Commenter Of The Day: Perfect Imperfection Edition

Some items are designed with enough imperfection to make them better to use. A metal bat is lighter and easier to swing, but it doesn't compare to the feel of a wooden bat. A cursor on your computer isn't always set to a perfect 1:1 ratio because there's a need to compensate for your slow or quick mousing. Some RWD cars are designed to oversteer a little (or a lot), which sacrificed the ideal balance but makes them more fun/faster. The flattened section of Owen Wilson's nose disrupts the symmetry of his face, but apparently makes him better looking. There's a reasonable debate over how perfect the new McLaren MP4-12C is, but there's an even more fascinating debate occurring because of PaulJones, who is asking whether or not perfect is what we want.

Well, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go check my pulse, as this just isn't doing anything for me.

I, like Ben, did nerd out somewhat from the appreciation of the engineering involved, but otherwise....meh.

At some point, I ceased giving a damn about what car could go the fastest, stopped caring about making my car go as fast as it could, and got bored of driving as fast as I could at all times (Also, speeding tickets suck).

Instead, I like to focus a little more on the whole package. It doesn't need to be the quickest thing on wheels, it just needs to be able to get up to traffic merging speed with a little sense of alacrity. It doesn't need to be the fastest thing on wheels, it just needs to be able cruise comfortably at 75mph. I'm not looking for super luxury, just comfort. I also like a modicum of practicality. Not minivan practicality, but a little something for when I have to go get groceries. I prefer to have things that are comparatively simple enough that I can buy a Chilton's manual and fix it myself, provided that I have the tools.

Also, flashy is bad. Really bad. As in really expensive ticket really bad.

This car does not meet any of the above criteria. It is a complete and total exercise in excessiveness. I'll grant that it is no where near as obnoxious as that Bugatti monstrosity, however. But even so, this, like all modern Ferraris, Lamborghinis, etc. also lack one key thing that makes them totally unattractive to me: a lack of real, honest-to-god purpose in life. While they are theoretically existentialist little creations, in practice, they are Viagra substitutes. See SLR Douche.

A car must have purpose in it's existence for it to be worthwhile. As much as we love to mock and insult the Toyota Camry, even it has it's purpose: affordable, useful, and reliable transportation for non-car people (i.e., the majority of the population). A car must have purpose.

Failing that, it must be timelessly, twitterpatingly, knock-your-socks-off gorgeous, like a Ferrari 275 or an Aston Martin DBS.

This thing...just kind of misses.

It's a great example of how one can do everything almost perfectly, and still lose.

That's some Gattica shit right there.