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.

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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.

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Comments

VChristian

And i’m just here like, what a dropdead beautiful Jensen Interceptor!

11/26/2015 - 21:27 |
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Anonymous

#3 - Vehicle Virgins.

11/26/2015 - 21:36 |
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Anonymous

I agree with that last sentence to a point. Sure we all love cars and will be ecstatic of the new cars and technologies coming out but who of us will own one of these cars in the near future? The numbers are slim. When the majority of this sites cars are either self-made weapons of mass horsepower, 90’s tuners, and other “built, not bought” type of cars, we are forced to live in the past.
Most of us can’t afford a brand new BMW. Sure, we’ll respect the technology put into it, but when we go outside and see our own built up ol’ faithful (I use that term loosely, maybe ol’ fun filled is better) of a project car, we have to go back to that “‘manual is better, automatics suck” mentality

11/26/2015 - 21:42 |
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Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I don’t have to, I want to. I think there is way too much talking about it. If I had the money I would not buy a new BMW with an automatic. It’s not always that people btch about autos, because they cant afford them, its just because they think they suck. I hate automatics too and there is no deeper reason behind it. I just dont like them and I love shifting my own gears. I just love the feeling and I love driving an older car. This is just one thing: Personal preference. It’s the same thing with front wheel drive. People btch about it, because they don’t like it. I don’t like it. But some people do and even if some fwds are faster, I would still put my money in some older rwd car.

11/27/2015 - 00:34 |
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Anonymous

6 things I HATE.

One of them is negativity….

A hate post is negativity. shut up and enjoy things, and if you don’t like them just leave it be and get on with things… or fcuk off and buy a moped!

11/26/2015 - 21:56 |
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Erik 10

I totally agreed with the #6. I have owned a BRZ for almost a year now and I’m perfectly happy with the performance. I now it is not the fastest car of it’s type, but it is definitely “fun on wheels”. In my opinion, you dont need 500+ or even 300+ horsepower in normal roads, because the max speed limit is 120kph (Finland). When you have 200hp you can use almost all of it, all the time. You can let the rews rise, but still keep the speed under the speed limit. With a 500+ horsepower car you push the accelerator and almost immediately exceed the speedlimit. I am starting to sound like James May :)

11/26/2015 - 22:05 |
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Anonymous

I signed up just for this but i have NEVER understood supercar spotters. I mean I live in Georgia in the US and seeing supercars is kinda rare I’ve seen a gallardo and an R8 within the month but where im getting at is
well.. there is nothing really special about them I mean yeah it cost a lot but it’s not like walking down the road and seeing a Fiat 8V. They are neat but it’s to me at least not like seeing a classic or unique car. And you could say they are unique but its not worth running in front of the car to get a shot. I basically just made a paragraph that says exactly what Darren said.

11/26/2015 - 22:19 |
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VQ35DEfan97

The point about the environment really stuck out for me. As for someone who is also a advocate for environmentalism and more ‘environmentally-efficient’ living (recycling, zero plastic, solar power, alternative fuels, little things, believe human activities result in climate change), I agree its always a battle between us petrolheads and the ‘very’ stuck up environmental community (likely in their ‘green’ Priuses or JDM hybrids). There has to be a balance between both for for us and conserving the environment for our future generation, but its kind of difficult to establish that at this moment. Possibly restricting use of cars on certain days of the week, policies like that are potential to reach that balance to some extent..

11/26/2015 - 22:44 |
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Anonymous

Best.Article.Ever.

11/26/2015 - 23:24 |
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panor86

I’m totally agree in every point! great, really great!

11/26/2015 - 23:31 |
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Kieren Rogers

#5, IT WOULD BE GREAT IF YOU BLOODY TOLD THE BLOKES OVER AT FACEBOOK WHO ADMIN THE CAR MEMES AND CARTHROTTLE PAGES THIS SO EVERY POST WASN’T REVOLVING AROUND THE DAMN GT-R AND TOOK INTO CONSIDERATION OTHER PEOPLE’S TASTES AND INTERESTS

11/26/2015 - 23:33 |
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