My 2 cents... (archive)

I think that Jim's problem is that he's in marketing and thinks of everything in mainstream terms. For the non-enthusiast, acceleration may seem to be the most relevant performance number. When most people ask about my car the first thing they ask is what is the 0-60 time. I tell them and they're impressed, but when I take them for a drive and blast around some corners they get really excited. I think the problem is that most people have never driven or been in a truly great "sportscar", so a 0-60 time of X.X secs seems to be a good indicator of performance, but doesn't mean much in terms of "real world performance." It's when I show them the gobs of power, the way the car hugs the corners, or the way the car is so stable at high speeds that they realize what a special car the M Coupe or any other "sportscar" is. My friends love the way the car seems always be accelerating without loss of power and to be on rails through corners, and are amazed when they realized we've been cruizing at 100 mph, when it seemed only like 75.

Jim, what you don't seem to realize is that forums like this are for enthusiasts. Everything you said makes no sense to us. We bought and drive our cars for the pure excitment that they bring. Driving fast in straight line is no fun. Well, I have to admit that it was pretty cool when I first got my car, but now that I'm accustomed to it I need the challenge of some turns. An interesting analogy would be rollercoasters, who'd want to pay good money and wait in line for two hours for one that just went straight.

Jim I hope that your post was just a gimmick to gain marketing research. Then, hopefully you'll take what you learned and take it to designers.

Follow Ups:

Hey! kwillmorth 08:34 5/29/2000 (2)
- there's different kinds... dp 14:16 5/29/2000 (0)
- Okay... Mike 11:47 5/29/2000 (0)

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