After you drive it once, you know you’ll never be able to think of other cars the same.
Everyone has a car like this. I remember when I got to briefly drive Tony Angelo’s Formula Drift car, all 705 nitrous-shot horsepower of it years ago. It was manic, and visceral, and no new car will ever feel fast or exciting in the way that thing did on that sopping wet day in Englishtown, New Jersey.
But speed isn’t the only thing with which a car can spoil you, as reader IGetPwnedOften explained in today’s post on brand loyalties.
I’ve had a few brand loyalties over the years. As a youth (or y00f, as I believe is the correct spelling), I was very keen on the Rover SD1. Despite all the shortcomings of the British car industry (wiring looms made out of string and spit, bodywork that rusted before your eyes and so on), this was, in my eyes anyway, a true British muscle car with its sleek styling (it was for many, many years the most aerodynamic production saloon car in the world), a very comfortable ride and of course that 3.5l V8.
After they became difficult to source on my income, I went through a short period of buying BMWs, starting with a 1990 320i followed by and slightly older 735i and culminating in a modified 850i (6.0l overbore, uprated brakes, steering and suspension - I didn’t know these mods were on when I bought it and actually got a real bargain).
BMWs, however, have always had one thing I hate - the throttle pedal feels stiff to me. I know that sounds like a small thing, but every BMW is the same and I just couldn’t get used to it, so I switched sides and started buying Mercedes.
Over the years I’ve had an S500 (fully loaded) and several C classes, including the turkey. I’ve had one complete lemon that Mercedes finally had to exchange for me, but on the whole I’ve been happy with them.
I think the main thing for me is that “standard” equipment on a Merc is much higher than on most cars, and since buying a Golf (which I do like) I’ve found there’s a lot of little things I miss, like heated washer jets, split cabin climate control and so on. You can have all these things on other makes, but you have to pay for them. On the Merc they’re standard.
So he was spoiled by Mercedes. He probably wasn’t the first, and he probably wasn’t the last.
What car spoiled you to other cars?
Photo Credit: Raphael Orlove
Contact the author at raphael@jalopnik.com.