[saaber]

Of course this has been going on for as long as there has been cars. From 50's drag races to 60's muscle cars to until as long as there are fast cars. I think it's in the male psyche. The car is an extension of yourself and the Porsche projects an image to others which makes them feel, how shall I say, "inferior", so they have to gun it to show how machismo they are no matter what kind of POS they drive. It's in the genes.

2 other things affecting this I think are the "2 fast, 2 furious" movies which brought the race "subculture" to any tenager with a beat up CRX or civic (cheap citroens in europe). Also our "credit" culture which lets said tenager buy 20" wheels with rubber band tires on credit at Les Schwab.

So what do you do? To me I say have fun with it. Would it be better to have lifeless drones in 4 door buicks doing 5 mph under the speed limit all the time? For those beat up POS cars I just smile and let them go by and for those with something fun and if I'm in the mood on a remote road, give it a go!

To me the image is one of the neat things about the boxster. I was driving in downtown portland 2 days ago and 2 diff. people said "Nice Porsche" as I drove by and one guy driving rolled down his window and asked what kind of car it was. Loving life in a fun car that evokes a reaction just makes life so much more interesting than plodding along the interstate in a boring taurus. So be thankfull for what you have!