my book. I also enjoy occasional articles on BMW technology. Grab a current issue and find out for yourself! 

I'd buy it for articles like "The Mountain Climber" alone (current issue).


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## Kaz (Dec 21, 2001)

On occasion I browse through all the 'smaller' BMW rags at B&N or Tower. Bimmer seems to be one of the few halfway decent US ones. All the better ones are from the UK.

My favorite general US mag is R&T. MT and C&D are garbage. Automobile is pretty good, and I like AW but most of it is on autoweek.com these days so I may drop it and pick up (though costly) CAR from the UK instead.


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## fso_BamBam (Dec 9, 2002)

Kaz said:


> On occasion I browse through all the 'smaller' BMW rags at B&N or Tower. Bimmer seems to be one of the few halfway decent US ones. All the better ones are from the UK.
> 
> My favorite general US mag is R&T. MT and C&D are garbage. Automobile is pretty good, and I like AW but most of it is on autoweek.com these days so I may drop it and pick up (though costly) CAR from the UK instead.


Heh, nice set of opinions! My MT subscription runs out in April, and I will not renew. It used to be pretty good, but it's gone downhill the last 3-4 years, IMO.

I agree that the best car magazines are UK ones, but man, I thought about getting F1 magazine, it's $72 per year, very costly. But if you're just gonna get 1, one of the UK ones might do it.

Let's see, for racing I have Racer, for BMWs, Roundel and thinking about Bimmer, I still need a US car magazine.

I think I'll go to B&N and check these out and decide what to do.

Oh, and not to forget, I also get BMW Magazine, complementary for 1 year. Nothing fancy, but there have been some decent articles in the 3 issues I've gotten so far.


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## Kaz (Dec 21, 2001)

fso_BamBam said:


> Oh, and not to forget, I also get BMW Magazine, complementary for 1 year. Nothing fancy, but there have been some decent articles in the 3 issues I've gotten so far.


I thought it was free for 1 year, too. But I keep getting 'free renweal' cards so I keep sending them in, and I've gotten it for 2.5 years for free now.

Some of the smaller, more technical articles are decent but the rest are more like things out of the AAA magazine more than anything else.


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## MR325iT (Feb 21, 2002)

I've been getting Bimmer for about a year. It's not nearly as useful as Roundel for tech-related DIY articles, but I think it's a far better magazine overall. Roundel is certainly enthusiastic about all things BMW, however it reads like the amateur publication it is - not very objective, which is about what you'd expect. Bimmer seems far less hesitant to take an anti-BMW stand when its called for.

I love C&D. It's not as "polished" a magazine as R&T, but it is a joy to read each month (except for Yates, who is mostly certifiable). I read a few issues of the UK magazine CAR a while ago, and found it pretty entertaining.

Anything - ANYTHING - is better than Motor Trend.


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## LarryN (Dec 24, 2001)

I have been a subscriber to Bimmer for the past 3 or 4 years, and enjoy it. They do go into older models a lot, as a feature each volume (this month it's the 1968 BMW Mountain Climber that raced in the European Mountain Championships - Cool car). It's a really good filler to Roundel, I think.

One of the other rags that I enjoy, that features a lot of BMW's is European Car. There's tons of tech articles, and they are always doing up multiple project cars with really neat performance mods, or restoring older cars. They had a 71 (think it was a 71) Porsche 911S that they restored in a 6 month series. What a great compilation that was. Right now they are on Part 21 of BMW M3 (e36), and Part 7 of BMW325is (e36). Really interesting stuff!

Bimmer's a good choice tho!


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## Rich_Jenkins (Jul 12, 2003)

I would rate magazines I read commonly and the one mentioned in this thread as:

Mini World = 10 (of course!)
Car (UK) = 9 pts
Roundel = 9 pts
C&D = 8 pts
Total BMW (UK) = 8 pts
R&T = 7 pts
BMW Car (UK) = 7 pts
Bimmer = 4 pts

I noticed last year C&D and R&T are both owned by Hachette Filipachi (sp?) which explains why I always thought they looked very familar. I subscribe to Roundel, R&T and C&D. C&D is one of the few mag's I read from front to back. R&T less so, but still informative columnists, if oriented to a little (ahem) older market. I bought Bimmer once and found it pretty superficial, glossy, and not particularly informative...YMMV of course...


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## EdCT (Mar 14, 2002)

I started reading C&D back in 1967, when I was a wee ten year old.

I remember my first issue, it had a slew of the then hot pony cars on the cover (the 1967 Camaro featured prominently) indicating a "super" road test inside.

I often feel my desire for the magazines to return to their old glory is mostly faulty memory and a bit of old fart mode on my part.

Until last spring.

My wife and I were staying at a B&B in Western PA on our way to see Falling Water. The previous owner of the Inn had left stacks of R&T's, C&D's and other car ephemera dating from around 1968 through the early 80's (there was a cool Merc 450 SE brochure; perhaps the guy was shopping one circa 1970).

Oh mannnnnn... was I in automotive heaven.

I read issue after issue, till late into the evening for several days.

It's true, the mags were quite different then (as were the cars) , they were laid out in a style that could be best described as "nerd-centric"; lots of pics and diagrams of suspension bits, engine parts, and construction details.

Not like today's rags, which often look more like the life-style advertising copy they promote than a true enthusiast's mag.

And what's with the ad inserts today!! These things are so damned thick I can no longer flip the pages.

I do like Car out of the UK.

Old fart mode now off.

Ed


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## LouT (Jun 11, 2003)

fso_BamBam said:


> Somewhat off topic, but here it goes:
> 
> I recently got an offer in the mail to subscribe to Bimmer Magazine. The pamphlet they sent was pretty good, and I'm thinking about joining. But I thought I'd check here first, to see if anyone here has a subscription and what you think.
> 
> ...


I recommend Bimmer, having subscribed for several years now. A down side is the occassional duplication of articles between Roundel and Bimmer. They have a better Tech section that Roundel, which is strange since both are edited by Mike Miller! Bimmer has frequent articles by Klaus Schnitzer, a definite plus.


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