Do college kids even care about cars?

[Jake]

Joey and I had this back-n-forth after discovering the Car Show post in Reddit's /r/jmu was downvoted to zero...



Are cars just... not cool to college kids anymore?

[Apoc]

Correct.

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[SlimKlim]

For the record it was at -1 on /r/jmu and my upvote brought it back to zero. So the first two people that saw the flyer went "nope that's stupid" and downvoted it.

And yeah. Cool cars aren't cool any more. I drove past the highschool in Ashburn last week and saw a Volt in there. Guarantee you he/she has the coolest car out of all their friends. And I bet they all think the kid driving the new Camaro that was parked next to it is a douche.

We're dinosaurs gentleman. In 30 years we'lll be the most hated neighbors on our block when we drag our old finite-resource-consuming clunkers out of the garage on saturday morning.

Maybe hope isn't entirely lost. When I was changing the oil in the VW on Monday a little boy of 2 or 3 and his mom stopped at the bottom of the driveway so he could oggle at the E36. I invited them up and chatted with his mom for a minute while he fondled the E36's quarter panel with eyes as big as saucers. And we should have our very own batch of gearheads in 16-17 years thanks to all our baby makin' MMers. :thumbup:

I don't think our sport will ever die out, but I do think we've pretty much completely fallen out of public favor and I don't expect that to turn around anytime soon.

[G.Irish]

Road & Track just had an article about this very thing this month:

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[kcook]

Its kinda like 21 jump street lol.

[V1GiLaNtE]

We're dinosaurs gentleman. In 30 years we'lll be the most hated neighbors on our block when we drag our old finite-resource-consuming clunkers out of the garage on saturday morning.

I can't wait to be that guy... :bootyshake:

Makes me think of that scene in I,Robot when Will Smith whips the MV Augusta out of storage and she's all like "This runs on fossil fuels!? These are dangerous!!"

Damn kids.. :finger:

[G.Irish]

Well these days people get so much stimulus (and addiction) from video games, social media and mobile tech that I'm sure there are all manner of experiences that they care a lot less about now. In all a lot of people can't be bothered to interrupt their instant gratification feedback loop. I find this happening to myself sometimes.

I also suspect that kids who came into high school after the biggest asset bubble in history blew up didn't get cars at the same rate as kids before. If you don't have one friend in your circle with a cool car, that will significantly lessen the chances you'll get into cars. I didn't really get hardcore into cars until I met Pete.

But with the financial crisis I think people's attitudes about what they need and what they don't have shifted a bit. A lot more people are trying to cut down on owing money on stuff, and a car is chief among those.

[ScottyB]

back in the day, as a teen you had to have a car to do...anything, really. before the internet and smartphones and consoles, people had to get in a car to go places to get their social interaction having fun or meeting up. as a result, the car was part of your identity and you spent a lot more time in it than you do now. all of your freedom was linked to those car keys.

kids now get all their interaction and entertainment without leaving their room, so why bother with an expensive, polluting, depreciating asset?

[Ken]

Have to agree, so sad. Although I just convinced the girlfriend and her close friend to let me teach them how to drive manual. Plus, every once in a while I get a "saw the coolest wheels on this car" text. So there's kinda sorta maybe a little hope?

[SlimKlim]

back in the day, as a teen you had to have a car to do...anything, really. before the internet and smartphones and consoles, people had to get in a car to go places to get their social interaction having fun or meeting up. as a result, the car was part of your identity and you spent a lot more time in it than you do now. all of your freedom was linked to those car keys.

kids now get all their interaction and entertainment without leaving their room, so why bother with an expensive, polluting, depreciating asset?

That was the gist of the preface of that R&T article, and it makes sense for the kid they were talking about there, who had access to reliable public transportation and genuinely had no need for a car.

But what about all the kids out in suburbia that can walk or ride a bike a few miles but that's about it? You can do lots of stuff over the internet but you can't get laid (yet). I dunno about you guys but that was my primary focus and motivation for just about everything I did at 15-16, and my car was my #1 enabler.

Have to agree, so sad. Although I just convinced the girlfriend and her close friend to let me teach them how to drive manual. Plus, every once in a while I get a "saw the coolest wheels on this car" text. So there's kinda sorta maybe a little hope?

:thumbup: Keep bringin' them to the dark side. Lauren texts me when she sees nice E39 M5s now.

[D_Eclipse9916]

kids now get all their interaction and entertainment without leaving their room, so why bother with an expensive, polluting, depreciating asset?

Public transporation gets a lot of stink, but it's not that bad in the dc area. I loved when my office commute consisted of only buses/walking/metro. Unfortunately I got off the bike commute that I need to wring back in. I hate driving, its more expensive than ever, bad roads, bad traffic, and depreciation on your car.

The convenience is BARELY there for me right now. If I lived in DC, I doubt I would have anything but an autox "race car" that got driven on weekends/autox.

