How do I give my car soul? (I needed a good laugh)
10-24-06, 01:47 PM
#46
Lexus Champion
Yes an Atom that seats 5... just make it a bit bigger and add some room for cargo. Oh wait... don't forget a roof to keep the bad weather out, a heater and A/C to keep the people inside comfortable, oh how about some tunes to keep you entertained on those trips. Wait, you can't hear those tunes because of all the noise? Lets seal up the car and insulate it. Oh wait if you get hit you'll all die - lets put some airbags in there, antilock brakes, and a stronger external cage/structure to absorb impact. Oh wait now the car is much heavier and the stock 200hp civic motor isn't exactly producing impressive acceleration anymore and the handling has gone to crap - lets beef up the motor and suspension and brakes to compensate, oh but wait now the original chassis isn't supporting the car properly and the transmission and rear end can't support the additional power and the tires can't support the weight.
Gotta love the wonderful world of cyclical design compomises - one small addition of weight or complexity creates a chain reaction.
The only way to stop it is just avoid all features or use innovative technology to allow the features to exist without adding too much extra weight or complication.
IMO the basic family sedans and such are the ones that really benefit. A moderately equipped Honda Accord, today, is plenty big, has features that would have only been seen on a high end luxury car 15 years ago, yet is far more reliable, far safer, more economical, and much lighter weight to boot.
It's like the lux cars get to test out the technology and then once it has been perfected and lightened it trickles down to the normal cars.
10-24-06, 02:24 PM
#47
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When I think of "soul" I think of the passion that went into the automobile. It seems some people think the only cars that can have passion and soul are ones that will give you a slipped disc in your back b/c of a harsh ride and those with 600hp and those with German badges....
Many cars and even SUVs had an engineering team very passionate about the execution of a particular vehicle and they stand head and shoulders above the rest or really show a certain countries interpretation.
To me I am passionate about Lexus b/c I can see the passion that went into the vehicle from the Lexus perspective. Their passion might not be about 1.0 g slalom times and doing 0-60 in 3 seconds. Their passion is in fit and finish, and luxury adding a dash of sport and things like the gauges, the feel of the materials. Notice how ashtrays and gloveboxes etc open at the same speed. That is an example of passion. They clearly are very passionate about reliability. No, you may not get a hard on about it but lets face it, no other brand comes remotely close to the reliablity and quality record of Lexus. No one. They are #1 everywhere they are sold.
So I guess I would prefer to say passion, than soul. And I am just fine with the PASSIONATE pursuit of perfection....
Many cars and even SUVs had an engineering team very passionate about the execution of a particular vehicle and they stand head and shoulders above the rest or really show a certain countries interpretation.
To me I am passionate about Lexus b/c I can see the passion that went into the vehicle from the Lexus perspective. Their passion might not be about 1.0 g slalom times and doing 0-60 in 3 seconds. Their passion is in fit and finish, and luxury adding a dash of sport and things like the gauges, the feel of the materials. Notice how ashtrays and gloveboxes etc open at the same speed. That is an example of passion. They clearly are very passionate about reliability. No, you may not get a hard on about it but lets face it, no other brand comes remotely close to the reliablity and quality record of Lexus. No one. They are #1 everywhere they are sold.
So I guess I would prefer to say passion, than soul. And I am just fine with the PASSIONATE pursuit of perfection....
10-24-06, 02:33 PM
#48
Lexus Champion
When I think of "soul" I think of the passion that went into the automobile. It seems some people think the only cars that can have passion and soul are ones that will give you a slipped disc in your back b/c of a harsh ride and those with 600hp and those with German badges....
When I think of "soul" I think of a man and machine becoming one - a car that stays in constant communication with the driver and responds precisely to every input it's given with an equal output. It seems some people think the only cars that can have passion and soul are ones that will let you open your ash tray silently and let you massage your dash board without feeling any imperfections with yawn-inducing sewing machine like powertrains and those Japanese badges
Now do I agree with what I just wrote? Hell no. But I'm using it as an example of how what you wrote isn't really fair/balanced wording just like the example I wrote wouldn't be fair/balanced to say either.
