The Drawbacks And Benefits Of Being A Car Enthusiast

Overall, being a car enthusiast is pretty great; there are some good benefits to loving cars. However, there are also some noticeable drawbacks as well, let's talk about those before the good things.

Loving Cars Can Be An Expensive Hobby

Let’s be honest with ourselves, being a gearhead can be a serious drain to your personal bank account. Sure, you can buy and modify cars on a budget but it’s easy to get carried away with modifications and options to where you’re $10,000 in the whole on additional add-ons to your car. Also, it’s a frustrating reality that some of the most desirable cars can also cost the most money to fill up with gas, maintain, buy and insure. It seems as if petrolheads are never satisfied, even with such amazing cars as the new Corvette ZO6 and Subaru WRX STI.

Not Many Women Are Car Enthusiasts

If you’re a car guy and you want to date and possibly marry a car girl, you have your work cut out for you; a vast majority of gearheads are male. Also, there are quite a few women who don’t approve of fast and pricey automobiles. The realistic choice for most petrolhead men is to find a girl who is at least supportive of their car addiction and willing to learn about it.

Being A Petrolhead Can Be Dangerous To Yourself And Others

Many famous people have met their demise because of a tragic car accident. Aryton Senna, James Dean, Paul Walker and Dale Earnhardt just to name a few. Sometimes we forget when driving fast how close we can be to making a fatal mistake.

Gearheads Don’t Often Have The Best Relationship With Law Enforcement And The General Public

A lot of what car guys do is frowned upon by both the general public and the police. Loud exhausts, rolling coal, street racing, speeding, burnouts and drifting are things that can make our neighbors hate us and the cops give us hefty fines or even prison sentences. Meanwhile, I doubt your average gardener will be given a visit by their local constable because they took their hobby too far.

The Government Is Always Ruining Our Fun

Barring the import of certain cars because of their age, banning the sale of gasoline and diesel cars by a certain year and much more. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out the government cares more about other things than car enthusiasts.

Now, let's talk about the benefits

Gearheads Tend To Be Safer Drivers

This point may seem counterintuitive to most but there is an argument to be made. Car enthusiasts tend to shun distracted driving and piloting and automobile whilst under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Also, in the event a car loses traction, petrolheads should know what to do because they are on good terms with under and oversteer.

We Can Fix And Maintain Our Own Cars

While most of the population has no clue how to do even a simple oil change, most petrolheads can do so without any help. This can save your money in the long term and your hide if you get a flat tire miles from the nearest town.

A Love Of Cars Can Easily Turn Into A Profitable Career

Are you good at drawing and love cars? Try being a car designer. Do you love to wrench on cars for hours on end? Maybe becoming a mechanic is right for you. Cars are one of the few hobbies where a passion can lead to a great job.

The Car Community

When you meet someone who spends just as much time browsing Craigslist as you for a used Miata, you tend to get along. Some of my best friends are gearheads and can do generous things for you like tow you out of a ditch, help you fix your car and let you abuse the clutch in their car so you can learn to drive a car with a manual gearbox. Sure there are a few bad apples in the bunch, but overall it’s a big happy family.

You Can Never Know Enough About Cars And Car Culture

There are so many different types of cars and one car itself has do much design behind it, not many petrolheads can know even half of everything there is to know about cars in their life. This is good news for bookworms because there is a lot of material to study so you better get cracking.