1999-2009 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
I have always thought that one big reason for the blandness of the GM/Ford/Chrysler and even US Toyota and Nissan offerings was the general attitude of most US drivers. Cars are typically seen as extensions of the living room/office. A mere commuter device to go from somewhere to somewhere else while enjoying coffee/food and being entertained by the radio. Basically, driving is no longer a verb, it is no longer an action, but is a passive state of waiting to arrive.
Some of this is due to the crowded roads in American cities, both large and small. A 20-mile commute at an average 20-30 miles an hour is hardly exciting or stimulating. But even when most American drivers venture out into the countryside or the interstate highways, the lack of 'driving' is evident. Inattentive drivers blocking the left passing lanes. Drivers unable to maintain a stable speed even on an open freeway. Again, driving has become a passive waiting game. Therefore, the lack of turn signals and the complete lack of awareness shown by many drivers.
In the end, the big automakers give the American public what they want, easy chairs on wheels in which John Q. Public can nap while in route to the next destination. Performance cars become a toy of the idle rich who can afford time on the racetrack or want the status of owning a 'sports car'. The niche market for 'performance coupes and sedans' becomes more and more filled with luxury extras to please the masses, and nevermind that the the high output engines of the Nissan Bluebird and Subaru WRX are never to be seen by the American owner. Even the BMW/AUDI/SAAB/ALFA etc. dealers need leather seating, heated seats, cup holders, and vanity mirrors to keep the 'luxury performance car' appeal broad enough to stay viable in the USA automobile marketplace. Note that there is no USA touring car racing series and little to no coverage of rally racing, but we have carbureted V8 powered, rear drive, fiberglass over tube frame, cartoon images of FORD/GM cars and trucks racing on oval tracks every weekend. It is the 'driving as TV entertainment', 'driving as a Disneyland ride' attitude that further separates most US car drivers from ever wanting to know the joy of driving a performance car on twisting blacktop roads, feeling the excitement of the suspension working to keep traction, the sound of the tires squirming as they bite into the corners, the joy zen ofactually driving a car not just 'waiting to arrive'.
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