So many cars, so little time.
I get asked all the time, “Do you have to review every car?”
No. And that is often a good thing for the people making and marketing the
cars, for I sometimes take my grandmother’s advice: “If you haven’t got
anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”
Some cars just don’t merit a review, for a variety of reasons, and some of
the cars I test-drive just get lost in the review shuffle. Something about
every car I test goes into the data bank – my mind – as background
information, but I have my weeks when my mind is on other things and when I
go to write a review about Car X, I just can’t remember a thing about it.
That’s probably worse than the ones I just flat-out hate: That I drove the
car the better part of a week and can’t remember anything about it says
volumes. Some cars you love, some cars you hate, and some cars leave no
impression at all. And I have to admit that this happens more and more all
the time, not because I have the early symptoms of Alzheimer’s, although
that could probably be argued, but really because there are so many bland
cars out there.
The reason for this is simple. Toyota and Honda have been so successful, for
so long, making solid, but unsexy cars that sell and sell and sell, that
almost all of the other car makers just knock them off. That’s why you see
so many cars, from Fords to Chevys and Buicks, to Hyundais, Kias, VWs and
Chryslers and more, that just happen to look an awful lot like a Toyota
Corolla or Honda Accord. There are oceans of cars that you just have to get
close to and check the name badge to see just what they are.
We live in a
knock-off world, unfortunately, and it’s as true for cars as it is for the
wristwatches and handbags sold by street vendors all over New York City and
by hucksters of every stripe throughout the world on the Internet.
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