T0ked

iTrader: (2)

Sounds and vibration I can understand. Although I think that is very subjective. not everyone loves the sound of a ferrari or the lub-lub of a cammed American muscle car. A car that is quiet and vibration free can have just as much "soul" as another car, it's what the driver feels and wants and how connected he feels to the car (not the road). Maintenance I think is just some nostalgic defense for things that don't work quite correctly today. Sure if you're used to fixing your own car, changing a flat or making pseudo repairs on the side of a road, then those are things you'll look back on as being part of an auto-owning experience. Things that are new will not have "soul" because it has nothing to connect it to our past. Doesn't mean that it is not better.

It's like the people who say tube amps sound better. It's still an ongoing arguement. Some say the "warmness" you hear with a tube amp is distortion. Others say it sounds more "live". who's right and whose wrong? I don't care, because I like Onkyo and Denon receivers. Numbers don't lie, they have less distortion and reproduce a "purer" sound. They are better than old tube amps, but its subjective as to what an individual likes.

I'll fight anyone who says my SC300 doesn't have soul, because to me, it does. It doesn't break down, its fun to drive, I can swing out the rear when I want, and when it gets me through a NYC blizzard, I park it, pat the hood, and quietly say to my car, "you did good". So for me, this car will be what I bench others from now on. Some cars will have "less soul" and some will have more, I'm sure. And for me more maintenance will not indicate "soul". It will indicate "crap" since my car has been relatively trouble free for 13 years now.

All the old farts who dismiss the newer brands as not having "soul" will be displaced by younger farts in due time and "soul" will have a different meaning. But to say one car is better than another because of "soul" is total BS.

As I said before, my gf thinks MB and BMW are cold and Lexus is warm... and you really don't want to argue with her.

RX_330

He can defend Lexus in his sleep.

Mr Johnson

But it's not crap if even after it broke you still love it. You know: "jeesh if only that little nit-picky thing didn't break my M5 would be perfect". You still love the M5 but it has some soul.

Once the stuff that breaks becomes big enough it turns the soul to crap. Then you don't love the car anymore.

I like this description a lot. I had an older Altima in between several of my higher performance automobiles. It was perfect. Ran great, didn't break down, made no strange noises, couldn't have asked more from a transportation appliance. The problem is that is all it was. I hated it! No pickup, relatively poor handling, nothing outstanding just a very reliable friend.

Now my GS started out that way but with the personality, or soul, I've injected I truly feel it now qualifies just like some of the other cars. My Marauder? Quality-wise terrible but even though minor things squeak and break and I have phantom power windows at times I still love it.

I dunno.. Go figure.

-J-P-L-

Perhaps Lexus doesn't need a soul seeing as how they never die.

If having soul and dying gets you in, then there must be a crap load of Mercedes and BMW's in Heaven!

lux.sh

only the cars with navi system has soul.
cause you can talk to them.

"Sorry, I can not recognize what you just said. System off".
"........bi**h..."

Bean

iTrader: (1)

No. If a car has wildly unpredictable problems... I call it a POS... not soulful. Again its some BS idea to attempt to lend credibility to crappy cars.

BMW exec: "Our cars aren't unreliable!!! They've got soul!!!"
BMW fanboy: "Oh snap!!! Homeboy is right!!!"
BMW-biased mag: "Hells yeah!!! BMW has soul and reliable cars are teh suk"

lux.sh

Twist that around and we get same BS idea to attempt to lend credibility to crappy cars.

lexus exec: "There are no souls in our cars! but We are reliable!"
lexus fanboy: "oh snap!!! homeboy is right!!!"
lexus-based mag(if there is one): "hells yeah! lexus is reliable and cars with souls suck!!"

LexFather

You can't flip it around b/c no one has said cars with "soul" suck. I sure won't. However, its been beaten to death by fanboys that cars with no soul do suck.

I have never read anyone say "X car sucks b/c it has soul"

Ice350

iTrader: (1)

Look, I didn't mean that only cars with unpredictable problems have soul. It's just one of the meanings. There are many others.
I had a 1973 Monte Carlo in 1977. When I drove that car on the freeway, looking out at the scenary, it looked as though I was looking through a picture window. An aquarium. I don't get that feeling in a Lexus. That car was special. It was the special edition "Body by Fisher" model. Metallic green paint that never scratched or got road rash. It was faster than other Monte Carlo's or other GM cars with the same engine. I always felt the guys that put it together were in a really good mood that day. Maybe is was payday. It was so fast and smooth. I drove it all over the country. Everyone wanted to ride with me. Girls....loved being seen in the Green Machine. I put a killer stereo in it with my own hands. Changed the wheels and tires. Tinted the windows. That car had a personality...a soul. It was alive. I was so hurt when in 1981, I totalled it. My fault, I drove it while sick with pnemonia. I couldn't see well enough to judge traffic but I needed to eat and none of my college buddies were around to help me. I still miss that car. It was the Green Machine, aka Bessie...she never let me down and always came through.

Ice350

iTrader: (1)

More about my Green Machine aka Bessie.
Not many cars produced in the 1970's could run at over 100 mph for hours and hours and not shake rattle or roll. That car was exceptional. I drove over 100 every chance I got. Until I got 4 speeding tickets in a 2 moth span. In those days you could give the cop money and they'd let you go. I was a spoiled kid, always had big cash and paid my way out. One night I was speeding on a snowy highway and hit something in the road and had a spinout. I was spinning toward a ditch that was several feet down. My expensive Michelins, my calm demeanor and the mighty Green Machine pulled through. Also the grace of God might I add. I stopped speeding after that. The Green Machine was still enjoyable at 90 mph. Even more so. It became the ultimate cruizing machine. I have so many stories of my adventures in that car. It was my partner. It definitely had a soul.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

That was a great read. I do agree with you though that not all cars will leave you with that "same" connection. When I find cars that I feel like it's connected to me, I tend to keep that car for a very long time. I dont get that feeling in my lexus either because the atmosphere is like my mom's camry. It's a nice car, no doubt, but it just doesn't feel special.

Bean

iTrader: (1)

Well with the mild suspension work on my SC and the decent tires I have on it... it definitely has a great connection with the road. If someone disagreed, I'd have to think they were looking for a spine-crushing racecar.

My Nissan has "soul". It would have to be mine though, because I've poured my heart and soul INTO it.

Not without its problems though: brakes suck, has no head unit, shocks are going, etc. But its fun to drive and pretty fast (as fast as the Lexus ever was when i had it turbocharged). But I'd sell it, if offered the right money (not a whole lot). I don't have an attachment to it when it comes down to the end... i'm not all excited about working on a vehicle that I've put TONS of hours into already.

lux.sh

you drive a lexus?

RA40

iTrader: (6)

These writers have waxed so much about Euro cars that they continue to keep their blinders on by writing such things. Like a skipping record...if they moved the needle over a bit, they may discover something far better than then they care to admit.

That's okay...I enjoy driving mine....that's all that matters.

ic144

HAHAHAHAHAH!!!

You mean burning in Hell as the scraps are being melted.