Why Do We Only Bond With Specific Cars?
As our parents and/or other halves often take time to remind us, people like us do spend a lot of time looking at buying or swapping cars. It’s a bit of an addiction for some of us – or at least it can seem that way to those on the outside.
From year to year (or even month to month) we’ll chop and change our rides because they don’t excite us anymore, they keep breaking or just because of the constant lure of something better. On the other hand, sometimes we come across a car that we just can’t part with. What’s that all about?
Often we buy cars for our current circumstances, forgetting the bigger picture. Towing a lot? Great excuse for a pickup or a V6 diesel estate. Parking in cities all the time but want something fun? A hot hatch it is, then. Getting into trackdays? You simply need that cheap E46 M3 you’ve just spotted less than 10 miles from home.
If you play chess one move at a time, you’re going to lose. That same principle is why buying a car for what we need right now is often the wrong thing to do. How often is ‘what you need right now’ also what you need two years from now? Through your late teens and 20s, that’s pretty much never. Your lifestyle changes. Your income changes. Your priorities change. Inevitably, your cars change.
Secretly we quite like this financially ruinous merry-go-round. It’s all the excuse we need to swap cars as often as we want to. The enjoyment is partly down to the endorphins released by buying something we tell ourselves we really want; that rush of something new (to us) and the honeymoon period that comes after.
There’s something deeper than that, though; a bug that only bites sometimes. Some cars’ novelty begins to wear off after a week, or a month. Their faults and compromises start to show, and while we tell ourselves that we still love them, we already know exactly why we’ll end up selling them. Shh, don’t tell anyone else aboutthe issue for now, until you’ve found a replacement.
In the space of a few years I went from a Renault Sport Clio 182, to a Peugeot 206 GTI HDI, to a MkI Mazda Eunos Roadster, to a base-spec Citroen Berlingo, to a Mazda 6 Sport diesel, to a Skoda Fabia vRS and then, after a gap, a Honda S2000.
Looking back, the best all-round solution would have been to keep the 206. It was a really, really good car and would have got me through that entire period. We’re not always the most sensible people when it comes to these choices, are we?
But. Occasionally you’ll land on a car and after a week, or a month, you still can’t wait to take each drive in it. You keep finding excuses to go out. “Ahh, the Mrs needs some more paprika.” “Hmmm, I’m only on three-quarters of a tank so I’ll drive to that Shell station three towns over.” “I, err, thought I heard a clonk on the front suspension so I’m just going to go and have a drive to check…” These are cars we fall in love with.
Maybe it’s a particular noise the car makes. The way it feels. Maybe it’s how many things it’s good at. Something unique to you and the way you’re coded just creeps up, whispers “you’re mine, now” into your ear, and wham: you’re in a long-term relationship.
I know I’m not alone in saying that I haven’t bonded with most of the cars I’ve owned. Hands up, I admit it: I’ve bought more than a few cars that made precious little sense at the time, let alone after six months. But there were a few, like the 206, that I really did like a lot and should have kept longer.
I’ve had my Octavia vRS for three weeks, now. I can see it from my office window, and every time I look at it, part of my mind involuntarily finds an excuse to drive it. Right now it’s that I need some new number plate fixings, and you can bet I’ll hit the road as soon as this article is written. It’s been too long since I had that tiny everyday thrill in my life, and I have a sneaky feeling it’s going to last.
Which cars have you bonded with and kept long-term? Which ones gave you short-term thrills but ended up getting annoying? Which cars do you wish you’d kept for longer? Let us know below!
Comments
So the whole article starts with a question and then lots of words later you don’t have the answer? Wow.
Well the simple answer is - because the car you bond with completes you in your needs in spite of it’s flaws, and has more character because of it’s flaws. And because you complete it with your driving and mechanical skills, keeping it running and making sure it runs at the front of the pack.
