So I created a website for Import Car Fans using Vbulletin and Vbadvanced.
I would like some honest input on the layout and ease of use of the forum. Also I would love to have some people sign up and test out the Garage, Arcade, Classifieds, Chat, etc.
I spend a lot of time on an import car community forum so I took a quick look at the site. Here are some of my comments...
First, I like the color scheme and theming of the site. Clean and simple.
How successful do you think you will be by making the site encompass ALL import cars. Its a huge group of people who don't necessarily have that much in common with each other. What value does a site like this bring to the import car community? Personally, I find myself drawn to car sites that are focused around a brand or subject matter (open ECU tuning, for example) so I can learn from people with more experience and share my experience with others.
On your site I am not sure I would find that much valuable info in your technical forums as they pertain to many types of cars. Perhaps the technical forums should be sub-forums of each marque?
I entered my car in the garage... some of the questions seemed a bit redundant... if I tell you my make, model and year you should populate information such as engine type, etc. etc. If I have major modifications like an engine swap I could then make those later in the mods area.
I spend most of my time on an auto enthusiast website where many members build's are quite expensive (20k+). I am not so sure that you want to be so public with mod. costs, etc. etc. etc.
I also don't understand the "rating" area... this is entirely subjective and I am not sure of its use. Rated against what?
Do you see the garage area as a private resource? I could see value in a place where you can keep track of your build, but I would not want to make some of the information currently in it public.
I didn't get to far on the mod list, as it would take way too long
. I am assuming that manufacturers would be added to the database as people enter their data?
Make sure you have an entry in the "installed by" pulldown for self-installs. I would also put in an "installation difficulty" pulldown as I think that would be valuable information. Is that what you mean by "installation rating"?
I would strongly suggest you put either a time or post restriction (like 100 posts) on your "classified" section so it does not get filled with spam or scams. You want this to feel like a trusted community.
Actually, as I just looked closer, it seems you have forums for domestic cars too! This is a bit confusing looking at your title! I actually assumed "import" to mean "japanese" cars.
So.. in short.. I think the site is a nice idea and a nice implementation... but I think that your audience is too large -- in fact you have several audiences, many of whom, as car enthusiasts, don't get along all that well!
. I would suggest you focus on a specific market or group. Then I think the site would function very well.
Interestingly enough, there are lots of mac users in the built Subaru community.
