Drive by Tim Falconer Read Free Book Online Page A

there.’”
    Although this fast-growing suburb of more than seventy-seven thousand is no longer a farming community, the residents still love their trucks. In fact, roughly 65 percent of Shanahan’s sales are pickups and SUVs. Of course, today’s pickups are a long way from the bare-bones vehicles with sheet-metal dashboards and bench seats that I remember from my summer jobs in the 1970s and 1980s. But beyond the newfound comfort and the addition of luxurious features, Shanahan thinks the popularity of the pickup has a lot to do with the “psyche of room” that attracts city dwellers to a place like Newmarket. “People say, ‘I’m going to move out of the city and I’m going to own a truck.’ On Saturday, they want to be able to drive to the Home Depot and maybe they’ll buy a box of nails, but they won’t put it in the cab, they’re going to put it in the box of the truck.” The pickup, in other words, is a functional vehicle that many people buy for the sake of image.
    Next, I went to visit Ken Shaw, Jr., who co-owns Ken Shaw Lexus Toyota, a dealership in Toronto, with his brother. Like Shanahan, he started out working for his dad; unlike Shanahan, he prefers to stick to one car, a Lexus RX. “When you’re in the car business, people think it’s glamorous to have a new car every two weeks, but I just like having my own,” he said. “I know where my sunglasses are and where my CDs are and I guess after all the years I’ve been in the business there are not too many cars that make me wild. If someone said, ‘What would you drive if money was no object?’ Maybe some of the exotics—a Ferrari or something—but it’s not practical and I would never spend my money on it.”
    Toyota is a brand that built its reputation on value, and while he wouldn’t want to put it quite as coldly as comparing a car to an appliance, he admitted there’s a difference between an intellectual purchase and an emotional one. “The Toyota buyer typically buys with his brain not his heart. He’s not riding that roller coaster of adrenalin,” Shaw said. “When people buy a Camry, they’re using their head: they know the reliability, the quality issues, they knowthe resale values. Somebody who buys a Mustang would be on a much higher high than somebody who buys a Camry.”
    Or maybe the buying decision is akin to finding the right settings on a stereo equalizer. “You’ve got all these bars that equalize the sound,” said Dave Kelso. “So this one over here might be financial. This is what your grandfather said. This is what your neighbour said. And these are your practical needs. So how do you like your stereo to sound? That’s what car you’re going to buy.”
    Even if a growing number of people see their cars as closer to an appliance than a status symbol or personal statement, that doesn’t mean they’re willing to give up their wheels. Not even our aging demographics will change that. David MacDonald was at a conference where some people were suggesting that when the baby boom generation retires, the car market will suffer because retired couples will need only one car. He and his colleagues thought that was “a crock,” and to prove it they said to everyone in the room, “Okay, stand up if you and your spouse both own cars now.” Then they said, “Okay, sit down if you will be the one to give up your car.” No one sat down. MacDonald’s conclusion: “That speaks to the love affair. It’s not just the physical car, it’s also the idea of mobility and freedom.”
    Before I left his office, he assured me, “Even though Canadians are more rational in our love affair with cars, we do love cars and we can’t imagine life without them.”
    â€œDo you agree it’s a love–hate relationship?” I asked.
    â€œI’d say