QOTD: Join the Club?
The downside of liking something is the fact that other people like it, too. You don’t have to be a friendless, shut-in misanthrope to prefer the company of a select type of person, and quite often too many of that other type of person loiters around the thing you love.
There’s that band you like but would never see live because of the crowd it draws. You know it’ll sour the experience. There’s the team you quietly root for, all the time wishing their fans weren’t such obnoxious jerkoffs.
It’s the same with automotive brands and particular car models — if you’re a car owner (or aspiring owner), your name might be unavoidably connected with a population of owners who give the thing a bad name.
Obviously, the first brand that comes to mind is Tesla and its vast, cult-like congregation of Elon evangelists. Did you know that other electric vehicles aren’t pure and don’t count as zero-emission vehicles? And that Wired magazine and Teslarati and a host of podcasts said this and that, so it’s gospel? And that circa $45k+ for a car is really, really cheap, so shut up about the unavailable $35k Model 3 already? And it drives itself, you know! Watch me take a nap!
A great many people can enjoy — and indeed desire, or even own — a fast, long-range electric sedan without hopping on the bus to Jonestown.
Ford Mustang owners get a black eye for the poorly-executed antics of a subset of individuals at Cars and Coffee meet-ups across the nation. The country’s curbs have never been in more danger.
Volkswagen’s hatch-loving community, like Honda’s, is rife with guys who take their corporate devotion a little too far. BMW aficionados suffer the presence of that guy on the highway in the 3 Series. Chevy trucks might be your bag, but you’re not enamored with certain owners you’ve seen on local news reports. Putting an old Porsche in your driveway might be high on your to-do list, but you’re not a chronograph-obsessed blogger with very loud political opinions.
Maybe you’ve always hankered for a vintage Trans Am or El Camino, but fear what you’ll find in the regional fan club.
How about it? Are you a people who loves a certain car but gets queasy thinking about the people who share your admiration?
[Images: Tesla, Corey Lewis/TTAC]
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I'm a (V6) Mustang driver. The car comes with a lot of "baggage" - other drivers assume the worst out of you, even in the lower-powered version (and those 2.73 highway gears - yawn!). But - like my BMW of yore - I learned to live with it. Mostly drive nice 'n' easy unless I have some space to myself. Don't get involved with light to light racing (heck - a 2.0T Accord would probably embarrass me!) but just enjoy shifting and hearing the crackle of the exhaust. I went out of my way to be polite to other drivers when I had a 2004 BMW 325i. Not too much trouble from other cars when I drove it; but I did feel self-conscious. Worst car for attention was my departed '86 Monte Carlo SS. Long tube headers on a 355 (Vortec heads / ZZ4 roller cam) made it sound mighty powerful. Add in the body length orange stripes and every kid in a Honda with a wing wanted a go at it. It had a definite redneck vibe but I still have a soft spot for the g-body.
I drive a Volvo SUV. My town is awash in high-dollar SUVs. The few brave souls who don't crave nose-bleed ground clearance drive one of the E-class/5-series/A6 triumvirate. Me? I secretly covet a Charger R/T Scat Pack. And I shall have one when the Volvo is put out to pasture, disapproving glares from my neighbors be damned.