Reflections on 2023, and this Forum

[DGJWRYI]

As the year closes and I look back on 2023 and for that matter my life, and as a person of a certain age, Gen X for whatever that may mean, and an auto enthusiast by birth from at 5 years old parsing the difference between the Mercury Marquis and a Ford Grenada by their hubcap designs from a distance through a Brooklyn apt window, I have been involved in all things automotive for as I can remember. Although I'm not involved in the car industry or engineering in my life pursuit, my passion for cars I would say define me as much as anything.

Growing up in the United States and thumbing Car and Driver magazine and relishing the writing of Csaba Csere and the letters to the editor, watching John Davis on Motorweek and wondering where this magical place of Owings Mills, MD was in hopes of running in to the crew. Reading the musings of David E Davis Jr on Road and track and absolutely relishing every word of Peter Egan and eventually Automobile magazine and Autoweek as the issues piled up.

The quality of journalism and editorialism during those formative years of mine were outstanding and as the world and times have changed, sadly it is hard to find that the level of passion, and true engagement anymore.

As budgets grew from trying to find ways to personalize a 1992 Nissan Altima hand me down, to feeling special and unique enough to venture into owning a Merkur Scorpio and drifting rear wheel drive 1982 Pontiac Bonneville station wagon and 1990 Toyota Previas in the snowy streets of Pittsburgh, into the absolute masochism of venturing into owning a first generation Audi 2.7T allroad, and many other oddball cars, I found magazines, and classified ads, and local car groups my companions.

Eventually car forums on the internet became a thing and have been a staple of resource and camaraderie over the years in my journey with cars.

I have tolerated these forums out of necessity, to gain information, and advice and guidance and have always appreciated them for that, but they have never really satisfied my curiosity and wonder like the "olden" days of print media. Even "journalistic" blogs have become so useless for true journalism.

In my years through navigating forums for the cars that I had owned or were interested in, I have never come across a forum with such a high level of intelligence and emotional quotient and maturity with healthy discussion, debate, disagreements, generosity and goodwill as this one.

I truly enjoy the international and world perspective of the members here and find this to be one of the most special aspects of this place.

I started my journey here in the middle of 2022 I believe in hopes of guidance and information for my search to purchase a Taycan and my time here was invaluable to thoughtfully put together a custom build of my car which I received in March of 2023.

I have never been more happy with a vehicle than this one, My first personal custom built new car for myself.

I had the pleasure of custom building a Porsche Macan GTS back in 2017 for my wife as my first custom Porsche build and although very satisfying, not the same as doing it for myself. Prior to that all of our cars had been slightly preowned to take advantage of depreciation (excepting a Honda Odyssey which does not count)

Nowadays when I venture to other forums, currently trying to be active on Q4 etron forum and even the Rennlist forum (specifically the Taycan one, not 911) it has been painful the level of misinformation, immaturity and lack of true enthusiast engagement.

I suppose part of that is a result of the skewed demographics here I assume of people open to EV's, and have the financial means to have the luxury of owning these cars.

I appreciate you reading my ramblings this far and would love to hear your stories and thoughts on your journeys.

This is a special place, and I'm thankful for its ability to rekindle some of my childhood spirit.

Nischal

Great perspective. Got any pics of the Neptune GTS ST to spice this thread up? ?

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[nischalr]

Great perspective. Got any pics of the Neptune GTS ST to spice this thread up? ?

Thank you, and yes, pics are a great idea!

 

[JerryLNK]

As the year closes and I look back on 2023 and for that matter my life, and as a person of a certain age, Gen X for whatever that may mean, and an auto enthusiast by birth from at 5 years old parsing the difference between the Mercury Marquis and a Ford Grenada by their hubcap designs from a distance through a Brooklyn apt window, I have been involved in all things automotive for as I can remember. Although I'm not involved in the car industry or engineering in my life pursuit, my passion for cars I would say define me as much as anything.

Growing up in the United States and thumbing Car and Driver magazine and relishing the writing of Csaba Csere and the letters to the editor, watching John Davis on Motorweek and wondering where this magical place of Owings Mills, MD was in hopes of running in to the crew. Reading the musings of David E Davis Jr on Road and track and absolutely relishing every word of Peter Egan and eventually Automobile magazine and Autoweek as the issues piled up.

The quality of journalism and editorialism during those formative years of mine were outstanding and as the world and times have changed, sadly it is hard to find that the level of passion, and true engagement anymore.

As budgets grew from trying to find ways to personalize a 1992 Nissan Altima hand me down, to feeling special and unique enough to venture into owning a Merkur Scorpio and drifting rear wheel drive 1982 Pontiac Bonneville station wagon and 1990 Toyota Previas in the snowy streets of Pittsburgh, into the absolute masochism of venturing into owning a first generation Audi 2.7T allroad, and many other oddball cars, I found magazines, and classified ads, and local car groups my companions.

Eventually car forums on the internet became a thing and have been a staple of resource and camaraderie over the years in my journey with cars.

I have tolerated these forums out of necessity, to gain information, and advice and guidance and have always appreciated them for that, but they have never really satisfied my curiosity and wonder like the "olden" days of print media. Even "journalistic" blogs have become so useless for true journalism.

In my years through navigating forums for the cars that I had owned or were interested in, I have never come across a forum with such a high level of intelligence and emotional quotient and maturity with healthy discussion, debate, disagreements, generosity and goodwill as this one.

I truly enjoy the international and world perspective of the members here and find this to be one of the most special aspects of this place.

I started my journey here in the middle of 2022 I believe in hopes of guidance and information for my search to purchase a Taycan and my time here was invaluable to thoughtfully put together a custom build of my car which I received in March of 2023.

I have never been more happy with a vehicle than this one, My first personal custom built new car for myself.

I had the pleasure of custom building a Porsche Macan GTS back in 2017 for my wife as my first custom Porsche build and although very satisfying, not the same as doing it for myself. Prior to that all of our cars had been slightly preowned to take advantage of depreciation (excepting a Honda Odyssey which does not count)

Nowadays when I venture to other forums, currently trying to be active on Q4 etron forum and even the Rennlist forum (specifically the Taycan one, not 911) it has been painful the level of misinformation, immaturity and lack of true enthusiast engagement.

I suppose part of that is a result of the skewed demographics here I assume of people open to EV's, and have the financial means to have the luxury of owning these cars.

I appreciate you reading my ramblings this far and would love to hear your stories and thoughts on your journeys.

This is a special place, and I'm thankful for its ability to rekindle some of my childhood spirit.

Nischal

I completely agree with your comments about this global forum. I'm not a frequent contributor, but a frequent reader. I joined two years ago today after placing an order for MY22 RWD, which I took delivery of in April 2022. The posts made by members of this community are used to build my understanding about this amazing vehicle. Plus, I really enjoy when members of this global community share their stories about trips to Scandinavia, Switzerland, etc.

Thank you for your reflections and Happy New Year to everyone!

 

[Edward]

@nischalr - thanks for your well-written thoughts. I also agree that this is the automotive online forum with the most well-reasoned and civilized members. IMO, it's actually more similar to the discourse I find with Porsche Club of America members in my local region than to the sometimes unhinged discussion on other automotive forums.

I'm no longer a Taycan owner (for now), but I keep a eye on this forum for the day when I get another one. I am a proponent of EVs, and it's hard to find a balance between the "ICE-until-I-die" crowd and the hardcore Teslarati fandom. This is it. We are all Porsche enthusiasts first, and we appreciate a time and place for both modes of propulsion.

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