The death of the auto enthusiast.

[macarose]

Ten years ago the Autos section at Yahoo was one of their top four subjects.

Today autos doesn't even rank in the top 50 for most media conglomerates. Nobody cares. It's as if the entire field of automotive journalism has turned into a hopeless morass of search engine optimization and industry shills.

You love cars? Want to preach to that congregation?Tough luck! My colleagues, many of whom have been at it for decades, are faced with offering 50 shades of bias confirmation for an audience whose love for cars usually begins and ends with an infotainment system.

I write a lot of articles about cars and it's brutally heartbreaking to realize that what was once a pure joy of the open road for tens of millions of Americans has turned into a blip of content that caters to an audience that no longer cares.

I guess the real question is whether cars have become nothing more than a rolling appliance for most owners. Has the boredom of daily driving killed America's live of cars. Or are cars just too expensive these days.

 

[The Critic]

I guess the real question is whether cars have become nothing more than a rolling appliance for most owners. Has the boredom of daily driving killed America's live of cars. Or are cars just too expensive these days.

Transportation is ultimately a tool. Smart folks tend to partake in hobbies that can be discussed or leveraged in professional networking. In short, it is tough to find folks interested in talking about cars during a happy hour with clients. Golf, wine, woodworking, cooking....are much better time investments.

 

[wemay]

Car enthusiasts are still alive and well. Back when i was younger, i couldn't wait for the latest edition of European Car, GOLF, Top Gear, Motorweek, Sport Compact Car, Grass roots Motor Sports, etc. But now there are hundreds of youtube channels and podcasts that do the same. The medium has just changed....not gone away. People just don't read magazines like they used to. Same for newspapers.

 

[Rmay635703]

I think media in general has died and along with it retail ventures like cars. Reality is print media, posters, cards, stickers were a big part of kids lives, put it on a screen and the enthusiasm dies.

Fewer of the next generation have a drivers license and when they do they want self driving (which is always another 5 years away)

Insurance, registration, taxes have made it impossible for someone starting out to afford and each generation is smaller than the last.

Boomers were a large generation, Gen Z and Alpha are much smaller and broker.

Add it all up and enthusiasm isn’t there, people just dance poorly on TikTok

 

[Rand]

When I search sometimes get 50 results of AI generated Drivel for every link that might be useful.
If only there was a way to weed it all out.

 

[CKN]

Car enthusiasts are still alive and well. Back when i was younger, i couldn't wait for the latest edition of European Car, GOLF, Top Gear, Motorweek, Sport Compact Car, Grass roots Motor Sports, etc. But now there are hundreds of youtube channels and podcasts that do the same. The medium has just changed....not gone away. People just don't read magazines like they used to. Same for newspapers.

I am betting that with all the youtube channels and podcasts that sure some are popular but many are not.
Quantity doesn't equal viewership.

 

[cptbarkey]

Reliability is another factor that drove newfound dis-interest, I'd say that started around the early 2000s. Honda and Toyota of course were well ahead but wildly failed in the fashion department.

 

[wpod]

There isn't much car or pick up market that makes me enthusiastic.

 

[alarmguy]

Most hobbies are dead. The technology age killed them off. People tuned into smart phones, computers and TV sports. The brain is chemically addicted to electronics.

One look around says it all. Hobbies including cars are down to international forums like this because there are so few people left.

If it can’t be done from a sofa or desk no one is interested.

Look at the automobile section in stores like Walmart, they’re down to nothing.
Auto parts store, I remember down the center isles there would be 5 foot high stacks of cases of motor oil because people took pride in their cars, and changing their oil. Now it’s even hard to find good quality wax to wax the car with.

Look at golf courses across this country, even though the population is aging, and more people should be playing golf. The courses are closing down and being turned into housing communities.

Remember, decades ago, there was a tropical fish store almost in every shopping center in America because people were tropical fish hobbyists as a family now the stores down to a couple chain stores.

Car race tracks dead, slot car tracks dead, bowling alleys dead, heck people even pay other people to cut the lawn for them while they sit on the sofa and watch.

Outdoor activities are dead, one ray of hope is pickle ball but that is it and it’s not a family activity.

So pull up a chair and watch while we all die from inactivity.

 

[supton]

Speculation on my part but I'll blame a cultural shift. Seems like, my grandparents, parents and myself, we all wanted independence. And to get out into the world, and make it our own. Or at least be able to tackle it on our own terms. The upcoming generation, something changed along the way, played outside less, less interest in leaving home, etc.

