Your All-New Motor Trend Is Here!

If this were the movie biz, we'd be having a star-studded premiere right about now. For the past 10 months, we've been creating a new and improved Motor Trend, and now it's time for the unveiling. I'm so excited I can hardly stay in my seat.

A magazine is more than just paper, photos, and words. It's the personalities of people who work to build it. After 20 years in the business, I can attest that every great magazine does indeed have a soul. Since 1949, Motor Trend's soul has been the testing of new cars. At tracks all around the world, our testing staff (past and present) have "run numbers" on more new cars, trucks, and SUVs than any other magazine in America and-most probably-in the world. That's something to hang one's hat on. It's what turned me on about Motor Trend when I first read it at age eight, and is what kept me focused throughout my career-my dream was to work here.

The magazine you're holding marks the single most important creative evolution of Motor Trend since the title began. Not since Robert Petersen and Walt Woron founded this publication 51 years ago has the editorial staff been given free rein to "build the best car magazine you possibly can." Frankly, that's a brave statement for a corporation to make when its title has already consistently outsold its newsstand competition for the past five years, but that's exactly what's occurred. Our goal is to make Motor Trend even more valuable to you

The editorial staff's heartfelt desire was not merely to change for the sake of change, but to truly add more of what you (and we) want to see in the magazine. We will continue to be "the encyclopedia of new cars and trucks," reporting on a wider variety of vehicles than anyone, from econo-commuters to luxury sedans, from minivans to sports cars, and everything in between, but we're now adding more about living with that new car once you've bought it.

We listen to what you say, and we've responded. You've probably already noticed the extra heft of this issue-that's the weight of 16 extra editorial pages. And check out the thicker, glossier paper-not just on the cover but on every page inside. Higher-quality paper means our text will be easier to read, our photos brighter, our "feel" more substantial (paper is to magazines what sheetmetal is to cars). Then, there's what goes on those pages: More action-oriented and creative photography, a wider variety of consumer articles (airbag safety, used-car best buys, buying versus leasing tips, etc.), and even more in-depth information in our road tests. The popular "Retrospective" historical series returns, coverage of our "One-Year Test" car reports expands, "Car Care" gets a Q&A section, and there's much more.

I could go on, but the best thing is for you to see it for yourself. Read this issue front to back, compare it to past issues, then e-mail me via our Web site at motortrend.com. I want to know what you think.