If you listen to the mindless masses and the authorities yes, we are a bunch of idiots. Dangerous ones.
The mass market does not care about handling nor even the feel of a car. Most of them can’t drive well enough to ever experience much less appreciate these things. Only by pushing a car to its limits are these attributes ever explored. And doing that is going to be mostly illegal. Even worse, in this backward shit hole anyway, people who even try to explore their cars handling are labeled hoons and can have their cars impounded. A “hoon” can be anything form a person who momentarily chirps his wheels with a spirited take off to a pair of idiots involved in a 200+ kmh street race. But to the authorities and their mindless drones these are exactly the same thing.
Roads that were once 60kmh in an era before every car had ABS, air bags, poorer brakes and buckled like tuna cans in an impact are now 50kmh. Obviously the revenue collection possibilities of this measure play a huge part in its implementation but it still seems hard to justify. Or does it?
The mindless masses for whom cars are now designed don’t think so. The “if you don’t want to get fined don’t speed” morons who have never experienced anything in a car other than getting to their destination are the Epsilon Morons the authorities thrive on. These people ask the question “why do we need V8s or high performance cars?” These people believe that 5ks over the speed limit is truly as dangerous as the authorities want us to believe.These are the people for whom the manufacturers are having to lure buyers with such fruit as Sat Nav, IPod connectivity and Siri as opposed to sports suspension and extra horsepower. These are the people for whom manufacturers are even building cars that park themselves because the owners have long lost that ability. These people will condemn exceeding speed limits or driving spiritedly yet seem to have no problem with cars that are now designed to compromise their already nonexistent concentration or awareness. Pissing around with “entertainment systems” and scrolling through endless menus of on board distractions doesn’t faze them. Nor the authorities for some reason. But “creep” 5 ks over a prescribed speed limit…….
We have two manufacturers in this little back water who still build large rear wheel drive cars. We are unique in that these are the “basic” family cars not exotic or prestige over priced snob-mobiles. But their days are numbered. I am probably a little different to some of you guys who desire the smaller go cart type sports cars but we are still mostly on the same page. I don’t care if my big arsed V8 rwd lump won’t go around a corner like it’s on rails. I actually like to have a struggle and know that if my right foot is not under control it could turn to shit. And I like it when I can occasionally put the boot in I get thrown back in my seat. Nevertheless we all enjoy something from motoring that the regular road users don’t. Unfortunately the options available for us to pursue in our endeavors to satisfy our thrills are becoming fewer and fewer.