I'll start by tell you who isn't. The current online "zines" contain a lot of automotive writing that is largely garbage. Especially the lists of 5 or 10 Good/Bad cars which have a two-sentence discussion that provides no useful information. They are so illiterate that sometimes they are incomprehensible. It's really sad to know that there are those who take it seriously. Most magazines do a reasonably good job of describing the technical and driving experiences of the cars under discussion. Those stories resemble each other, and few actually stand out. Of somewhat greater interest are those that discuss the people who own and build the cars. It's the people who actually have stories to share more than the cars. For looking for creativity and great sense of humor, added to the technical and personal side of things, Bruce McCall is my all-time favorite. His discussions of the Denbeigh (fictional) archetypical British car, and especially the Super Chauvinist model still rank among my favorite and timeless contributions to automotive journalism. I am also a fan of the late WRC Shedenhelm, who wrote for Sports Car Graphic back in the 60's. His wry comments on the vagaries of the cars of the time (the discussion of the 8-cylinder Mini - one engine in front and one in back) was downright wonderful! For current but largely unrecognized automotive writers, I'd suggest Jeff Zurschmided of Tillamook, Oregon. He has written short reviews, a couple of books (the one on restoring an early Miata and another on how to hotrod Subarus) suggest that unlike many, he spends considerable time wrenching on the cars he writes about. His stories on driving adventures -- he's done the Al-Can rally (or whatever it's called now) twice -- suggest a broad experience with many different car-related activities. His command of the language is excellent, and now and again his humor sneaks through to great enjoyment. I am an automotive write on a small scale (Hemmings and Eckler's). But I in no wise compare myself to those who can demonstrate a far greater competence and creativity with the genre than I can. Favoritism is largely idiosyncratic, and those who have been mentioned elsewhere are all good too.
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