Do Petrolheads Have Much of an Ugly Truth Behind Social Media?

http://time.com/4096988/teen-instagram-star-essena-oneill-quitting-social-media/?xid=time_socialflow_facebook

So I was in my dorm, browsing through my Facebook news feed while I should have been writing a research paper, and I came across this article.  To fill you in quickly, some 18 year old girl from down under has decided to basically kangaroo kick crash her social media accounts and highlight the truth behind everything that goes on.  For example, in one of her photos on Instagram, she changed the description to include the sacrifices made earlier in the day, the lack of food she ate, and the yelling at her little sister to get the (what turned out to be 100 attempts) photo right.  There are a bunch more different scenarios, but I wasn't about to read through them all.  Not while I have a load of car videos under "Save for Later" on YouTube.  Anyway, I read the article, and I had a few different thoughts.

1) There's a lot of fronting on social media.  It's rather true, to be honest.  Many of us always like to show our good side and make everything seem like 'the good life.'  And it's understandable.  Do you really want to make yourself look weak and vulnerable?  I don't.

Now I read the article more, and a term that was thrown around quite often was "self-promotion."  That's pretty much what Essena O'Neill deemed much of what she used to do.  She felt great breaking away from that lifestyle and trying to show more of a 'truth' side of things.  And that lead me to my second thought, or more of a question.

Do we car people have that issue?

In a way, partially yes.  Yeah, yeah, we don't show our day jobs on our car Instagram profiles or our YouTube channels.  Maybe we'll share that on our Facebook profiles (which you readers should go follow me!).  I digress.  The 'partially yes' is something I could probably see with some of the car photographers and their photo shoots.  They probably get frustrated.  As far as self-promotion?  Well, we don't mind growing out our Instagram profiles and gaining more YouTube subscribers.  But here's the easiest way to answer that:

If social media were somewhat drop dead, would we ditch our car-related activities?

Nope.  So we may not be as concerned about camera lighting or making sure there's no copyrighted music in the background.  But the truth is, we love what we do.  It's genuinely a passion for us.  There's a reason why we have trouble waking up at 08:00 for work/classes, but waking up at 05:00 for a car event is a total breeze! (That's unless we were up until 01:00 getting camera equipment ready, etc.  Even then it's relatively easy!)  Cars are pretty much a passion for us, and that won't be changing anytime soon.

So Essena, why don't you become one of us?  We know you love cars! We know that you know what Porsche Doppelkupplung is and what the abbreviation of it is!  We know you'd like to learn more car facts, such as how many bodies fit in the trunk of a 1967 Lincoln Continental!

Seriously though  Essena, try and find a passion.  You'll be fine on the internet doing that instead of what you used to do.

My Tesla Model S Ride-Along

This originally happened back in the fall of 2013.  Tesla was conducting test drives.  My dad signed up for one, and while we were waitlisted at first, we got the chance!  So on we went to the country club.  Before getting there, we saw a Model S on the road, and that brings up my first point: road presence.  This car looks like a luxury car (especially with those LED Headlights).  Also, the car seems rare.  It's now more special for me to see a Model S rather than a Bentley Continental.  After that 5-second experience, we later on arrived to the site.  A guy who works at Tesla gave us a nice briefing on the car.  As much as we wanted to drive/ride, it was still cool getting to learn about all the features of the car beforehand.  Then finally, we got to use the black, 2013 Tesla Model S P85.

The first thing I noticed was the seats.  They aren't up to par with, say, an Audi A8 or Hyundai Equus.  But they're pretty good.  Then the car started rolling in the parking lot.  Wait, absolutely no vibration?  Clearly something was different.  Before we got on the actual roads, I took a look at interior materials.  This clearly isn't a cheap car.  And that's a good thing.  Somebody spending US$70K on a car shouldn't have a cheap car.

