Found this blog post today through a friend.
There are 4+ blog posts I can derive from this very easily. There’s modern dating, computers being dumbed down, the fact that everyone I know doesn’t know how to change their motor oil and finally there’s this idea that the car’s days are numbered.
Wat?
Let’s take this one step at a time. First of all, I’m 27 and was born in 1986. My parents don’t care about cars in a big way. They certainly liked having a car as self expression from my Mom’s Miata and Dad’s Dodge Ram to what they drive now, a bright yellow Nissan Xterra and a yellow Toyota FJ-Cruiser 4WD. We’ve always been a Japanese car family…i was scorn for buying a German car last year….in fact, the maintenance costs on the Golf R are killing me but it’s a wonderful vehicle and I’ll be getting whatever next Golf R / R400 comes out.
RE: Cars are a utility:
Cars appear easier now but they’re not. Cars are incredibly complicated. Modern cars are trying to be like the iPod…Great user interface, nice tech interior, safety features like blind-spot detection and rearview camera and a system so integrated, only the most up to date certified techs can work on them. But cars aren’t iPods. You don’t throw away a car and buy a new one every 12 months. Cars are expected to last 5-10 years for most people. The author’s argument is moot because all of these extra features increase the failure points and make repairs much more expensive. Cars appear to be much simpler but they’re not. The 2014 vehicle is a pain in the ass to maintain no matter how cheap or expensive it is. No car just turns on and goes even Tesla has moving parts.
RE: Driverless Cars:
I work for a mapping company so I’m going to tread lightly here. Driverless vehicles are incredibly hard. Very Very difficult to make work. Google’s product ONLY works in one square mile in Mountain View. Take it anywhere else in the country and the failure rate goes way up, next to impossible. The reason why it works only in one area is because Google did a level of mapping that would bankrupt almost any company to take on at a global scale (at this time). Globally making a map that is accurate to the centimeter with every street sigh, traffic light, turn restriction and speed limit and elevation changes with 100% accuracy is (at this time) impossible.
Car manufacturers are doing assisted driverless vehicles with the user of Radar and Cameras. They work okay but driver intervention is needed or driver must keep hands on the wheel and take up start / stop actions. We are a ways off from a driverless car to my knowledge. I’m not allowed in the R&D apartment at my company or car companies but what I’ve seen publicly is very immature.
RE: Roadtrips and Connections in real life are over:
Wat? you’re telling me that people don’t meet up in person anymore? Why go to the mall? Just sexting is normal now. What? You’re high on something. Regarding Road Trips I take them maybe 4 times a year. In the last 12 months, I’ve been to Canada twice, Chicago, Albany twice, DC, New York, Philly and Boston a few times. I’ve flown to more places but I’ve driven 31,000 miles in my car in 13 months. I love driving and go on road trips often. A lot of my friends do as well.
RE: The 0-60 and Specs Race:
I agree with the author’s sentiment here. Among the general populous, does a car look cool? Does it have cool technology? Does it fit my needs? Is the gas mileage good? That’s it. Some people like a solid get up and go when the light turns green but most don’t care. Only 1 person I know has ever seemed impressed when I said my Golf R’s 2L Turbo multi-injection engine does 0-60 in 5.1 seconds. The next question from most people is, “So how’s your gas mileage?”
RE: GM versus Tesla and Brand Loyaly:
I’m gonna need to lookup some market research here but I haven’t met a single person who doesn’t at least go back to the car company they bought from 5 years ago first when looking to buy a new car. They at least poke their head in Toyota again to see what’s new. Tesla has a good brand right now but I’m not sold on them for longevity. I’d look a VW, BMW and Ford before I started shopping elsewhere. Most people share that sentiment.
RE: Today’s youth don’t care about Ferrari or luxury vehicles
Are you saying that people under 40 don’t buy car magazines anymore? Let’s be clear here that most people don’t buy cars to impress people. That might sound crazy and Ferrari still turns heads…everyone looks to see one pass by when they do. I’ve never seen someone openly point and laugh at a guy for driving one.
RE: Public Transit or car alternatives
Just a quick question. If cars are pointless…how are we going to get around? it’s hard to imagine life outside of San Francisco for most of my friends but let’s be honest, when it’s grocery day, you get a ZipCar or an Uber / Lyft. That’s still a car! Where I live it’s a 30 minute drive to the grocery store. There is no Uber or Lyft or Zip Car or ride-share program or bus or train or taxi…well there is one taxi guy in my entire county. I’ve used him once, it was atrocious.
I really don’t get why we’re talking about cars going away. It’s not feasible for people and no it’s not going to change. Cities do get bigger yes, but when I move to up-state Vermont, you let me know when we get a taxi service or bus service.
RE: Sound Quality & Media aren’t important anymore.
Amen to that one. I agree with that…I do also agree that cars are utilities to young people. I just think the author is going about it all wrong. He says Tesla is where it’s at and driverless is the future, etc. Furthermore, saying cars themselves are not really needed or a big deal to young people. My sister who just turned 18 literally could not get to work without a car.
Anyway a blog post itself honestly but I have monitor earphones and speakers. I have all of my movies and TV shows digitized in 1080P at a high bit-rate. I don’t stream media cause it looks absolutely horrendous. I still use an iMac because I love big screens when working. I have a full-size laptop, a full-size iPad and I work out with an iPod Classic because my high-bit rate songs take up a lot of space. I use a real digital camera w/ lenses. I appreciate quality immensely and that goes for my car too. I don’t want to just get to work, I want to be a driver.
And maybe one day all of that will go away..the writing is on the wall but at 27, aren’t I too young to feel that way? This guy’s article makes me feel like I’m 60 years old.
There will still be people always who don’t want driverless cars. I LOVE driving. I’ll still clench to my iPod. I think Spotify sounds like crap. I’ll use my bulky headphones and actually cook meals at home. I’ve never been one of those Shampoo+Conditioner in one kind of guys and I’m not about to start.
There are things in this article that make sense but it’s being written in so many absolutes that I have a hard time really getting behind the author’s point.
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A few of my friends have used my car from time to time. They see a VW, a practical Golf, something inexpensive and fun to drive. Then they get back from driving, their hair messed up, their eyes wide open, “That was the most fun grocery store run I’ve ever had” Exactly. Practicality is nice but at the end of the day, pressing the accelerator is the most fun we can have without going to some exotic location and standing over an active volcano. It’s a rush.