6 Things I Hate About Car Culture In 2015

As we hurtle towards the end of another year, I've been reflecting on what it was like to be a petrolhead in 2015. There's so much to love, but unfortunately quite a few annoying aspects of the 'scene'

Social media has become the dominant communication tool for our generation. It’s a fantastic way to keep in touch with friends, follow what your favourite celebrities are up to, and to consume your interests to your heart’s content. For the car scene, that has unfortunately resulted in a ludicrous game of one-upmanship, where people buy and modify cars based on what will get them the most attention online.

During London’s supercar season, what used to be an impractical show of wealth has escalated into a gaudy parade of arrogant, fame hungry rich kids vying for the attention of children with mobile phones. There are plenty of people doing things for themselves in the car scene, but they’re so often overshadowed by loudmouthed show offs in chrome-wrapped cars they couldn’t care less about.

Remote video URL

Last year I took the slightly bonkers Jaguar XFR-S for a trip into the heart of London’s supercar scene. The idea was to see if the ostentatious Jag could hold its own amongst the plethora of more exotic material on show, but the thing that I took away from the night was how crazy these supercar spotters could be.

This year, the whole spotting thing blew up, and it’ll only be a matter of time before one of these kids gets hurt, or worse, killed. They run around in the road with complete disregard for their own safety, motivated only by getting the same shot as a dozen other people. We very rarely share these videos anymore, partly because once you’ve seen one Aventador spit flames, you’ve seen them all, but also because it encourages this ridiculous behaviour.

We all like a keepsake when we see a cool car, but it’s not worth killing yourself to get a 10-second clip for YouTube. And if you’re getting the same shot time and again, and shots that anyone could get, your channel will never truly take off. There are some great YouTube channels and Instagram accounts that offer something a bit different, but the sea of repetitive revving videos has been grating on me for a while now.

3. Vlogging while driving

Image via Instagram
Image via Instagram

I’m not naming any names, but I’ve attended a few driving events that vloggers have attended, and the standard of driving is shocking. Most of the good guys have camera mounts in their cars, but some big names cruise about holding cameras. It’s incredible none of them have wrecked yet, as I’ve seen them holding phones while filming themselves driving, holding cameras out of the window and weaving across the road as they check they’ve got a decent angle.

It’s cool that there are petrolhead personalities around, but when it gets to the point where getting a shot is more important than just enjoying the car, you have to wonder what’s in it for them. It’s all about getting views rather than enjoying the car.

There will always be idiots who ruin it for the majority, but as petrolheads we have a responsibility to show that we can enjoy our cars while remaining responsible; it’s hard to justify your fast driving is safe when 30 seconds ago you were sending a Snapchat of your 0-60mph sprint.

4. The general public hates on us

6 Things I Hate About Car Culture In 2015

No, this isn’t a new thing, but it seems more relevant now than ever. As the effects of cars on the environment come to the forefront of people’s minds, those of us who choose to drive cars tuned for performance rather than economy are looked down upon. In fact, there are many people who consider our very hobby an insult; the fact that you could covet something that destroys the environment is just plain offensive to some.

It’s funny that as the debate about autonomous cars switches from curious future mythology to genuinely viable product, petrolheads are experiencing a golden age of performance cars. Here’s hoping that the future’s bright for us, and that new car technologies can continue to excite us as the anti-car brigade keeps shouting.

5. Too much negativity

6 Things I Hate About Car Culture In 2015

One of my favourite things about the car scene is that, for the most part, everyone’s respectful. No matter what you like or what you can afford, you can be pretty sure that people will appreciate the effort. Well, that’s true in the real world at least.

Social media is great for many things, but what it’s bad for is giving keyboard warriors a sense of detachment that allows them to be unnecessarily cruel. You also get circle-jerk jokes that are constantly recirculated by people desperate for attention. It can make going online to talk about cars quite intimidating, and is part of the reason we spend a lot of time moderating content and comments; you don’t have to like everything, but you don’t have to be insulting about it either.

6. Sub-500bhp is slow and manual always wins

6 Things I Hate About Car Culture In 2015

I don’t know how many people are going to agree with me on this one, but it really winds me up that people are so narrow-minded. Once upon a time cars had about six moving parts, a manual gearbox and rear-wheel drive. Pretty much everything was the same, but then technology moved on and new stuff entered the scene… but attitudes haven’t moved with the times.

Load up YouTube and it’s no effort to find highly tuned cars that spit out four-figure horsepower numbers, so it’s easy to become jaded and think anything with less than 500bhp is woefully slow. It’s not. The Toyota GT86 is a prime example; it has 197bhp, and while it’s by no means fast, it’s ridiculously good fun to drive. Numbers can’t tell you that, but you can’t talk about the GT86 without multiple people piping up about its straight-line performance. Yeah, it might be more fun with more power, but it doesn’t really need it.

