Do you want to know what makes a great car for me? It's not necessarily power. It's not necessarily handling. It's not necessarily ride comfort or looks or any thing else that's actually tangible. No, what makes a great car for more is something far more personal...emotional. To me, a truly great car is one that makes you smile every time you drive it.
In that category my E30 does that for me. In my estimation it's a truly great car. I won't say that of all E30s (mine is not quite like any other E30 on the road, a point which I'll talk about later on) but I suspect that most E30 drivers feel that way about their cars.
Strangely enough, last week, I took my friend's new-to-him '71 Super Beetle for a spin around the block and couldn't stop grinning like a fool. The thing is such an absurd machine you can't help but enjoy driving it. It wallows. It rattles. It sounds like a lawnmower. (smells like one, too) The brakes are frightening. The tires are pencil thin and hard as nylon. The seats are flat and slick. The seat belts are completely unrelenting. Damn if for all of that you don't smile like a fool when you drive it.
Knowing the owner of this Beetle isn't not going to remain that absurd in that way for very long. In fact, it's already been made a little less absurd, a little better and a little sharper. I know where this beetle is going and I have every confidence that as it's owner tightens it up--stripping away the current absurdity--it will stay just as much a smile maker. It will still be absurd, just in different ways. And it will be not quite like any other beetle on the road.
Getting back to my point about the BMW, man it was a terrible car when I bought it. I knew it too. And I bought it anyway because it just spoke to me, nailed me on a purely emotional level when I first drove it. Won me over with it's shabby, well worn modern classic charm. It's been a bit more than a year and while it's the same chassis it's not the same car I bought a year ago. The suspension is vastly upgraded, it doesn't leak any more, the shifter--for as loose as it still feels--is no where near as vague as it had been. It's louder, lighter, tighter, faster and more reliable now than it was then. It brakes harder, turns harder, runs hard and goes longer. And it's still absurd. And it still makes me smile every time I drive it.
My VW Passat is a good car. It's quick, has a lot of utility and does the job of an entertaining daily driver without much complaint but I don't get in it with a grin on my face. It's just not that special. My BMW, on the other hand...well...that's just another story. It's a car that from end-to-end is a little mad and growing madder all the time as it changes to reflect my personal desires and thoughts about cars. It is as absurd now as it was when I bought it, it's just absurd in a different way.
Giggle machines, man. You know that they're absurd an you love 'em all the more because of it.
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