stefan9107
New member
I'm new here, so I'm not sure if this has really been covered or not before. Apologies if it has. Also apologies for that fact that this is basically just a rant.
What spurred this is a conversation me and friend just had. We both just watched a youtube review on Throttle House of the new C63s... the 4 cylinder hybrid. On paper its quicker than ever with 670hp, and more expensive than ever at £100,000. As expected though, it lacks any kind of soul. For me an AMG, a C63, was always a thumping V8. It's what makes an AMG an AMG, or at least the 63. People talk about the holy trinity (LaFerrari, 918 and P1) , but when I first got my license the holy trinity to me was the E92 M3, the B7 RS4 and the W204 C63 (I'm 31 for reference). Those were the cars I aspired to own one day (outside of the usual supercar stuff anyway). They all had their own appeal. The M3 was the drivers car, the more focused and clinical machine. The RS4 was the fast and raspy sophisticated gentleman's choice, the one that the company CEO with a family would roll up in. And the C63 was the tyre shredding hooligan that sounded like it was trying to change the direction of the earth's rotation. As things moved on so did the cars, BMW went back to the straight 6, Merc and Audi downsized and added turbo's, but they still retained what made them what they are. They still kept that DNA. Now it's just gone though (or at least in the C63s... others will follow).
My concern here is that we have slowly seen the degradation of enthusiast cars. Even if we ignore prices and the number of "cheap" sports cars you can still buy vs years past, the experience just keeps being dialled out more and more. First the cars got heavy, then the steering went numb, and now the last bastion, the engine, is also going numb and disappearing altogether. The new C63 for me is a glimpse of what life will be like when everything is an EV. Where everything just becomes an appliance and there isn't any unique thing about the car that makes it worth having over another. I mean, I would love to know who is going out and spending £100,000 a that new C63s. Surely any enthusiast would take the M4 over it... as ugly as the poor thing is. At the moment we are obviously at a bit of a cross roads where these in between type cars are coming out. But what happens when we go all in on EV? At the moment they can be exciting because they are still a bit of a new thing with the gimmicks of over the top tech and sub 2 second 0-60's. But once ALL of them are doing that, the only thing to really differentiate between them will be what they look like. Sure there will be subtle differences in how they handle, but the average 7/10's driver won't be able to tell the difference. Only the journalist on the race track will. Will kids really have posters of a Rimac or Tesla on their wall? Or today's equivalent your phone/desktop wallpaper.
Honestly it kind of pisses me off mostly because of my age. I feel like I've missed out. Okay I can still go back and buy some of these cars, but for how long? Cars get old, they age out, they get scrapped. When I'm 50 or 60 will there even be an enthusiast car I can buy that isn't 20-30 years old? It's part of the reason why I've grabbed my F-Type R whilst I can. Ever since seeing it for the first time on Top Gear I knew I wanted one, and with this being the last year Jag make it I felt like now was the time. So I'll take my fun now whilst I can, but I'm genuinely concerned going forward. Not just for my selfish want for fun and excitement, but also for certain car brands. At the moment you choose a Jag F-Type over a 911 "cus V8" (okay not the only reason but you get the idea). But what about when that isn't there? Companies like Jag may end up right back in the trouble they were in the not so distant past. All they will have is design/luxury... but then that's all anyone else will have as well. Not that I'm a fan, but Dodge is another great example. They're whole brand USP is basically Hellcat. Ram TRX, Challenger, Charger... big loud brash unapologetic muscle cars with crazy engines. Who in their right mind is buying a Dodge when they are all electric?! I suspect we may end up with a situation where only the super wealthy can afford a true enthusiast car, but with the hard push in Europe to electric only sales even their days are numbered.
Anyway... I just felt like I needed to have a bit of a rant. I'd be interested to hear what others on here think. My assumption is everyone here is an enthusiast/petrolhead. I'm also guessing a slightly older demographic also... so I'd be interesting to hear what others think the future may look like and if they are just making the most of what they can whilst they can. Who knows, maybe some are excited by an electric future...
