No, you just clearly have a one dimensional view of what makes one (and I was born in the 80s, so not older crowd).
I can't drive 0-60 in 4.5 seconds in my daily commute -- but more performance potential is still welcome -- hell -- as it is, I rarely commute with my Mustang anyway -- I have kept my '99 civic, and recently purchased a slightly-less-dorky-than normal Vilano single speed 20" folding bike to ride to the Metro. I will say this: I don't want to give up my V8 sounds, or my manual transmission. I have told myself that if a car in my price range that checks all the boxes for looks and emotional response can get to 60 in under 2 seconds, I could give up both the V8 and the gearbox -- currently the only car projected to be capable of that is the as yet unreleased Tesla Roadster -- and that's going to be well out of my price range.
Every time I go on a long trip I fill up multiple times in one day. Even a shorter trip you'll still have to fill up at some point. Not many charging stations around here (edit: once you get out of the metro area).
we all have hours to sit around to wait for a battery to charge between fill ups? How do I do a road trip in an electric car in a time efficient manner?
If that means they'd let me drive, I'm sure I'd have found the experience fascinating.
I'd like to think I could keep up with the kids, but I'm not fooling myself. For one thing, I do see a pretty steep learning curve involved, and for another I don't have the mindset that would allow me to drive more than tiny bits past what I know my own skill set could support (where I might need to let the electronics sort things out). Those kids probably don't have any such internal governor.
I think there are two kinds of "new tech". There's tech that easily does what I can't keep up with in real time (that I wouldn't even want to try to keep up with). And there's tech that either does things I'm not interested in doing in the first place, or that takes away from me tasks that I actively want to keep on doing all by myself.
Interesting you mention F1. I used to follow it a lot more closely back when it was a 3.0L normally aspirated formula. Perhaps that's linked to being able to appreciate high revs and small to medium displacement over big displacement and brute power.
It'd certainly be different, that's for sure. Personally I don't need (or even want) a lot of decibels coming out the pipes, but I do want a few because in the background they're telling me things I want to know.
Not intended as flame, but whenever I read blanket statements like that, I get this uncomfortable feeling that I'm supposed to forget a lifetime of experience (including the part where I've learned a few things about myself) and just get in line with everybody else. And do so willingly, solely because somebody else told me to. Thing is, I'm independent-minded enough to need choices like this to be on my own terms and for my own reasons (which don't always line up with mainstream thinking).
Stay independent, don't let yourself become mainstream, stay true to who you are. There are already to many people who conform.
