Are we (PH-ers) a dying breed?

[zcacogp]

Chaps,

Talk on R4 this morning is about car use having peaked, and whether we are 'falling out of love with the car'. Article on the (wonderfully un-biased) BBC website here. Discussion was around the notion that shopping and 'visiting friends' use of cars has dropped, which are both explained to some extent by the rise of the internet and social networking. However the high cost of motoring (although is it higher now than it was at any other time in the recent past?) and the congestion and poor state of our roads can't be ignored (although weren't really mentioned.) And, worryingly, the premise of the BBC website article is that if car use is dropping, so should spending on the roads.


Oli.

[RAClNG SNAKE]

The best bit of journalism that JC will ever do summed it up for me.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xa2jp5_top-gear-a...

[irocfan]

great - more fun from the Pravda

[Asterix]

RAClNG SNAKE said:

The best bit of journalism that JC will ever do summed it up for me.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xa2jp5_top-gear-a...

I remember that. Poignant.

[Pwig]

Not at all, remember there are a whole gereration of kids who have now grown up with the new top gear and gran turismo!

[0000]

RAClNG SNAKE said:

The best bit of journalism that JC will ever do summed it up for me.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xa2jp5_top-gear-a...

I haven't seen that since it went out. Beautiful piece even on a crappy internet connection.

Unlike the BBC article which is a waste of bandwidth, based around the idea that we like cars less because we've saturated the number of miles we can cope with driving in a busy world with cheap flights readily available.

[kambites]

I don't think car enthusiasm is dying yet, although it probably is changing - I suspect enthusiasm for the internal combustion engine is dying out.

[rumple]

It's easy to think as you get older there are less petrolheads about, I'm 42 and do not know anyone else who is into cars, when I was 32 quite a few of my mates were, at 22 getting a tasty motor was life's priority, now my mates think diesel A4's are the way forward, I see loads of young lads out in their cars though, I both pity and envy them, their first cars are far superior to what I owned but fking hell the cost of running them.

[kambites]

rumple said:

It's easy to think as you get older there are less petrolheads about, I'm 42 and do not know anyone else who is into cars, when I was 32 quite a few of my mates were, at 22 getting a tasty motor was life's priority, now my mates think diesel A4's are the way forward, I see loads of young lads out in their cars though, I both pity and envy them, their first cars are far superior to what I owned but fking hell the cost of running them.

I'd take my first car over almost anything I see youngsters in these days.

[Chicane-UK]

I think it's still there but I know as a "car enthusiast" my enthusiasm for driving to car shows up and down the country has waned significantly with the cost of petrol and so forth. It's a significant expense now, paying for a tank of fuel just to go on a day out meaning I do have to think a bit now about what I go and do, rather than just doing it!

[simoid]

Well, these threads certainly aren't a dying breed...

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[jimxms]

IMO, a large part of the enthusiasm from yesteryear came from being able to easily tinker with your own car. Things have got a lot more complicated recently, and the home mechanic is a dying breed and with it goes the enthusiast who has a genuine interest for the combusion engine.

The new generation of enthusiast is much more watered down. They still exist, but they meet in car parks to show off their latest fiberglass bodykit and slammed suspension.

[kambites]

jimxms said:

The new generation of enthusiast is much more watered down. They still exist, but they meet in car parks to show off their latest fiberglass bodykit and slammed suspension.

This culture has existed for at least 15 years, probably much more.

[jimxms]

kambites said:

This culture has existed for at least 15 years, probably much more.

I know, my folks old 2.8 Capri had a bodykit and aftermarket wheels. However the culture si growing rapidly in size and diluting the real 'Piston Head' breed.

[kambites]

jimxms said:

kambites said:

This culture has existed for at least 15 years, probably much more.

I know, my folks old 2.8 Capri had a bodykit and aftermarket wheels. However the culture si growing rapidly in size and diluting the real 'Piston Head' breed.

Strange, I'd say it's shrunk since I was 17. I very rarely see stupidly body-kitted cars these days, they used to be all over the price.

[BorkFactor]

Pwig said:

Not at all, remember there are a whole gereration of kids who have now grown up with the new top gear and gran turismo!

True, but the majority of them will have to pay ludicrous sums of money to insure their first cars at 17. I can see where this point of view is coming from, and being a "car enthusiast" I am defiantly in the minority compared to the rest of my year at university and in school.

[zcacogp]

simoid said:

Well, these threads certainly aren't a dying breed...

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Yeah, but this one has a BBC article to back it up. So it's not just woolly conjecture from a bunch of sad internet enthusiasts from a dying breed - it's a real, living, growing thing!


Oli.

[kambites]

BorkFactor said:

True, but the majority of them will have to pay ludicrous sums of money to insure their first cars at 17. I can see where this point of view is coming from, and being a "car enthusiast" I am defiantly in the minority compared to the rest of my year at university and in school.

So was I 15-20 years ago though, a tiny minority.

[DanielSan]

kambites said:

This culture has existed for at least 15 years, probably much more.

More like 50.... Modified Cars now are nothing more than an extension of the hot rod scene which used to do exactly
the same thing.

[james_gt3rs]

kambites said:

jimxms said:

kambites said:

This culture has existed for at least 15 years, probably much more.

I know, my folks old 2.8 Capri had a bodykit and aftermarket wheels. However the culture si growing rapidly in size and diluting the real 'Piston Head' breed.

Strange, I'd say it's shrunk since I was 17. I very rarely see stupidly body-kitted cars these days, they used to be all over the price.

+1 I haven't raced a bodykitted hatchback off the lights for a couple of years now