An iPhone or any other smartphone is allegedly the new standard material lust object for many teenagers. Better than a car? Really? Here are ten reasons why cars are better than any smartphone.
Welcome back to Answers of the Day — our daily Jalopnik feature where we take the best ten responses from the previous day's Question of the Day and shine it up to show off. It's by you and for you, the Jalopnik readers. Enjoy!
Photo Credit: Shutterstock/PressureUA, Maksin Schmeljov, Jo Ann Snover
10.) Tactile Sensations
Suggested By: DennyCraneDennyCraneDennyCrane
Why no data plan will ever do this: Phone types talk about "haptic feedback," the ability to sense that you've pushed a button or something. A car is a feedback amplifier — all steering wheel movement and brake pedal pressure and your inner ear catching up with your vision and your entire body being keenly aware of events and stimuli. It's the first, most immediate stage of mental activity; it's also among the most enjoyable.
Photo Credit: kabelphoto
9.) Group Involvement
Suggested By: Picklehaube
Why no data plan will ever do this: Sure, you can use one to communicate with someone, but a phone is essentially an individual experience. A good car ride with some friends is a delight, a forum for any amount of silliness and serious consideration and real human contact. A good car ride with a loved one is intimacy, comfort, a time to resolve things and a time to just be together — the opposite of a phone call or a text message.
Photo Credit: Laurel Fan
8.) The Back Seat
Suggested By: reverberocket
Why no data plan will ever do this: Try this with a phone and you'll just end up butt-dialing someone or breaking it. That'll ruin the mood for sure.
Photo Credit: Deklofenak/Shutterstock
7.) Customization
Suggested By: Viperfan1
Why no data plan will ever do this: Yes, you have your choice of casings. And if you're using an Android phone, you can tweak some of the settings to suit your preferences. But it's not like you can bolt in a new chip or switch to different glass tints or change your button shapes. On a car? It's yours, it's right there, do what you want (within certain legal and practical limits, but still).
Photo Credit: Tom VanNortwick
6.) Looks
Suggested By: RXEight
Why no data plan will ever do this: Two things: First, fine, an iPhone is sleek and clean. It's no '63 Stingray or E-Type or Elise or DBS. Second, an old tech device is an old tech device; maybe with some retro amusement factor, but not something to cherish. A good-looking car's charms endure and mature and occasionally approach timelessness. As art, it's not even close.
Photo Credit: Rex Gray
5.) Sound
Suggested By: Jstas
Why no data plan will ever do this: No ring tone will ever sound like a Windsor-block V-8 breathing through four Webers and exhaling through hand-bent pipes, working the sweet spot from about 4000 to 6500 rpm. Or the enormous Chevy in a Can-Am car. Or the scream of a well-tuned Honda. Or even just the glorious sound of something starting after a long project. It's another order of greatness.
And cars have music players, too.
4.) Racing
Suggested By: skinnayyy
Why no data plan will ever do this: Beyond anything that exists in the realm of phones (unless you want to have a contest to see whether you can throw a Galaxy or an iPhone further). Competition has been one of humanity's base impulses since we had contests to see who could catch a wildebeest faster, and it's not stopping anytime soon. The rivalry, the camaraderie, the sensory input, the sheer thrill: it's all here. And not there.
Photo Credit: Jim Culp/Prorallypix
3.) The Pragmatic Act Of Movement
Suggested By: wraith825
Why no data plan will ever do this: Although people are now forever working to make it so you never have to leave your house to survive, it's still necessary (and mentally healthy) to get out and get around. And unless you live three blocks away from everything and it never rains, a car is still an unrivaled convenience item. It gets you where you need to go. A phone will let people know why you aren't getting there.
Photo Credit: quite peculiar
2.) Adventure
Suggested By: I Can be Stig?
Why no data plan will ever do this: A phone's functions are the opposite of adventure — it's a tether, a safety device, a way to feel secure and connected. All of which is boring. You have to go out and get a bit lost and see something new and exciting and maybe have a close call and drive until you're out of road and the sun comes up; it's called life, man.
Photo Credit: Chazz Layne
1.) Fun
Suggested By: waveridin1959
Why no data plan will ever do this: Play Angry friggin' Birds all you want. Send jokey text messages. Phone-sext, for all we care. It'll never match the sheer excitement and joy of a good fast run on a good road, or a stoplight drag race, or a simple drive through some verdant zone. You will never, ever enjoy using a phone as much as you'll enjoy driving. Fact of life.
Photo Credit: Tony Harrison