Is it aesthetics? Performance? Engineering? Sentimental value? Nostalgia? Weirdness?..
I could go on, there’s as many ways to enjoy a car as there are car owners and I find it very interesting what people value in what is ultimately a tool of conveyance that is elevated by social and personal values.
I always love cars that are just a little weird, they have features that don’t quite make sense, they have styling that just doesn’t fit in with other modern cars, and they certainly don’t blend in at the grocery parking lot. They emanate a certain incongruence with the world around them.
From my European perspective - I don’t have driving licence.
It is this weird long car that carries lots of people or car on rails. You can prepay it for year, month, day or hour just for the time you need to use it.
I know that I sometimes complain about the car being late or I have to use my legs to get to my destination. But deep down below I know that this car is something special.
Also I like veterans in museums and shows.
I would give up my vehicle for a working public transportation in a heartbeat. I definitely didn’t know if there would be anyone else in this thread who agreed.
A working public transportation is a most beautiful thing!
There’s no reason not to have both though. The countries with great public transportation are WAY nicer to drive in than countries where everyone has to drive.
Yeah, but I don’t need to drive and it’s a huge waste. I’ve never enjoyed it, it is really forced on our youth, and frankly it’s so dangerous and people are so stupid, I look forward to automation and the lives saved from “I want my independence driving oh look a notification” crowd.
Fair enough, I love driving, but I think about 90% of my kilometers are on fairly low-traffic extraurban roads. I could not imagine driving in traffic every day.
If I ever did, the idiocy and risk other drivers are causing now with the more distracted driving has me too uncomfortable for even that honestly. I’d say it’s where I live but we have all seen the hours and hours of gifs online of slow speed accidents. 😩
In cities or close by cities this is not a problem. I’m from norway, the country is big, but with few people. So the train or bus doesn’t go where I need to go. Last week I was going to a place 25km away from my home. I was thinking of taking the bug but it would take 1h14m. with my car it is a little under 30minutes.
Then there taking stuff home. A few weeks ago I needed some planting soil for my garden. I only needed 3 bags with 40L of dirt. But imaging taking that on the train or the bus. People living a apartments in cities don’t have this problem. But other people leed other lives.
I know that there are legitimate uses for car. But for me it doesn’t make sense economically. Time save is minimal, when I need to use car for moving stuff I ask someone or have it delivered.
But we have pretty solid public transport everywhere. It is mainly because last regime (communism) and after revolution it stayed, car centric communities are build only for last 10 years.
Yeah good public transport is amazing, sadly hard to come by in the states so I have to rely on my car to get me places, can’t even reasonably get to the grocery store without a car (well maybe if I felt adventurous or desperate). I’d much rather just take a bus and have a car parked up at the track with all the money I’d save. I was thinking about moving near my workplace and walking/biking into work as there’s a decent neighborhood nearby, also walking/biking distance to a grocery store. That’s the dream really I do genuinely dislike having to get into a car and dealing with parking etc as much as I like cars and driving in general.