6 Things I Hate About Car Culture In 2015
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.
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
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
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
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
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.
Comments
Let’s start something new! Spotting supercar spotters. Let’s make this a thing in 2016.
Been on it since 2k14
people will appreciate my car in the real world? 8 out of 10 person sh*t about my car, not because I like the Lowlife (on which I get hated on the internet), but because of my car. It’s not german. It’s not big enough, it looks ugly, not fast enough etc..
Goodthing we have CarThrottle where we are safe from most of that
Big Power isn’t everything although it helps if that power can be useful. The Ferrari F40 had 470HP and was the first car to break 200MPH since it weighed 2400lbs. So its also about power to weight ratio, aerodynamics, grip and other factors.
Also manual transmission is more fun to use and better in many cases but with a lot of modern supercars you need the paddle shift as a conventional manual simply can’t keep up with the brutal acceleration.
I think the whole car spotting/social scene is getting stupid but let’s be fair it’s no worse than group B was is it? In fact Group B was a lot more dangerous. I think in most aspects of life social media is a double edged sword. On one hand I wouldn’t be able to talk to you wonderful people without it but on the other there’s always going to be those anonymous haters and that race for votes that some find a little bit stomach turning. I’d rather just deal with the negativity and have access to the decent and respectful side of the community.
I do agree stongly with your last point though. People are so hateful towards modern cars in particular. You get loads of people chiming in about things they know nothing about and it;s blatantly obvious. Power is less coveted around here but when it comes to mod cons like auto gearboxes and you see people laying into say Lamborghini for not offering the option I just think have you ever driven a 600BHP car? Do you really know what you’re talking about and would you really be that bothered about it being manual or would you just be holding on for dear life and thanking god you don’t have to worry about the clutch? Cars that divide opinion like the GTR too with all it’s driver aids. So many people think it’s just some kind of fly by wire missile. They’ve never driven one but they seem to endlessly regurgitate stuff that Alex and co have written (probably just to get likes) as if it’s their own experience and that annoys me. Anyone who says a car drives itself unless it;s made by Tesla I’ll just mark them out as a dumb wannabe.
Yes group B more dangerous but it have more meanings rather than supercar spotting.In a group B you can watch actual driving skills,in supercar spotting however it’s pointless.
I agree #6 is a problem.
I kinda ignored the car scene for a good 15 years. I was all into cars in the 1990s, and didn’t get seriously back into them until just last year when I actually had the money again to do what I want with the car I want.
In that 15 years, the horsepower wars have exploded. 15 years ago, 1000bhp was something you only saw from pro teams in NHRA. Now every Joe, Ralph and Jose has 1 or 2 thousand bhp in their “project car” it seems. Factory cars roll off the line with 600bhp on a regular basis. Family sedans regularly to 300bhp - once the territory of special edition vehicles and supercars.
At the same time, electronics have had to adapt to reign in all of that horsepower. Drivers haven’t gotten better - the electronics have.
But, you know, 15 years ago, a 6 second 0-60 time was FUN. Why shouldn’t it be fun now? Just because you can do it in a v6 Camry?
I can tell you on no uncertain terms that my Abarth is fscking fun to drive. Factory 160bhp was enough already, but I’ve modded it to about 220bhp. I hate when guys ask “how much power” and then sneer when I tell them. They have completely missed the point - because they’re being marketed to that you can’t have fun unless you can shred your tires to the cords in 3 minutes or less.
It makes it hard for manufacturers to sell truly fun cars, to be honest. For example, the whole manual -vs- automatic…. Well, you really have a hard time handling a manual gearbox when your 0-60 time is 3 seconds. Most people can’t shift that fast. So you’re not going to get it. But a 6 or 7 second car? Sure, manual is just fine. But that’s “economy car” territory these days….
/rant over
I agree with your points, especially when a good car such as the Abarth doesn’t have to have huge horsepower numbers just to be fun. I somewhat feel the same way since I currently have a stock Lancer GTS and want to appreciated it for what it is in it’s current state.
This is why the Toyota GT86 and new MX5 are such brilliant cars. They’re not powerful, they’re not fast but they put the fun back into driving which is what all cars should do
I agree with you and #6.
I my self have a 400hp/500nm alfa stock was 250/300nm and as soon as someone asks me how much power (coming from a supra with 750-900whp) they turn around and go like we’ll that’s cute… Seriously it’s not the figures that speak.
I must say it’s not the hp that interests me it’s the power delivery and Nm (maybe my next car will be a diesel with that attitude).
funny thing is when I drive against the exact supra I mentioned earlier, it never really takes off, we drive side by side until one gives up and that’s just about it. so no, hp doesnt mean everything.
100% agree on Number 2, preach Darren! Although I can be accused of ‘spotting’, I go into London as a photographer, not a spotter. I - and a few of my mates - will find a car, look around at the scenery it’s parked in and try and find a shot that’s different to everyone else.
The scene is completely saturated now, there’s no original content unless it’s from an exclusive event only a select few got invited to. Yes, I understand that it’s a hobby and they enjoy it - but what’s the actual end product? My advice to any ‘spotters’ is to calm down, stop sprinting down the road for cars that are parked and put an extra 10% more effort into getting original and unique photos/video. Leave London, find contacts, and do private shoots; it’s way more fun and the end product will always be 10x better.
Thank goodness im not the only one who thinks that any car thats automatic or has less than 500bhp are just terrible cars, it really angers me when you try to make a point about this and you’re consistantly being shot down by it
I think the main issues on CT and car scene is keyboard warrior who don’t know nothing about cars or maybe old enough to have driving license and they act like they’re experts.This pictures and the one that i marked.Sorry i’m still have a heart not to expose the username.
Yo daw-