Both 'side' has a very valid point. Maybe we should just appreciate each car for each and if the german guys wanna use the word 'soul', let them, and if the japanese guys want to use the words 'passion' and 'perfection', let them. Everybody wins.
And FWIW yes I know I drive an A4, but please don't let that lead you to believe I'm trying to bash Lexus as a brand. If I didn't prefer Lexus as a brand overall then I wouldn't spend so much time here. But I do appreciate all cars for what they are and chose to lease my Audi this go 'round because it was far cheaper to lease than an IS and in some ways more fun to beat the crap out of for the next 24 months until I gave it back.
10-24-06, 03:04 PM
#49
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10-24-06, 03:25 PM
#51
My platinumsc has soul but it's because I helped create it. It's more a personality. I rarely call it the car or the lex, I always call it the platinumsc. I also have another name for it but won't reveal it cause it's my password. Stock, it didn't have much of a personality. Modding changed all that. New shoes, new outfit, new shades, new haircut...that would change anyone's personality. It's cool, a really cool car. Even ladies think of it as cool and guys really think that.
The G35 had personality out of the gate. It wants to run. It doesn't like sitting around too long. It's mischevious and has to be watched and kept out of trouble. I call it G-dogg.
Our GS300 doesn't have a lot of personality. It has style, it has luxury. It feels like a luxury appliance. It does make you feel good driving it. It enhances you instead you enhancing it. Maybe I'll feel differently when it's modded some. Even my wife can't come up with a name for it. I sure can't. I thought the accident would help us name it. Didn't help. It works just like it did before. Feels the same, works the same. The G35 was repaired after it's accident by the same shop as the GS but it has had to go back. It feels different. It's asking me why I did it wrong by letting it get hurt. The GS doesn't care. It just goes.
I'm sorry folks, imo cars have personality. They are more than machines. We rely on them to get us to work, to get our food, to entertain us. If they were just machines of transport, there wouldn't be all these different brands, styles, categories, etc. They provide the freedom to go where we choose.They provide the escape from the rat race. We view the world from the cockpit while you're there, you control it's path your care and attention helps keep it running. Mine have never let me down.
You can believe your car has no soul. That's your business.
Mine have plenty of soul.
The G35 had personality out of the gate. It wants to run. It doesn't like sitting around too long. It's mischevious and has to be watched and kept out of trouble. I call it G-dogg.
Our GS300 doesn't have a lot of personality. It has style, it has luxury. It feels like a luxury appliance. It does make you feel good driving it. It enhances you instead you enhancing it. Maybe I'll feel differently when it's modded some. Even my wife can't come up with a name for it. I sure can't. I thought the accident would help us name it. Didn't help. It works just like it did before. Feels the same, works the same. The G35 was repaired after it's accident by the same shop as the GS but it has had to go back. It feels different. It's asking me why I did it wrong by letting it get hurt. The GS doesn't care. It just goes.
I'm sorry folks, imo cars have personality. They are more than machines. We rely on them to get us to work, to get our food, to entertain us. If they were just machines of transport, there wouldn't be all these different brands, styles, categories, etc. They provide the freedom to go where we choose.They provide the escape from the rat race. We view the world from the cockpit while you're there, you control it's path your care and attention helps keep it running. Mine have never let me down.
You can believe your car has no soul. That's your business.
Mine have plenty of soul.
10-24-06, 03:42 PM
#52
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^^^^ Well it can depend on the person as well. Someone may love to drive a GS 300 and think it has "soul" where someone else might think its boring.
The Porsche owner may say his 911 has "soul" and think the BMW next door is boring.
Its all in interpretation....which gets back to my original point
The Porsche owner may say his 911 has "soul" and think the BMW next door is boring.
