The title says it all, I stand by it and I include myself plus many of my colleagues too. We spend our waking hours being critical of cars, happy to point out that one has two less cupholders than another. How dare they/we?
Why would you buy brand X over brand Y when brand X has three-way climate control air-con compared to brand Y’s near useless two-way system. I mean keeping you comfortable at one temperature and your front seat passenger cool at another is clearly inconsiderate for those in the back.
And if your car doesn’t have one-touch windows on all doors with a plasma-screen DVD and inbuilt fan-cooled seat massagers then you’re really just going to hate the rest of your driving days.
But what would we know? We’ve only made a career from driving as many different and varied cars as possible and if someone asked my opinion on whether they should buy a 10-year old TVR Griffin or a brand new beige Honda/Toyota/Mazda él Blando with full warranty for the same cash, I always recommend the latter.
But what do motoring journalists actually own?
You would be surprised at the type of crap that sits in their (our) garages which we lovingly restore, race and just plain try to fix every other weekend.
I know too many motoring scribes in Australia, Europe and the Middle East who own cars like the Citroen DS, Fiat 124, NSU RO80, Alfa Montreal, MG TC, old Ferraris, old Mercs, old Bentleys all rusting and spilling oil on their driveways.
Everyone knows Britain and Italy were on a par for making the most unreliable cars over the past decades yet I’ve owned two British cars (pre-war MG and 1970’s Jaguar) and I’m currently on my fifth Italian car (Lancia, various Alfa Romeos and a Maserati). I know, I know, I will never learn.
But the thing is, these cars have passion and soul despite their many frustrations and it’s why motoring journos are attracted to them like moths to a flame. We keep getting burnt but we go back because we could buy the automotive equivalent of a Westinghouse Deep Freeze or a slightly tattered Rembrandt.
I’m writing this because I’ve recently purchased a nice, five-year old Italian sports car. Its beautiful lines and stunning engineering are offset by some woeful reliability concerns and dodgy electrics.
The pain I’m going though now reminds me of my very first car, a 1969 Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV I bought when I was 19 and I still own. I could never imagine the day when I would have to part with the GTV. It lives in a garage 12,000kms away, leaks oil, gets driven maybe once a year and I love it.
We are nuts, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.
He’s not wrong about the oil leaks-the bloody GTV is in my garage!! (but I love taking it around the block to keep the seals moist!)
Guilty as charged. Startted with an Alfasud 1250 Cloverleaf and went downhill from there. Now maintaining a 12 year old Porsche, and the only debate is whether it will get to 200k before the Jeep…