Miatas are for badasses-in-training; Porsches are for mid-life crises

So I got a good-natured rib from a former colleague, Kevin Mullet, saying that a Miata driver cannot, by virtue of his car, be a badass. By the same token, ownership of a Dodge Viper, or a similarly high howerpower car, would confer automatic badassery.


This is a point I've pondered a few times before, and my stance has never wavered. I would unequivocally take Ayrton Senna's magical driving talent over Jay Leno's wild car collection, any day of the week. In fact, a real world representation of this can be found right here, where Sabine Schmitz in a crazy Top Gear show is overtaking Porsches and motorcycles with a Ford Transit on the Nuernburgring (http://www.topgear.com/uk/videos/sabine-in-a-van-2).

That being said, a realization dawned on me that might help clarify the opposing view. People may be conflating values. There may be an inherent level of badassery in the ownership of a car, but only if the owner generated his or her wealth in a badass way. Otherwise, it's just the vehicle that is badass. This blog is about the man, not his toys.

In summary, it's not the car you drive, it's how you drive it.