When automatic gearboxes were first introduced, they were slow, juddery and indecisive, so it’s understandable why people considered manuals to be the enthusiast’s option. It’s just not inherently true anymore. Yeah, sometimes cars are better with manuals, but sometimes the shift is rubbish and adds nothing to the experience.

For an industry that moves along at such a pace, it’s incredible how supposed enthusiasts’ attitudes are so resistant to change.

Sponsored Posts

Comments

Penusflytrap

Its sad and really unfortunate but every point you made is spot on.

11/26/2015 - 16:31 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

#7 Monica Rose

11/26/2015 - 16:38 |
0 | 0
OgierJr (Ford Powered) (Hoof-Hearted)

I miss the times when 120 PS was insane. (aka.<1970 France)

11/26/2015 - 16:41 |
1 | 0
Anonymous

some people think that cars need to have 1000+BHP to be a high hp car……..
now that’s plain stupid…

11/26/2015 - 16:49 |
0 | 0
Andrés Cely Herazo

So is not the things about car culture you hate, but the things around car culture

11/26/2015 - 16:51 |
6 | 0
Josep

I would give this post a nobel prize

11/26/2015 - 17:07 |
6 | 0
Bull_On_Parade

Those Monaco lunatics seems quite unreal. Is that an ordinary day down there, or was than some kind of holiday peak?

11/26/2015 - 17:13 |
0 | 0

Its Top Marques which is the car show they have there every April. Even though carspotting peaks there at that time a normal day in Monaco is somewhat close to that.

11/26/2015 - 17:48 |
0 | 0
Mk4Dude

15 years ago, 400hp was the outrageous power,more than that was just insanity
The 500hp is the ‘’today 400hp’’, As a vw driver,300-350hp it’s enough,more than that it’s just to get likes

11/26/2015 - 17:17 |
6 | 0

I agree with you. Especially on the vw part. If i had 350 in my cabby it would be a rocket

11/26/2015 - 19:35 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

3 is what gets me the most. I’ve seen SO many channels do it and some videos even get me worried. I don’t see a problem in every video that the guy talks and drives, like Jason from EE making car reviews, because I can see he’s not very close to the city and there’s almost no other people/drivers around. But some guys just make the gears inside my head grind. They make vlogs driving downtown with heavy traffic and more than half of the time they are looking at the cameras, which in my opinion is not a responsible thing to do. I know that it’s not a problem to talk and drive, but when you’re making a video it’s just different. You have to pay attention to what you’re talking about, and that makes you lose some attention to the road, no matter how good you are as a driver. Looking at my phone for 4 seconds made me kiss a rear bumper with my bicycle years ago, so I know it is very easy to hit a person or the car that is in front of you when you’re not with your head up. Where I live almost every day someone gets suicidal and wants to cross the road when the lights are green for me, mostly on corners where I only see them when I’m very close. That makes me alert at all times. So if they have a channel and want to make a vlog, please DO NOT do it in the city, go do it somewhere else. In my opinion, these guys serve as role models to who’s watching, so the first thing they have to do is to be responsible. Nobody wants a blooper of you crashing your car in front of the cameras right?
My favourite post of the day, and yes this took a good time to type on mobile.

11/26/2015 - 17:17 |
3 | 0
Antiprius

I wouldn’t normally say this, but this whole post seems like an example of 5. The way to improve the car scene is not to complain about what is wrong. Look at Speedhunters. They try to improve the car scene by doing their showcases on cars of all different types. And you know what? It works. They are a huge presence in the car scene and reading their site exposes you to all kinds of different modifying scenes. And you know what? Imay not love all of them, but they are all actuallypretty cool and you have to have respect for themand their owners. And as for 6: Some peopleprefer manual, some prefer auto. Let them havetheir preference. It’s part of why the scene is so diverse.
Just don’t ask me to explain 4. Those people are honestly the dumbest people I’ve ever met. Why would you sacrifice actually enjoying your life just to protect the environment? You aren’t making a difference. Shut up and let others do what they want. I hate people who say cars pollute, then get the energy to charge their stupid fair-trade coffee machines from coal power plants. Why not protest that? Do something that makes sense for Christ’s sake.

11/26/2015 - 17:18 |
16 | 2

‘Why would you sacrifice actually enjoying your life just to protect the environment?’

Just an idea; but maybe so that the future of the human race isnt completely fecked? It requires you to have the ability to look past your own life time and think of the bigger picture, something that people seem to struggle with.

I’m a petrol head, i’m not against cars by any means, its just that statement is very selfish. The environment has to be considered because surprisingly we live in it.

11/27/2015 - 01:27 |
2 | 2