Its all in interpretation....which gets back to my original point
10-24-06, 03:56 PM
#53
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Eh, I think the car has soul when you start refering to your car as "her" or "she." It's a bond between man and machine resulting from preconceived notions of how you want to drive her.
I put my GS more in the W.A.S.P. soul category, it's more proper than say
my z, which is fitting of Dimebag Darrell, loud and nasty.
I had a race prep 951 that visited the shop more often than fill ups, it had a crack addicts soul i'd say...
but my dad's 996 Turbo had the soul of a sumo wrestler, that's why its gone.
I find BMW's lack one altogether personally, its probably somewhere in the iDrive software needing to be unlocked (haha had too).
I put my GS more in the W.A.S.P. soul category, it's more proper than say
my z, which is fitting of Dimebag Darrell, loud and nasty.
I had a race prep 951 that visited the shop more often than fill ups, it had a crack addicts soul i'd say...
but my dad's 996 Turbo had the soul of a sumo wrestler, that's why its gone.
I find BMW's lack one altogether personally, its probably somewhere in the iDrive software needing to be unlocked (haha had too).
Last edited by okcfunky; 10-24-06 at 04:09 PM.
10-24-06, 04:21 PM
#54
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10-24-06, 04:31 PM
#55
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It's called a joke, have a sense of humor, though I will never be mistaken for a Germanophile.
These threads are funny though. I recall a huge thread in 6speedonline where 360CS / 996 GT3 owners refused to drive or sold their "boring" Porsche.
These threads are funny though. I recall a huge thread in 6speedonline where 360CS / 996 GT3 owners refused to drive or sold their "boring" Porsche.
10-25-06, 12:01 AM
#56
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3-series with sport packages driven spiritedly around mountain bends have soul. 3-series with sport packages driven under the speed limit to the grocery store and back home do not.
10-26-06, 12:51 AM
#58
My point was not to give a 'written in stone' definition of what soul is and what cars do and do not have them. My point was to try and define what it is that THOSE PEOPLE WHO SAY THOSE THINGS are meaning when they say that.
Two people can say the same thing and have completely different meanings by it. And two people can look at the same thing and have completely different opinions of it. It's all relative, emotional, and opinionated.
So, again, my point was simply to try and put a finger on the general idea of what many people might mean when they use that term. That's why I used the human analogy of that - comparing what people often mean when they say that about a human and how it might compare to the same thing being said about a car.
Would I say that your dad, who thinks floaty 50 something year old caddies have 'soul', is wrong? No. But I would say his definition of 'soul' is likely different than the 3-series owners you hear saying 'has no soul' about the IS... for example.
Two people can say the same thing and have completely different meanings by it. And two people can look at the same thing and have completely different opinions of it. It's all relative, emotional, and opinionated.
So, again, my point was simply to try and put a finger on the general idea of what many people might mean when they use that term. That's why I used the human analogy of that - comparing what people often mean when they say that about a human and how it might compare to the same thing being said about a car.
Would I say that your dad, who thinks floaty 50 something year old caddies have 'soul', is wrong? No. But I would say his definition of 'soul' is likely different than the 3-series owners you hear saying 'has no soul' about the IS... for example.
The topic of cars with souls or the lack thereof is VERY subjective. So maybe someone can say that a Lexus has no soul, at the same time I can also say that cars of yesteryear might have LOST that very same soul today. Im not impressed by 300 c's, C classes, Chevy Impalas of today, pontiac GTO (australian Monaro by the way) which many would concur that had this "soul" which is spoken of. They just arent the same from their origins.
So maybe my girl has no soul.
Maybe its because she sold it to a certain someone or thing.
She's a pretty dirty girl i tell ya.
Maybe thats why she's beg and begs to be beaten down with a pedal so she can fly.
Last edited by DzaztrBUSE; 10-26-06 at 01:01 AM. Reason: changed my mind on a thing or two
