California, and the killing of its car culture :(

[69Charger]

Which is great, as times are changing

Ah, the word I despise most. "Change".

[seixal]

Never understood the car culture, specially pick up truck.

[seixal]

Originally Posted by ryanms3030

Yep, go to Glendale and you can have all the drag racing you want. And they don't all drive BMW, some have Mercedes. A lot of them actually seem to like the modern American muscle cars but I think that is more of the ians not yans

Latinos take their pick-up trucks equally seriously.

[orionstars]

I have noticed this, but in the back of my head. I never really gave it much thought.

I think there are a variety of reasons for the dying California car culture. Economics, environmental regulations, current trends, etc.

Modern cars are very appliance like, for one. They would fit in very nicely next to the washer machines and dryers at Best Buy. They come with a door so you can enter, a steering wheel, the ignition, and the two meters for speed and engine speed, and some electronics like radio and smart phone interfaces in the middle. And most of the "common" everyday cars that are sold on dealership lots have almost identical interiors. Very little creativity from the engineers and industrial designers.

Also, they are far more electronic dependent than cars from even 15 years ago. So, they are not that easy to modify, not to mention a lot of car companies are making it impossible to mod their cars. Modern cars are not as fun as the older cars.

During college I found that my car was actually a burden. Insurance bill, gas, general maintenance, dealing with parking in the over populated LA area. I sold my car because I was tired of being broke in college. However with the job situation in LA, where you may need to drive to the opposite side of the LA area for work, being without a car can have negative economic effects for the working, but how fun would it be taking your nice fast car just to go at 10 mph on the 405 because some impatient moron was swerving across all lanes? Yeah.

Another thing that makes me think about the future of cars is how silicon valley and Tesla are looking at it. They want to make driver less cars. Which is good, for example, for the elderly who have no one and may need a ride. They can just give their car a command and the car will take them to their destination. But this will suck out all the fun from being a gear head. Look at how some of those cars are designed, such as the concept Apple car, or Google's driver less car, the people who designed them have absolutely no passion for cars. It truly is sad, but there you have it.

[69Charger]

Seixal, trucks are a huge part of American culture. Not in L.A. proper, but in the IE and the rest of America, they are an integral part of life. They serve a utility purpose, and a recreational purpose. For recreation, it's desert and sand running, and in interior states it's mud running.

[citizensadvocate]

I believe the freeway revolt that lead to the traffic mess of today also soured so called "car culture." I noticed people in central and western LA still need to depend on their cars just as much as those in the inland suburbs due to lack of feasible alternatives but there is hardly any infrastructure to handle that many cars. This including availability of parking particularly residential parking. So over the years keeping a car became more of an unavoidable burden than a blessing. Central and West LA seems a surprising exception to the "freeway capital of the world." I always used to think that LA is the exact opposite of San Francisco with tons of freeways and acres of parking but seeing the situation in those areas I kind of see that even LA has such groups pushing SF like legislation.

I like orienstars comment as I find with all that electronics modern cars depend on, particuarly the expensive luxury ones, I am afraid cars will be like computers and smart devices that would need to be replaced when their computer systems crash or their "operating systems" are no longer supported. Even if the car's mechanics are still sound. Nothing like dealing with a frozen or broken infotainment system particuarly if it also controls the climate control and other crucial functions. Yes I went to those large auto shows and I noticed quite a number of infotainment screens freeze up when I tried their functions. Though unlike other modern smart devices which competition keeps the prices competitive over the years the great auto manufacture oligapoly tend to price gauge customers when they need to replace their products, I wonder why they are never indicted under anti trust laws and no one company tries hard to compete the price down. It appears they copy the same prices as their competitors all the time.

[christianreligions]

Originally Posted by MIKEETC

You forgot the biggest reason for the death of car culture - traffic.

yup and it can be a hassle......

[Fleet]

Originally Posted by boulder2015

Yeah but thats a mexican car culture. The gripers here are old white guys and they want THEIR car culture. Muscle cars, beach boys, in n out burger, kearth 101,etc. They need to adapt to the times and buy a 1995 bmw and move to glendale and cruise for cute armenian girls...

A 1995 BMW over a muscle car? I don't think so!