Quote:
Originally Posted by fielderLS3
Here's the 1.2 billion dollar question, though.....are they really in love with the cars, or are they in love with themselves for buying them? Ever see the "smug alert" South Park episode?
|
You could almost say the same thing about anyone with pride of ownership in any product. The justification for fanboyism frequently boils down to their product or company being superior for one reason or another, and the thought of getting anything else is wrong. For Volt owners, the feeling is that they are buying a car that runs on a unique drivetrain that does not require gas for most daily commuters. Is it wrong to feel good about that? How much would you pay to drive something that makes you feel proud? Would you pay tens of thousands?
Almost all of us on Camaro5 have committed to the purchase of something expensive to avoid the criticism inherent from our peers that our purchases could have been better. There's a lot of peer pressure out there to get a "real" muscle car, so anyone with less than 8 cylinders and an automatic transmission can feel smug about driving a "real" muscle car. Is it wrong to have pride in a big V8 and to have that man-on-machine control of how the transmission works? It's ironic how so many of us are eager to judge someone else for feeling pride in their product when we similarly feel a pride in ours.
That is why we have car enthusiasts. We all have an enthusiasm for an automotive product. I like GM products, but I can respect your Mustang as a competing product in my segment. These Volt guys aren't in our segment, but I can respect the pride they have in driving something different, just like my Firebird is different from roads and lots filled with family sedans. This sort of pride keeps car companies going.