Personally, I don't think it's just bad parenting, too much TV, too many games, or anything so easily blamed. Maybe the combination of all. Or none. Hit rewind on mankind's history, and I think if you go back a couple hundred years, you'll find that most did not strike out on their own. At least that's my impression, most of history, people stayed home. Sometimes I think the 20th century was the anomaly, and we are just reverting back to our roots.

Maybe it really is the smartphone, making us anything other than smarter. Instant gratification found there, everything else requires delayed gratification.

 

[Trav]

Transportation is ultimately a tool. Smart folks tend to partake in hobbies that can be discussed or leveraged in professional networking. In short, it is tough to find folks interested in talking about cars during a happy hour with clients. Golf, wine, woodworking, cooking....are much better time investments.

That sounds like the arts and croissant gang pastimes. Personally I would not waste 2 seconds of my time on any one of those.

 

[drtyler]

Transportation is ultimately a tool. Smart folks tend to partake in hobbies that can be discussed or leveraged in professional networking. In short, it is tough to find folks interested in talking about cars during a happy hour with clients. Golf, wine, woodworking, cooking....are much better time investments.

In your circles perhaps, but thats not everyone.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

People can't afford new cars anymore, and even used cars are getting more expensive

 

[CarDoc66]

I have noticed today’s youth would rather spend a weeks pay for a PS2 and a bunch of games with bags of Doritos.
It’s not just a hobby, it’s a skill set to be a hands on car enthusiast. Not to make a quantifying statement about younger generations but the fact is nobody has skills anymore.

 

[supton]

In your circles perhaps, but thats not everyone.

Fair enough, but what's an affordable fun car? All the classics have rotted away: and as we all know, it wasn't that long ago that beige V6 Camry's gained the ability to keep up with the best muscle cars, in all but looks.

Also: back in the 60's, 70's, 80's--who was doing the lusting after the cool vehicles? Was it all age groups? Were 60 year olds pining for muscle cars in the late 60's? Or have cool cars been chased after only by select groups of people?

*

Trying to think, as I do not partake in many social settings. But in most of them, I can't think of when we talked much about cars, other that to bemoan about them. Just one more thing on a laundry list to complain about.

 

[AutoMechanic]

I love cars and I am an auto enthusiast who particularly loves old Volkswagen Beetles. I just get bored reading about cars. I’d rather spend my time researching my other hobbies than reading about cars. Now if it’s hands on about cars or a YouTube video or something like that in I’m interested but I have no interest in an article or anything like that. Really the only two things I read about that are hobbies are baseball and Apple products. So make an article about cars, baseball and Apple products combined and I promise I’ll read it lol.

 

[jeepman3071]

People can't afford new cars anymore, and even used cars are getting more expensive

I keep seeing posts about how "young people just don't care about cars anymore". Cost is a major part of it. I'm a car enthusiast and have a circle of similar aged car enthusiast friends. I got my license in 2006 at 16, and already built up a collection of tools prior to that from riding dirt bikes and ATVs. Tools are expensive, cars are expensive, and modifications are expensive. Any enthusiast focused car is exponentially more expensive than other similar base models, and they become low production vehicles with ridiculously high dealer markup. I've seen a lot of my car enthusiast friends get out of the hobby for the most part simply due to the increased cost of cars and mods not fitting in with other priorities like family and home costs.

 

[CKN]

I love cars and I am an auto enthusiast who particularly loves old Volkswagen Beetles. I just get bored reading about cars. I’d rather spend my time researching my other hobbies than reading about cars. Now if it’s hands on about cars or a YouTube video or something like that in I’m interested but I have no interest in an article or anything like that. Really the only two things I read about that are hobbies are baseball and Apple products. So make an article about cars, baseball and Apple products combined and I promise I’ll read it lol.

I know there are many like you. But they are/were the most dangerous and noisy things that were on the road at that time. You couldn't carry on a conversation with somebody in the (sparse) rear seat.

They were cheap back in the 60's.....

 

[Passport1]

the real question is whether cars have become nothing more than a rolling appliance for most owners.

The real answer is yes. Somebody already supplied the answer above. Harley-Davidson is the canary in the cage. Watch what happens to the motorcycle market. Young males are (mostly) not interested in two wheeled transportation and culture.

My question is this; When the federal (and state) mandates in 2030 or 2035 require all new vehicles sold be electric what will happen to the ICE vehicles? Ten years later will our car culture become like Cuba?

Travel Chanel

 

[dumkid]

Huh weird, i have a friend who just finished Cummins swapping an OBS ford, then there's me with my hacked together Mitsubishi and another friend wants a street bike. Young people don't buy Harleys because they're slow, loud, heavy, and get bad mpg. Honda CBR 500 much better.