Buddy, We Can Spare Some Change.(NEWS)

Byline: Dutch Mandel

WITH THIS ISSUE, AUTOWEEK takes its next evolutionary step in a long journey we've made together.

As the past six weeks confirm, our car world is nothing if not interesting. For 50 years, we've chronicled these and many other machinations, and along the way, we've become America's premier consumer magazine for the car enthusiast. It has been a great run, and we plan to make the trip better still in this, our 51st year, and beyond.

That starts now. It starts with this issue. And it starts with how you get your car smarts and insight. Think about this: More car stuff exists now than ever before. Today, you are exposed to more general car information, more racing coverage and more automotive-personality stories in more ways than you could have thought possible. We've watched racing, for example, go from grainy black-and-white TV images to in-car telemetry delivered to handheld phones. We've seen champion racers dance the samba on national television. You need a filter to separate the need-to-know from the needless-to-know. AutoWeek and autoweek.com are that filter.

But as times change, so must we, and we don't need Congress to tell us that. You may notice that the feel of this issue is different from any other copy of AW you've ever picked up. We invested in heavier cover stock and thicker paper, and yes, we even changed our logo. And that's not all. With this issue, AutoWeek returns to its roots as a fortnightlywhat some call a biweekly or every-other-weekpublication. This change allows for many things to happen, all of which we think will increase your reading pleasure.

First, each issue will have more pages. Let me say that again: There will be more pages in each issue for you to enjoy. More insight and features, more sheetmetal and more racingmore of the got-to-know stuff you crave.

If it's up-to-the-minute car news you want, that is available at autoweek.com, where it is posted faster than ever ...