Hammer Time: The Enthusiast Bent

I bought my house 14 years ago. It has 1800 square feet. Or maybe 1600? I honestly don’t know. From post-college corporate climbing to an endless string of automotive pursuits, it has remained my only ‘home’. I went through a lot of history here. Roommates. Marriage. Parenthood… and now I’m finally paying it all off. I supposedly missed a lot as far as homes go these last 10 years. The real estate boom happened all around me in northwest Atlanta. But I never missed it. In automotive terms, my house is a Toyota Corolla… with a hot tub, and I’m happy. Which makes me realize…

A lot of folks have the same exact attitude with their cars. It starts. It goes. You drive and think about other things. Toyota and Honda owners have been the ones most frequently labeled with this ‘appliance’ attitude towards cars. They are not enthusiasts. So sayeth the owners of the ‘fun’ cars. But I reckon that most of those folks are not enthusiast’s either.

When was the last time the ‘enthusiasts’ you know drove their car within five tenths of it’s capabilities? In the car business, that type of customer is either young or rare. The misery of commuting and errand running is the reality of most car lovers. Older folks will usually take a classic car out for Sunday runs… which are more like aimless wanderings. They are enthusiastic about that car, and about cars in general. But for 90+% of their driving time during the week they are not enthusiasts.

The retiree or other lucky soul that plunks down $40k+ for their daily ride may also seem like an enthusiast at first. They are blowing all that dough after all. But to me that person is as much of an enthusiast as a Harley owner is a ‘biker’. They don’t ‘Live to Ride, Ride to Live’. They simply got a Yuppie union card worthy of a pedigree. A prestige brand, and although they enjoy the ride, it is not a passionate experience. They don’t tinker with the car, learn more about it on the net, or go out and test it’s limits. They simply drive it 2/10’s and casually go about their business.

Does an ‘auto enthusiast’ have to equal sport? No. In our travels we have likely known sport, hybrid, luxury, off-road, racing, frugal, along with 40+ brands, orphaned and alive that can lay claim to an enthusiast following. But let’s face it. This is less than 5% of the population.

Consider that 235+ million cars are still on the road in the United States. How many potential car buyers will be enthusiastic enough to blow their premium dough on a car? Cars are losing the luster of ‘want’ in the marketplace for a lot of reasons. But I think the biggest one is that most enthusiasts are simply not into them.