The Thrill is Gone
As great as technology can be, every now and then, it disappoints.
Take for example, the modern-day automobile. Technology has allowed manufacturers to achieve a lot of things. Over 100 horsepower per liter from a normally aspirated engine. Dual clutch transmissions that can shift faster than the blink of an eye. It’s a long list. But it’s not all good.
Take for example the Nissan GT-R. It’s a 3,800+ pound car that can pull off track times that were thought of as unfathomable a decade ago, and it allows average—or even awful—drivers to look like Schumacher. At the more affordable end of the spectrum, cars like the Evo and STi offer similar capabilities to similarly incapable drivers. Torque-vectoring differentials have similarly changed the game, allowing cars to achieve ridiculous speeds through corners by way of technology. Cars have never been faster.
But are they as much fun? In my mind, no. Between the technologies that have enabled the aforementioned advances (advanced engine and transmission design, computer controlled AWD), and the various other traction and stability control programs out there, cars have gotten both so fast and so safe, the thrill is gone.
In looking for the GTI’s replacement, I’m looking for something fast, safe, reliable, but perhaps most of all, exciting. Something that will always do exactly what I tell it to, with as much urgency as possible—even if that’s going to leave me in a ditch. I drove a friend’s vintage 70s 911 years ago, and to this day, I remember it scaring the shit out of me. And I liked that. I knew I wasn’t going to get in that car and set a record lap time right away, if ever. And while I may be in the minority these days, that’s what I prefer. I want a car that can communicate to the driver as well as the driver can communicate to the car. I want a car that demands that level of communication for you to push it to its limits. Fast is easy these days, but not necessarily fun. Fun is hard—for manufacturer and driver alike, it seems—but not necessarily fast.
I’m thankful for cars like the BRZ/FR-S, 1 M Coupe, etc., but I’m afraid they might be the last of their kind. Keep those used 911s, E30/E36/E46 M3s, and various other “oh shit!” cars in good running shape people. And please, be a good enough driver to keep ‘em out of ditches.
