By Andre Palma
Philippine Daily Inquirer
BEFORE EVERYONE gets excited about the title of this week’s installment, an explanation is in order. While the issue of declining build quality is a valid and very important one, especially since the local emergence of economy brands from the Mainland, this rant is more about the changing spirit of the automobile.
More and more cars are being designed, built and marketed so as to appeal to larger market segments. Nothing’s wrong with that really, if one is benefiting from the sale of automobiles. Across the industry, from the boardrooms to the assembly lines, everyone tied to the car business is better off the more they sell.
Yet by pandering to the needs, wants and level of skill behind the wheel of a larger segment of the population, even some of the leading performance brands are beginning to hawk weaker tea. What more the compromises made by the mass-market volume makes?
This is the problem — my fear is that pretty soon, cars will drive themselves. While that statement might be a tad too far-fetched and sound a bit too exaggerated, consider what is happening to the automobile. With increasing levels of power available even to the most simple of daily drives, like say a small entry-level hatchback, or even your family’s diesel AUV, concerns over safety are very real issues.
There was a time antilock brakes were a premium option, computer-controlled differentials and traction control were limited to the motor sport community. Now even the cheapest of cars have ABS, EBD, VCS and what ever other acronym manufacturers can come up with for their so called “driver aids.” Truth be told, these systems aren’t helpful at all. Instead of learning the art of driving and understanding vehicle dynamics, the next generation of drivers just has to trust in their own car’s almighty computer box. Mistakes will be corrected anyway, right?
Case in point, at the regional launch of a four-wheel drive, turbocharged rally replica, the years I’ve spent training and honing whatever ability I have behind the wheel came face to face with the new school of performance driving. In simple braking, evasion and slalom exercises, the earful from the driving instructors was difficult to swallow.
“Trust in the ABS, turn while the car is braking hard,” or, “Leave the traction control on for faster cornering,” and “The car will control the throttle in case of an emergency situation” are statements that go against the very grain of how I’ve learned to drive.
Built for the PlayStation Generation, the younger of my colleagues thrived in the point and shoot driving style needed to push this particular car to the digital limit. Forget the laws of physics and seat of the pants feel; the car will do the actual driving when the pedal meets the floor pan. Imagine that. For a car touted as one of the world’s premier driving tools, a computer does roughly 70 percent of the performance driving.
One might as well hire a driver. Unless of course you like the sensation of being reeled in by traction control, an electronic center differential and an engine limiter every time a computer decides you are too near maximum attack.
Selling out for the sake of safety, larger market acceptance, and a fast car for every man. These are ideals that two very polar ends of the automobile spectrum — the economy car and the performance car — are headed for. What happens then when the designs meet in the middle, when they achieve their ultimate market success?
All products will become the same. We will have fast cheap cars that can carve the perfect line or pull stupendous drifts at a push of a button. The next generation of drivers will be there, in the cockpit, smiling from ear to ear. Some of us on the other hand, will have to live with mentally reciting, “Brake, blip, balance and turn-in,” as we race away from obsolescence.
