Car Culture in Calgary

[Gibson]

So, I'm doing an assignment for school and I've decided to talk about the changes in the car culture in Calgary over the past decade. I need your guys' opinion on how it's changed and why you think it's changed.

A couple of the issues I would like to have discussed and why you think they are significant.

1) The rising gas prices.
2) The future closing of Race City.
3) Preferences/Fads over time.

I may quote some people, but this is just a very minor assignment and credit will be given for any words that I use.

Thanks guys!

[Destinova403]

you could also mention the effect of films on fads in certain groups... ex: TFATF

you should also talk to some of the muscle guys... maybe give ZR a call or something and some of the hot rod guys rather than just the import tuners.

[drewb]

you should also include pressure from the police and how JDM has effected the culture.

[Redlyne_mr2]

There are various types of car cultures, are you talking about mainstream, day to day cars or enthusiast culture?

[TomcoPDR]

Also winter driving and the way that more people are using winter compounded tires (these 5-8 years, instead of "all season" of the old days) and how it effect the way people drive when it snows. Tirebob from here is a good guy to talk to about tires.

Talk about the whole taste of the city catching up to the rest of the world and people have changed the way they mod their vehicles; from rice to nice. (i.e. no more 2-3 sets of fog lights, no more NOS stickers, no more "clear taillights" not Alterza, no more blue bulb "HID bright" headlights)

[heavyD]

Calgary is the pickup truck & honda civic capital of the world. Other vehicles come and go but pickups and civics rule here.

[Eleanor]

Originally posted by drewb
you should also include pressure from the police and how JDM has effected the culture.

You could also talk about the shittiness of the spelling and grammar used by 07's.

[nbaker00]

Another topic is how the economy in Calgary/AB has affected the car industry.. ex. alot more expensive/exotic/high end cars coming into the Calgary area.

[avow]

Originally posted by Eleanor


You could also talk about the shittiness of the spelling and grammar used by 07's.
you could also talk about the 06's and how anal they are about grammar yet no one cares. that and winter and performance cars. the concept of having winter beaters and daily drivers and evening and weekend cars.

[Gibson]

Originally posted by Redlyne_mr2
There are various types of car cultures, are you talking about mainstream, day to day cars or enthusiast culture?

I'd lean more towards the mainstream car culture, but any of those will work. I'm just looking for what people from INSIDE the culture has changed and why they think it's changed.


Calgary is the pickup truck & honda civic capital of the world. Other vehicles come and go but pickups and civics rule here.

I'm probably going to quote this. Thanks.

[Teggy2nr]

My opinion is people like us who drive modified imports get shown no respect. Iv been driving for over 6 years and only had two moving violations and no accidents. I drive the speedlimit most of the time only to either get tailgated or get overtaken and cut off. On Beyond in the past couple years its become taboo to speed and race so we can improve our FnF image that the public and media tag on us. And this has influenced the way drive.

And with the condition of our roads, the fact that the cops will throw the book at us when they get the chance, and the closing of race city. It makes me wonder if its even worth it anymore. I went on the beyond spring cruise and we couldnt even park on the side of the highway with out getting bitched at by the cops. Yet I always see tourists gathered on the sides of highways going nuts over an Elk and they are left alone.

So as far as the car culture in Calgary goes is Beyond.ca pretty much sums it up. Even with the positive media coverage of the GTR theft epic thread and the Hit and run caught on camera yet we still have a negative image and get shown no respect by other drivers.

[robpark]

The effect of urban sprawl, high energy costs and congested roads might be something to look into in regards to car culture... Collapse of higher density, multi-modal based communities/cities (like those found in the East and in Europe) vs. the new car oriented, MacLeod Trail/low density cities in the West, in light of the rise of mass production and the personal automobile.

[GoChris]

Well, I know race city is the most rented track in north america, yet the city wants to close it without giving two shits.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Originally posted by Teggy2nr
I went on the beyond spring cruise and we couldnt even drive at 200+ KPH while weaving in and out of traffic with out getting bitched at by the cops.

Fixed. Parking on the side of the road wasn't what got us yelled at.

[ga16i]

Here's a few topics concerning car culture in Calgary:

- The general lack of car pooling in Calgary.
- I think our "car pool" lane is for cars with 2 people or more.

- The lack of "highways" to cover the large area that Calgary occupies, we have a few big streets instead.
- Deerfoot is the only one that counts. Highway 1 with its 50km/h zones and traffic lights is NOT a highway.

- How much it sucks to not be able to wash our cars at home.

- The lack of emissions control allowing us to run all kinds of crazy setups on the road :D

- The amount of rock chips and cracks resulting from Deerfoot.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by Teggy2nr
It makes me wonder if its even worth it anymore.

It's worth it... it's always worth it.

[Tomaz]

Population: With the increaced population in calgary, it is more difficult to get anywhere very efficiently in this city. Roads that are not designed to withstand the traffic flow of our growing city are definitly setting us back.

Immigration: Despite Alberta's efforts to give the albertain driver the best training possible to put new drivers in the driver's seat, there are still some people who either get by with using alternaite resources. To be blunt, i have noticed a lot of people not from calgary driving like F**king idiots. Not discriminate towards race, but only people from calgary know how to drive in calgary.


Race City being close: Bad news for CPS. Kids are dumb, we were all stupid. some of us still are. consider the closing of race city another name for Darwin...

Saftey: Newer cars come with lots of different saftey devices that are supposed to be able to reduce the number of fatalities in traffic collisions. Anyone notice that people rather test out these devices instead of preventing thier use? Careless driving charges seem to be on the uprise beyond the population increace but, more when newer and better safty devices are coming more standard in vehicles. Weird eh?