We started going 20 MPH.  That was the first time that I've only heard wind noise in a car while moving.  It's a weird feeling that you get used to pretty quickly.  If you listen really closely with the radio off, you may even hear (yes, from the inside) the whirr of the electric motor.  We ascended up a hill, and the test drive assistant allowed my dad to go wide-open throttle.

Then we were going at 53 MPH.

And that was only within a couple seconds.  I will say that THAT experience was the first time I've been really pulled to the back of my seat thanks to the pickup of a car.  Keep in mind that these motors provide instant torque, so it won't feel like a slouch, even in the slower models.

Afterwards, we went back to normal driving.  The road was almost like a mountain road, so it was twisty to an extent.  I will say that it felt like a mix of Asia and Germany.  Even without the optional air suspension, the car felt smooth enough on the average quality roads.  At the same time, there was not much body roll, and the car felt confident on the curves.  Impressive.

Then a brick road came up.  Unsurprisingly, that was the worst part of the ride.  However, the car did not rattle, and it was surprisingly comfortable!  Granted, many of you readers don't encounter brick roads on a daily basis.  But at least it can handle the roads (without the air suspension) in a good fashion.

After the test drive, we configured a Model S (no, no order has been placed sadly).  That was the hardest part about it all.  This car clearly isn't a cheap car.  However, with the low maintenance costs, you may be better off with this compared to other cheaper cars.  There are a few must-have options.  The tech package is a great buy.  Parking sensors may seem useless at first, but you're likely getting cool features via software updates in the future with the parking sensors (adaptive cruise control?).  The Subzero Weather Package is a must for many, and the panoramic roof is cool.  Also, you want every option charge-related, like the 85kW battery, dual chargers, and the wall charger.  Some options can be skipped.  The car is perfectly fine without the air suspension.  For some, the ultra hi-fi sound can be skipped.  Forget the sport seats and premium interior lighting.  Rear-facing seats aren't necessary for all people (it's for kids only).  Personally, I don't like the red paint too much because the car doesn't look 'luxury' enough.  And if you want the most comfort, go for the 19 inch wheels.  Suddenly, you have a safe, cool car that isn't as bad in price.  Range? You're not driving 200 miles a day.  If you need to drive that much long distance at some point, then rent a car (just don't rent a Toyota Avalon).  Overall, it's probably the best car that I've ridden in.  And I would love to drive one and give a good review on it.  Hey Elon, wanna give me the best gift in the world, a free Model S P85+?

P.S.  Some may be concerned with the fact that the car is RWD (AWD is coming soon).  The car has an extremely low center of gravity, so it holds itself down on the road very well.  That, along with winter tires, and you're almost invincible.

Why Don't Americans Like Hatches and Wagons?

There's the Audi Avants. The Mercedes-Benz Estates. Volvo has their iconic wagons. BMW has their wagons and GranTurismo's. Don't forget about VeeDub. In the USA, Toyota had their Camry wagon in the 1990s. The list goes on and on. The point is, all these automakers, in the States and abroad (hi Europe!) create wagons, hot hatches, and even shooting brake vehicles based on sedans. Some of them are (obviously) more spectacular than others. For example, while I don't care much about the '90s Camry wagons, I would love a MB CLS63 AMG Shooting Brake. While these wagons tend to be heavier than their sedan counterparts, they still have something to offer. For example, some of them offer more rear legroom. But what many offer, which is my second favorite advantage (my favorite is the legroom) is more space. Motor Trend was able to use a Cadillac CTS-V Wagon as a camera car. Can you do that with a Kia Optima? Not quite. The truth is, these wagons get nearly the same MPG as their sedan twins, yet they can carry a lot of the same stuff as the bigger SUVs.

So why don't Americans like them? I have always scratched my head over this. I have gone on road trips where the SUV seems to be overkill, thanks to (sometimes) an optimistic average of 18-19 MPG. But the sedan's trunk proves to be a tight squeeze. So why not get the best of both worlds? Can someone explain this to me?

6/30/14 UPDATE: I have had blogger problems for a while, but now it's fine! I'm sure that I won't be using the Android app for a while.