What spurred this is a conversation me and friend just had. We both just watched a youtube review on Throttle House of the new C63s... the 4 cylinder hybrid. On paper its quicker than ever with 670hp, and more expensive than ever at £100,000. As expected though, it lacks any kind of soul. For me an AMG, a C63, was always a thumping V8. It's what makes an AMG an AMG, or at least the 63. People talk about the holy trinity (LaFerrari, 918 and P1) , but when I first got my license the holy trinity to me was the E92 M3, the B7 RS4 and the W204 C63 (I'm 31 for reference). Those were the cars I aspired to own one day (outside of the usual supercar stuff anyway). They all had their own appeal. The M3 was the drivers car, the more focused and clinical machine. The RS4 was the fast and raspy sophisticated gentleman's choice, the one that the company CEO with a family would roll up in. And the C63 was the tyre shredding hooligan that sounded like it was trying to change the direction of the earth's rotation. As things moved on so did the cars, BMW went back to the straight 6, Merc and Audi downsized and added turbo's, but they still retained what made them what they are. They still kept that DNA. Now it's just gone though (or at least in the C63s... others will follow).
My concern here is that we have slowly seen the degradation of enthusiast cars. Even if we ignore prices and the number of "cheap" sports cars you can still buy vs years past, the experience just keeps being dialled out more and more. First the cars got heavy, then the steering went numb, and now the last bastion, the engine, is also going numb and disappearing altogether. The new C63 for me is a glimpse of what life will be like when everything is an EV. Where everything just becomes an appliance and there isn't any unique thing about the car that makes it worth having over another. I mean, I would love to know who is going out and spending £100,000 a that new C63s. Surely any enthusiast would take the M4 over it... as ugly as the poor thing is. At the moment we are obviously at a bit of a cross roads where these in between type cars are coming out. But what happens when we go all in on EV? At the moment they can be exciting because they are still a bit of a new thing with the gimmicks of over the top tech and sub 2 second 0-60's. But once ALL of them are doing that, the only thing to really differentiate between them will be what they look like. Sure there will be subtle differences in how they handle, but the average 7/10's driver won't be able to tell the difference. Only the journalist on the race track will. Will kids really have posters of a Rimac or Tesla on their wall? Or today's equivalent your phone/desktop wallpaper.
Honestly it kind of pisses me off mostly because of my age. I feel like I've missed out. Okay I can still go back and buy some of these cars, but for how long? Cars get old, they age out, they get scrapped. When I'm 50 or 60 will there even be an enthusiast car I can buy that isn't 20-30 years old? It's part of the reason why I've grabbed my F-Type R whilst I can. Ever since seeing it for the first time on Top Gear I knew I wanted one, and with this being the last year Jag make it I felt like now was the time. So I'll take my fun now whilst I can, but I'm genuinely concerned going forward. Not just for my selfish want for fun and excitement, but also for certain car brands. At the moment you choose a Jag F-Type over a 911 "cus V8" (okay not the only reason but you get the idea). But what about when that isn't there? Companies like Jag may end up right back in the trouble they were in the not so distant past. All they will have is design/luxury... but then that's all anyone else will have as well. Not that I'm a fan, but Dodge is another great example. They're whole brand USP is basically Hellcat. Ram TRX, Challenger, Charger... big loud brash unapologetic muscle cars with crazy engines. Who in their right mind is buying a Dodge when they are all electric?! I suspect we may end up with a situation where only the super wealthy can afford a true enthusiast car, but with the hard push in Europe to electric only sales even their days are numbered.
Anyway... I just felt like I needed to have a bit of a rant. I'd be interested to hear what others on here think. My assumption is everyone here is an enthusiast/petrolhead. I'm also guessing a slightly older demographic also... so I'd be interesting to hear what others think the future may look like and if they are just making the most of what they can whilst they can. Who knows, maybe some are excited by an electric future...
, well written and spot on. Great rant! Are you sure you're 31 
! As you mention, most F-type owners are generally a bit (or a lot) older. This probably is due to the price of the cars historically, which is changing as they get more affordable. Quite a few "younger" folk have F-types now. My friend at work bought his at age 24 (6 years ago) and still can't see anything he'd rather have. 
