cabruce

I've been thinking a lot about my own auto enthusiasm, and the future of auto enthusiasm in general. These thoughts have really come from two things.

First, I wrote this post for Autoviva about the Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ entering production (linked below). My wife drives a 2012 Subaru Outback, and I have been really impressed with it so far. It accomplishes everything that we need so well that it really has become part of the family. On the other hand, The 86/BRZ is a totally different beast. I've never had a car like this as a daily driver, and I don't know how I would deal with its small size and rear-wheel drive, given that I live in a climate that can get lots of snow.

It is great that these cars exist. In the US, inexpensive, rear-wheel drive performance coupes have been very limited for about the last decade. Now in the span of just a few years there are the Mustang, Camaro, Genesis Coupe and these twins. It is positive that the market is growing for the enthusiast without a lot of money.

My thoughts on these cars went even deeper this weekend when I read the following post on Bring a Trailer. The car in question was a 1969 Toyota Crown with a small block Chevy engine swapped in. You can see the car and the comments about it linked below. The comment that caught my eye was from a user who goes by the name of Jim-Bob and said the following:

“Much the same can be said for the US as well. I have argued this here before (and many choose to disagree) but the old car hobby itself is dying due to the economics of it. The contraction of the middle class has led to far less disposable income and the new generations coming up do not have a widespread car culture. Instead, their culture is based on mobile electronics (phones, tablets, laptops, gaming, etc.) and a car is just an appliance. Part of this is due to a changing culture but part of it is due to the cars themselves. Cars from the last 10 years do not lend themselves well to the backyard tinkerer. In days past, cars were relatively simple, purely mechanical devices that could be worked on with simple hand tools. Even through the 1990′s cars remained fixable with only a modest investment in electronic tools and know-how. Not so much today. Now there is a much larger knowledge hurdle to get over. The days of replacing a few inexpensive bolt on parts and getting a respectable gain are gone and with them the desire to learn the systems. I am scared to death of owning something made after 2,000 but my newest vehicle is now 14 years old and I know that I will eventually need to bite the bullet. now, I am more skilled than most but even I have to wonder if it will be worth daily driving a used car rather than getting a new one with a warranty. After all, independent garages have all but shut down in many parts of the US due to how difficult it is to service newer cars. How will I ever work on them with a much more limited tool budget?"

This commenter put into words something that I have felt for years. I consider myself a car enthusiast. I have made the pilgrimage to the Nürburgring; I have done a handful of laps of tracks near me both, but I do now know the first thing about working on cars.

I know the theory; I can look under the hood and identify a carburetor, air intake, spark plugs, etc. But I do not know the first thing about actually taking a wrench to a car and repairing it. It is a little embarrassing for me to write about cars all day and be able to explain verbally how a turbo works, but not have the slightest idea on how to actually work on a car.

Modern cars are not meant to be repaired by normal people. For instance, the new Porsche 918 has 50 CPUs monitoring the car. Granted this is an extreme example both in terms of technology and price, but compare it to the highest performance Porsche 60 years ago. That car would have had a four- or six-cylinder engine with a few Weber or Zenith carburetors. While the materials might have been exotic, if you knew how to work on a Volkswagen, you probably could have at least kept the Porsche in tune.

I'm not arguing that the march of technology is negative, but what happens to the enthusiast who buys an 86/BRZ wanting an entry level performance car? While it will stay at the peak of reliability for a few years, when stuff starts breaking, which it inevitably will, the only answer is to take it to the dealer, which is more expensive and takes longer than fixing it yourself.

We can't put the genie back in the bottle. It is possible that all cars, including those aimed at enthusiasts, will become disposable. It has already happened with other technology. Are cars next?

Photo Source: Scion