Is the Driving Enthusiast an endangered species?

By John LeBlanc For most Canadians, mid-February is the glass-half full or glass-half-empty time of winter. If you are a self-avowed Driving Enthusiast, like myself, you're probably sitting on the optimistic side of this fence. Better driving conditions and unearthing the summer set of wheels is only a few weeks away. However, I am afraid the Driving Enthusiast is becoming an endangered species. The idea of being "enthusiastic" about owning and driving a car is becoming rarer than shifting gears for yourself or engines with eight cylinders. Yes, there will always be some car owners who relish the mastery of driving a car well, and the enjoyment that owning a car can bring. Many issues, though – interminably long commutes, bumper-to-bumper traffic, concerns over the health of our planet, digital distractions – are conspiring against the Driving Enthusiast's survival. For starters, the act of driving can be less of an event than in the past. Before the mass exodus to the suburbs, many Canadians worked close enough to work or school that a car wasn't a daily necessity. Trips in the car really were a special occasion (i.e., The Sunday Drive). Today, there's nothing "special" about a daily commute. Which leads us to the issue of where we drive. You may own a mega-horsepower sports car that's faster than sound and can pull more g's than a four-man bobsled. But in your day-to-day driving – where you may never see the far side of 60 km/h on your speedometer – how enthused can you get about not exploiting all that automotive potential? For most of us, the twisty, empty, country roads we see in automaker TV commercials may as well be the Yellow Brick Road. The societal guilt associated with driving isn't helping the survival of us Driving Enthusiasts, either. For the past half century, ever since those first reports of California smog in the early 1960s, the car has been seen as a death machine and evil device that is not only killing our planet, but also the people inhabiting it. Ultimately, though, what may kill off the Driving Enthusiast is the microchip. That mechanical bond that older car owners developed has all but disappeared. First, if you own a car newer than say, 1995, it's virtually impossible to "fix" it yourself without having thousands of dollars of electronic diagnostic equipment on hand. As electronics infiltrated the engineering makeup of cars – mainly to meet stricter environmental and safety regulations – the days of the shade tree mechanic exist only in a Norman Rockwell painting. Second, many aspects of car ownership are being lost on the next generation of new car owners – the so-called Millennial generation who were born between the mid-1970s and the early 2000s.And the trrouble is, this generation is used to buying "new." Only the latest and greatest smartphone, iPod or computer console will do. Why would they get an "antiquated" used car? Especially when they can't get a good enough paying job to afford a new one? So are Driving Enthusiasts heading the way of full-service gas stations and rear-wheel-drive cars? Being one, I'm hoping later than sooner. When the last Driving Enthusiast leaves, though, can you make sure you turn off the light in the garage?

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