2 years running and I still love my underpowered kinda goofy looking mustang more than anything else in the world and wouldnt get rid of it for anything. I wouldn’t know what it feels like to go through a bunch of cars as this is my first but I’m not mad. I had wanted one of these since I was a little kid playing gran turismo 2 and its still a dream come true to be able to drive and own it
I still have my first car and although it’s had problems, it’s still running, rides smoothly, life saver in winter, although it has a roll over risk and the brakes are almost choppy as of recent. Also has bad [gas]milage but it’s so easy to get used to driving with. It’s a 2004 Jeep Liberty 3.7L.
I feel ya. My first car was a 2001 Jeep Cherokee. It was probably 10x less refined and 100x more of a rollover risk, and certainly worse on fuel. But I miss it. Something about Jeeps, I tell you.
Haven’t had my own car yet, but I was very attached to my dads old car (opel omega or “maggie”) I cried when he had to sell it
I’ve owned a lot of vehicles throughout my short time on Earth, but the one I formed the greatest bond with—and the one I regret selling the most—is my 1981 Datsun 720 Diesel pickup truck.
Yes, it was a bit of a hoopty. But it wasn’t really any less dependable than anything I’ve owned since. And it definitely wasn’t what you’d call luxurious, but I’ll maintain to this day that the Z32 300ZX seats that I put in that thing were nicer to sit in than the 22-way-adjustable leather massage seats in my mom’s Lincoln MKX.
But the biggest thing was that it was a truck. Any man who’s ever owned a truck will probably understand this best, but there’s a certain bond that you won’t form with any other vehicle. I’ve driven sportscars, muscle cars, JDM superstars and even a couple of Benzes, and none of them have ever felt like a truck. I like to think back to the Top Gear episode where Clarkson and May have to go rescue Hammond from Grey Wolf Mountain in British Columbia, and how they fell in love with their trucks even if their previous reviews of the American pickup weren’t all that positive.
You could really compare a truck to a dog in a lot of ways. Sure, dogs drool and shed everywhere and they sometimes take a dump on your carpet. But any dog owner will tell you that means nothing. You love them despite their flaws, period. I think this is especially true of people whose dogs are more than just companions to them. All of the hunters, K-9 officers, and people I’ve known who require a service animal need their dogs to be more than just ordinary dogs, and their bonds are extra-strong. That’s probably the closest example I can think of when describing the relationship I’ve had with trucks—because you need them to be more than just an ordinary car when you have one.
This. This is a real car enthusiast.
I’ve had 4 cars so far in my life, 2 ZRs and 2 Seicentos and I still have 3 of them. The only reason I don’t still have the 4th is because I rolled it and wrote it off but Derek was a fine beast (RIP)
You survived a crash in a old smaller fiat
How?
Cough cough
I currently own an octavia vrs mk2 pre fl. I just dont enjoy it as much as other cars ive owned, it was brilliant when i first got it but i wont ve sad to see it go
Of all the cars I’ve driven it’s got to be my current Focus ST. I’ve had other hot hatches, loads of motorbikes, BMWs, MR2’s and all kinds of other cars. I’ve driven plenty of sports cars and supercars new and old but I guess like your octavia it’s just that the focus is good at everything. It’s faster than a lot of the cars I idolised growing up and with the work I’ve done to it it looks great, sounds great and feels well put together. I’ve owned it 5 years now. Other cars have come and gone in the time I’ve owned it but I knew from early on this was a car I’m keeping right till the bitter end and honestly I’m going to be really sad the day I can’t get her running. Every journey is fun and the upkeep is manageable. I think pound for pound its the best car ever built. You won’t get the same package of longevity, performance, economy and practicality in any other car available on the market today.
Possibly my favorite vehicle that I have the pleasure to drive, my 2000 Dodge Ram. I have had so much fun with this thing, with its towing abilities and the loud 5.9 V8 that just sounds amazing! Definitely going to try and keep this for a long time.
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