“Opinions are like arseholes, and everyone thinks that everyone else’s stinks” – Simone Elkeles. Whether or not you agree with that statement is probably ALSO, a matter of opinion. I, for one, am of the opinion that I have a truly brilliant job. I sell 2-door sportscars from some of the best carmakers in the world. As such, I get to drive some remarkable cars, and not just the ones I’ve always lusted after, but stuff I would have previously dismissed.
You see, as much as we hate to admit it, we are ALL sometimes guilty of a little bit of prejudice. I never really thought that any 911 short of a GT3 was worth the hype. I just figured they were the slightly safer, slightly boring choice. However, spending some seat-time in a few different examples has forced me to admit that they really are spectacularly good. Especially the 997 and 991 generations. Still not as good as a Ferrari, again my opinion, but they are excellent. Speaking of Ferrari, I used to spit venom and vitriol at the idea of an F1 gearbox – now, I actually love a good F1! They can be brilliant fun to master. Once you learn how to drive one properly, it’s thoroughly involving, but in a new way you may not have experienced before.
I have been forced to change my opinion
In the course of my job, I have been forced to change my opinion on cars more times than I care to admit. I’m completely smitten with the Jaguar XKR now, as I’m sure you’ll have heard from my co-presenters. Which was a car I never really considered before. And, I always thought the F-Type was lacking something. Again, after spending some more seat-time in a rather nice F-Type S R-Dynamic, I must admit it really is a spectacular and capable thing. After seeing Top Gear’s rave reviews of the McLaren MP4-12C I was convinced that it must be the best car in the world! Yet after driving one…. I wasn’t so convinced. My point is – unless you’ve driven a car and actually spent some significant seat-time in it, it’s actually a little bit unfair to dismiss it out of hand.
So have you driven one?
The car community is filled with people who are very knowledgeable, but also very opinionated. Many of us actually miss out on incredible experiences, because our uninformed opinions prejudiced us against a car before we had even tried it. Far too often would I hear someone say something along the lines of, oh I hate this or that brand of car, all their cars are shit!… So have you driven one? No. So how do you know? Well they are just crap and they are unreliable and list other insults about the ownership experience here. Oh, so you’ve owned one? Well… erm no.
As wonderful as the internet is, it has also poisoned many people’s opinions and inaccurate, or exaggerated information. The Porsche IMS bearing issue being a prime example. The internet went MAD saying this is a terrible thing and everyone buying a used Porsche should have the IMS inspected and/ or replaced etc etc. When in actual fact, it only ever affected a very tiny percentage of cars, and even then only under certain conditions. But, no-one ever goes onto an internet forum just to write “I took my car for a drive today and everything worked perfectly.” However, take that same sane person and have one little thing break on his car? He’ll be posting 4 times a day to 30 different forums, ranting on Facebook, commenting on YouTube videos spamming his Instagram and release 80 tickity tocks on the subject.
Bums in seats
So here is my advice to any and all petrol heads willing to listen. Experience as many different cars as you can. We call it bums in seats. If you haven’t driven it, don’t dismiss it. Keep an open mind. Auto-journalists and youtubers get things wrong all the time. We all like different things. Of course we also look for different things from our cars. So experience as many cars as you can, some may surprise you. Some may disappoint you – but unless you’ve had your bum in the seat – you don’t actually know.
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