driving with the stick up your ass would be pretty impressive, but i would think it would make it kind of hard to clutch
seriously though, sapienne, what is the argument here? people who buy cars because they want them as status symbols are bad people? even if we accept that to be true, it doesn't make anything about the cars in and of themselves bad. not any more so than the fun jewelry we wear or cute shoes we love.
and i mean, if we extended that principle, then burn victims who get plastic surgery are bad too.
and, moreover, a bunch of people have said it already, but - there's no proof whatsoever that even half of the people who buy sports cars do so because they seek status. i'm an auto enthusiast; i like sports cars because i find their looks aesthetically pleasing, their mechanics interesting, and mainly because they're just fun.
look at so many of the people who posted here - they know what they're talking about. they know the specs of the cars and have particular preferences between makes and models and certain attributes. if you were just after a car because of status, there would be no reason to learn all of that. one would assume you'd be more interested in reading tabloids and canvassing private neighborhoods to see what the rich and famous drive.
and there can be a big difference between people who drive to get somewhere, and people who drive to drive. for me, needing to get somewhere is just an excellent excuse to go out for a spin. i don't really necessarily want a car that's a perfect match to my task - i want a car that satisfies my desires for freedom, escape, power, being wild: all such primal human needs and wants. is my car an acceptable substitute for this? no... because my car genuinely fulfills those desires. i feel freedom when i'm racing down the highway with the wind in my hair. i feel power when i master hitting the apex of a particularly tricky turn. i love the full-body awareness and the clutch humming under my foot and pushing the limits of my coordination. i feel like my car is a domain over which i have full control, and one in which i know what to do best - unlike the outside world which is so often confusing and complex and pulls me in so many different directions. and people associate sports cars and sex not because they're both base and lewd, but because they both fulfill both representative and very sensory needs. even ENFPs need to remember their demonic Se.
what i'm seeing this boil down to is a big group of auto enthusiasts who all have certain likes and dislikes. some of us prefer high-tech cars; some of us prefer vintage. some prefer more powerful engines; some prefer better handling; some prefer the ability to trek over diverse types of terrain. me, i'm the kind of girl who likes a sleek, low-profile beauty with a growling engine that i can whip around turns because that resonates with me and makes me genuinely happy. i think my car preference reflects nature too - dark obsidian stones, flat silver lakes, roaring fire, the night sky. you, you're more grounded, you like beauty that is a little flawed externally, maybe a little quirky, with earthy colors, a vehicle that is well-suited to the driving you do. you like that because it resonates with you and makes you genuinely happy.
are we so different?