Caught out again! Wheels September 2014 issue

[futura]

The latest Wheels September 2014 issue with the New XR8 on the front cover has the Driven/Tested comparison article " The Ghost Busters" of the FPV GT-F vs HSV GTS page 64 by Glenn Bulter (photos by Nathan Duff).

There has been some fellow Ford members using these comparison Performance figures from this wheels article on page 73 in there posts.

To set the record straight, these two performance figures on page 73 of the latest Wheels September edition are in fact previously achieved accelerating times. Easily missed, as this is in fine print under the Verdict column.

From the article the accelerating times posted for the FPV GT-F auto build Number 014, 0-400m: 12.7 sec@ 186.7km/h was infact the track tested times from the You Yangs proving grounds by Nathan Ponchard. These times were originally posted by Wheels July 2014 edition with the Kinetic GTF-001 on the front cover page 65.

On the other hand the HSV GTS manual, 0-400m: 12.6@190.6km/h was tested at the Sydney Dragway, dry Temp 16 degrees by Nathan Ponchard.

The only similarity between these tested two cars was that Nathan Ponchard was the driver on both vehicles. Everything else was under different conditions, tracks temp, track grip levels, auto vs manual etc. these times can be used as a guide, but not a direct comparison.

Finally, the number plate of the red HSV GTS in this article has the number plate V GTSV 8. This is the same number plate car as used in the "Power games" Wheels redyno test. Auto GTS in photos but Manual figures provided.

Moral of the Story, If any of the fellow ford forum members are planning to use the performance figures of the latest Wheels magazine September edition, as a direct comparison, please note that these times are have been achieved under different conditions.

Have a great day.

[zilo]

The more i read about Wheels the more I resolve to never buy a copy again.

Wheels seem to set their sights on ruining the reputation of any car maker that doesn't feature a lion on their bonnet.

Good to see wheels being repeatedly caught out.

I love it.

[Hitman]

And that's why I haven't read a wheels magazine in 10+ years.

[DFB FGXR6]

Wheels, and its sister magazines, have been sold to off to new owners a couple of years ago. There have been budget cuts and a revolving door of editors and jurno's in that time. I still read it but the quality isn't there anymore and I find most of the time shaking my head in disbelief at some of the errors made.

[MercurySilver]

thread 654

wheels
lol

[Crazy Dazz]

At one point in time Wheels was THE motoring mag in Australia. I can remember when their COTY was a televised event.
Car Makers fawned over them and flew their journos all over the world.
Advertisers paid top dollar for a sliver of their space.
They grew Fat, Corpulent, and Complacent. Salaried journos retained to write a single op-ed piece per month. They treated the public with arrogance; THEY were the arbiters of what was Good or Bad in Australian motoring. They would tell YOU what you wanted to read. Period.

Not only did they start to loose ground to their competitors, but like many in the print media they completely failed to anticipate and compensate for the internet & social media revolution. Sandwiched between rising costs falling sales, and disappearing advertising revenue, their quality has been squeezed. Forcing them into a downward spiral of irrelevance.
Who wants to pay for a glossy opinionated re-hash of information that was on the net 2 months ago?

They're good for passing the time on a plane, but that's all.

[mik]

I liked reading wheels from the 60s, these modern ones not so much, although i confess buying one a while ago for an article on a specific car , the article was very disappointing to say the least...... however the mag won't go astray if we run out of paper in thunder box.

[Fordman1]

Originally Posted by mik

I liked reading wheels from the 60s, these modern ones not so much, although i confess buying one a while ago for an article on a specific car , the article was very disappointing to say the least...... however the mag won't go astray if we run out of paper in thunder box.

Use the internet and You tube for reviews . Wheels can GTFO of here !

[bigwil]

Also on the front cover it says new photos G6E yet not a single photo anywhere inside

[Bucknaked]

I prefer to take a car for a drive and form my own opinion on where I want to spend my money rather than taking the advice of a journo who's professional reviews are bought and paid for.

[Franco Cozzo]

The only automotive magazine I subscribe to is Diesel Power, its a bit of a niche thing here as we don't seem to have much local knowledge on diesel performance, but even then its giving me the poos because its 200 pages and it seems like 150 of them are advertising. I'm considering not renewing when my 3 years is up.

Car magazines dont seem to be worth buying, sign up on a few automotive forums and watch the review sites, does the same thing as wheels except with different bias.

Last Wheels magazine I have is from 2007 and the last Unique Cars mag I bought was in 2009.