Ravings of a Nomadic Mind

Im a Self confessed car nut, well basically i am a self confessed nut, but that’s another story for another day. today i want to talk about cars and only cars. Well, what? You come to page titlled ravings of a nomadic mind and then you expect some continuity to what i write here, what did you expect? Well again thats a story for another time. so i was talking about cars....i don’t know much, but i love cars, bikes and any thing and every thing that burns fuel, ok not really true i mean any thing that uses any source to propel its driver, or passenger to speeds faster than i can run. so it can be bicycles going down hill, sleds, motorcycles, cars or even dumpster lids going down slope on a sand dune.

So back to cars, im not an expert again, having driven them only three times other than the times i spent learning to drive them. once was around the block at the princely speed of 30 kmph as i was shit scared of trashing a new car out from the show room, the second time was to drive in the middle of the night as my friend was stone drunk, it was really late, the second time i was driving and big car (Honda City) and the third time was the last and i drove (hehehehe), long story short... my friend tossed me the keys to his new Suzuki Swift with a tuned Baleno Engine tucked into the nose, i got in, started the engine, shifted into first and let in the accelerator the car actually leapt of the mark like a scalded cat poked with a sharp stick i missed my friend and the gates to his house by inches and it took my heart ages to regain its normal rhythm. so again im not an expert.

but i was recently watching the latest few episodes of "Top Gear" its my favorite televised show and the chemistry between Jeremy, James and Richard is one of the best comic relief and then all those really "oh-sweet-mother-of-God she is hot" rides that they keep having on the show each episode better than the other. Then again that’s not the point any way, well any way while i was reading the reviews i realized one thing be it the new Jaguar XF or the new baby Fiat the common thread was these cars were like inch perfect. be it one that costs 5000 euros or an arm, a leg and the ransom for the king of timbuktu's child and then children from the his entire harem. these cars drive, handle, ride and have every thing the target audience requires. some cars have their quirks like the luxo barge 7 series still handles like a racer grown wealthy but a luxo barge none the less. these days criticism in car reviews is like niggling details, like the feel of the plastic or the blind spot is slightly larger than in the other car, stuff that people a few years back wouldn’t have noticed.

the point im trying to make is that cars today have reached a stage where perfection is not just desired its a prerequisite the engineering faultless even though the cars from different companies have different quirks and different character they all, are build to last through the ages and give there owners a lasting ownership experience. Obviously some cars are better than others, depending on the price range they come in and the experience of their parent companies but most do a better job than a Bentley made say 15 years ago. Today Vauxalls and Opels come with 250 HP engines when even 20 years ago a Ferrari couldn’t pump out that much.

Automotive engineering has come a long way the efficiency of the Engines, Safety, comfort, control, almost all aspects of a car have grown up exponentially. I believe after 100 years of existence automotive Engineering has finally come of age.