[Evan]

back in the day, as a teen you had to have a car to do...anything, really. before the internet and smartphones and consoles, people had to get in a car to go places to get their social interaction having fun or meeting up. as a result, the car was part of your identity and you spent a lot more time in it than you do now. all of your freedom was linked to those car keys.

kids now get all their interaction and entertainment without leaving their room, so why bother with an expensive, polluting, depreciating asset?

+1

and Ill add to that, 'back in the day' a car was a status symbol for kids. a car made you cool.
not anymore.

an iphone and an facetwittergram account is your status symbol

cars are something kids rebel against now, not rebel with



oh, and there are a shit ton of idiot dipshits on reddit.

[*insertusernamehere*]

back in the day, as a teen you had to have a car to do...anything, really. before the internet and smartphones and consoles, people had to get in a car to go places to get their social interaction having fun or meeting up. as a result, the car was part of your identity and you spent a lot more time in it than you do now. all of your freedom was linked to those car keys.

kids now get all their interaction and entertainment without leaving their room, so why bother with an expensive, polluting, depreciating asset?

+1

and Ill add to that, 'back in the day' a car was a status symbol for kids. a car made you cool.
not anymore.

an iphone and an facetwittergram account is your status symbol

cars are something kids rebel against now, not rebel with



oh, and there are a shit ton of idiot dipshits on digg.

Ehhhh, I don't know about that. Technology definitely makes you cool but being from the suburb (west end, henrico, richmond) if you didn't have a car junior year right after getting your license you were pretty lame. Plus you would have to beg for rides everywhere.

[FlaakCM]

No one even looks at my car when I drive around down!!

[RawrImAMonster]

No one even looks at my car when I drive around down!!

Put a big spoiler on it. You'll get way more attention than you ever wanted. Ask me how I know :lol:

Also that reddit post is doing better now, the only two downvotes were the first two people.

[Goodspeed]

Well these days people get so much stimulus (and addiction) from video games, social media and mobile tech that I'm sure there are all manner of experiences that they care a lot less about now. In all a lot of people can't be bothered to interrupt their instant gratification feedback loop. I find this happening to myself sometimes.

back in the day, as a teen you had to have a car to do...anything, really. before the internet and smartphones and consoles, people had to get in a car to go places to get their social interaction having fun or meeting up. as a result, the car was part of your identity and you spent a lot more time in it than you do now. all of your freedom was linked to those car keys.

Ding ding ding. A car used to the gateway to adulthood for earlier generations - now, that same accessibility and ease of contact with friends is achieved through your smartphone (I say your, b/c I still don't have one, ha! Maybe thats why I still play with cars?)

[SlimKlim]

Everyone is missing this.

You can do lots of stuff over the internet but you can't get laid (yet). I dunno about you guys but that was my primary focus and motivation for just about everything I did at 15-16, and my car was my #1 enabler.

You can be connected all you want via the innernetz but when it comes time to find an empty parking lot and connect you're SOL without a car. I guess kids in suburbia just borrow their parents cars for that sort of thing these days.

My poor little Saab saw some shit man...

[ScottyB]

The convenience is BARELY there for me right now.

if i lived in DCircus with the rest of you guys i'd seriously just have a Rucus and a fun car and that would be it for wheels. i used to love taking my bike from Sunchase to campus when i was at JMU and beating the bus in the process. F traffic. if the public transport is good, it makes so much sense.

Ehhhh, I don't know about that. Technology definitely makes you cool but being from the suburb (west end, henrico, richmond) if you didn't have a car junior year right after getting your license you were pretty lame. Plus you would have to beg for rides everywhere.

yeah, there are certainly areas you will always have people wanting to be mobile. its funny though that from what i see, now a lot of the "cool cars" aren't the custom or performance ones, but the ones with the most ICE and connectivity "lifestyle" features.

it doesn't help that when i was growing up, gas price per gallon was the same as its octane number hock: i could burn through a whole tank in a day screwing around and didn't even care. now you have to have a part time job to keep any of the larger cars filled up!

you can all get off my lawn now

[premiershine9]

Recently, over the last several months i've noticed this.
For instance, the other weekend when I was home working on the Challenge Stradale, a group of 6 15/16 yr old dudes walked by and didn't even notice it at all, never bothered to look or see what the humming from the Italian motor/ ceramic tubi exhaust......I muttered to myself....."jesus, the hell is wrong with kids these days."

[*insertusernamehere*]

Okay I take back all that I have said. I was trying to protect my age group cause this is such a terrible thing, but then this happened
*friend walks into room*
Friend: "Why do you watch this show [top gear] so much they're just driving around haha" ....
Friend:"Gosh man, I can only drive for like 15-20 mins max at a time, I hate driving. Driving from NoVa to Harrisonburg is the worst"
He then proceeds to laugh at me for like 10 mins straight because I watch Top Gear.

And I'm just here like... What?