Technology: Texting, calling, e-mail, movies, MP3's, CD's, TV's, PS3's are now all being installed either at factory or aftermarket in a lot of vehicles these days. I don't know about you, but i sure know that if i was watching SAW 3 on deerfoot, i would probably turn out worse than most of the characters in the movie!

Legislation: how many laws can the government pass before it will be illegal to own a vehicle for public saftey? How is there supposed to be culture when your really not allowed to modify a vehicle for speed or looks? When are we going to be forced to have communisim run our cars? We all get the same car, same power, same options, same colour. So we all can be the bloody same.

Car culture: Will it survive the next decade? Or should we all just move to a third-world country now, and start over?


Sorry, that was my rant. Was kinda angry today, and yes, i spell like a dislexic 5 year old.

[Teggy2nr]

^^Its time to start a revolution. Seein other people feeling the same way makes me hope that one day it will get better

[Gibson]

So I really need to ask.

What DO you guys think has changed in the past 10 or even 20 years here in Calgary? If there was a beyond meet back then, what kind of stuff do you think you'd see there?

Has the price of gas affected the car culture deeply or is it just as strong as ever?

What's the difference between someone who drives a car to get around town versus someone who owns, drives, and maintains a car because they love them?

[bituerbo]

Originally posted by Tomaz
Population: With the increaced population...


Your registration year is showing...

[Pandora]

I don't think the gas prices make a difference in Calgary. Just look at all the trucks being driven around. If people want to drive their vehicle, they'll find a way to pay for the gas. They know what you're getting into when they make their purchase.

If you want to talk about gas prices you might want to include the recent spike in development, interest, and purchases of hybrid cars.

[Tomaz]

Originally posted by bituerbo



Your registration year is showing...


your User Name is showing....:dunno:



Anyway, Gas prices havent really affected people's driving. Not that i have seen. I started driving when gas was 38 cents/litre. Back then, between me and my friends, we could eventually collect enoguh change to fill the tank. now i am in the same damn position, but collecting $20 bills. The market has been consantly rising since the start of my driving career, Which makes my income exactly proportionate to fuel costs. I am basically making what i did 6 years ago.

[arian_ma]

Originally posted by Gibson
So I really need to ask.

What DO you guys think has changed in the past 10 or even 20 years here in Calgary? If there was a beyond meet back then, what kind of stuff do you think you'd see there?
A lot of aluminum wings on FWD cars, ridiculous paint jobs, vinyl, and body kits that make the car look like it's about to devour something else. Neon lights, rims with absolutely no dish.

I think the way it has changed has gone from "Let's try to stand out by making our cars look ridiculously different" in 2000 to "Let's try to stand out by making our cars look subtly different" today.

If you notice now, everyone strives for that "clean" look, they don't want a 5" muffler because it looks ridiculous, all of the higher end companies are making their exhaust systems look and sound more and more stock. All the new body kits and lip kits work with the cars lines to make it look amazing, while still looking stock. Bare CF is slowly getting phased out as people start to paint them more and more often. Even engine mods that look very subtle (like Rage's ridiculous turbo system) are desirable. People don't want to be pompous (in that sense) anymore. Huge spoilers and different coloured rims are still "in" though which kind of conflicts with my statement but it is becoming the new "thing." Regular coloured rims are just not cool anymore, and the big wing gives the cars the "function over fashion" statement that seems to be the new fad. I mean look at the Spoon S2K FFS. Everything on that car would have been considered absolutely hideous by anyone's standards 3-4 years ago, but now the argument is "function over fashion" and everyone eats that shit up and forks over the $3G for that bumper, myself included!

[A790]

Originally posted by bituerbo



Your registration year is showing...
He registered before you did, so WTF is your argument here?

I think he makes some decent points, even if he has the spelling of a half-retarded coconut monkey.

[Toms-SC]

Fad time line:

The Start of Beyond
Civic/Intergra/RSX/ Type R
AE-86
240SX
Skyline (The start of the JDM crew)
Anything BMW

[03ozwhip]

ive definitely been in the mass amounts of people who had big aluminum wings, chrome wheels, chameleon paint and blacked out windows. the thing is its ever changing, some things wont go away, but i think were getting closer to the point of not being able to change anymore. paint and wheels yes, but realistically there arent any different mods anymore, engine or looks. i think thats how its changed, its changed so much that theres not much "new" anymore to change. right now its the cleaner teh better, a couple years ago it was all rice, what do you think will be next? clean rice? can anyone predict what the next fad will be? aside from R33's?

[Destinova403]

Originally posted by 03ozwhip
can anyone predict what the next fad will be? aside from R33's?

Mk. IV supras?

[03ozwhip]

oh ya those too... but i mean the next mod fad

[A790]

Originally posted by 03ozwhip
oh ya those too... but i mean the next mod fad

HKS SSQV's.

[03ozwhip]

^^^those are already a fad, i had one of those when i had my MR2 last year, and the guy who bought it still has it onthere, and every skyline has one of course

[arian_ma]

Huge wings and ridiculous but functional bodykits.

[black13]

Originally posted by 03ozwhip
oh ya those too... but i mean the next mod fad

Whatever is featured in The Fast and the Furious 4 when it comes out next year. Although this one seems to be going away from imports and throwing some domestics in there this time.

[Tomaz]

I am going to say that the 80's will be coming back... Whoever dresses the most neon, and has hydrolic suspensions will win! haha

[03ozwhip]

^^^i was thinking that too. daytons on civics....

[Tomaz]

haha exactly. It will come back like Camo.. and flood pants. Might mean we will get rid of the EMO kids!!!!!!

[Redlyne_mr2]

Originally posted by black13


Whatever is featured in The Fast and the Furious 4 when it comes out next year. Although this one seems to be going away from imports and throwing some domestics in there this time.
FF doesnt dictate any fads....it copies the current fads

[Gibson]

Very badly.