Low Ego? Yeah Right!

Have you seen the new commercial by Volkswagen for their new Passat? I'm sure you have. It's the one where a couple are driving around town in their Passat as people in high end cars such as thinly veiled Bentleys, Vipers, and Mercedes SLK's. As the happy couple drives by, the drivers of these cars are shown to be leaning out of their vehicles with megaphones explaining why they have the car they do. They shout boisterously about how, "My daddy didn't hug me as a child," or "This makes up for my shortcomings" or any other such ridiculous statement. And once again we see that those of us in higher end autos are being slighted.

Volkswagen and it's customers are more than welcome to make such statements. There's nothing wrong with them wanting to express their opinion. But for them to state that Their cars have 'low ego emissions' is in itself a sign of some egotism. Study psychology even briefly and you will learn that ego is one of the main concepts almost 'built' into a human's psychological make up. Think of it as being Microsoft Windows and how it is loaded into virtually every computer that you purchase (except Apples because.... well.. their 'special'). For the Volkswagen people to imply that high-end owners are insecure, rich snobs; well... once again they are generalizing. Sure there are drivers out there who drive 'bling-bling' cars for the sake of showing off. These are the people you see out there primping and preening as they drive down the road. Bass rocking the windows of their car and those unfortunate enough to drive next to them.

For the minority of egotistical drivers out there to end up giving the rest of us a bad name is just ridiculous. I mean how is it possible that we are all that way? I own a Boxster. I own it because I enjoy driving it and it is my escape from the every day commute that I do. I loved my Civic, but I love my Boxster even more because it is a fun car to drive. Do I show off? I don't think so. I don't think you can deflate anyone's perceived ego any more than by carrying a shopping cart full of groceries to the car and loading it in the trunk. You won't necessarily see me dropping the top in order to move a bookshelf from one location to the other, but you also won't see me out there waxing the car with a diaper every hour either.

Turn the mirror on yourselves Volkswagen. Go Google for Street Racing or visit any forum on car modding and you will find tons of posts by Jetta drivers who can 'burn the streets' or 'outrace anything out there'. They will post pictures of their cars with ground effects or with meaningless spoilers added on. (On a quick side rant --- people, we don't ever drive fast enough around here to warrant a spoiler... you don't need it!) They boast about how their cars are faster than anything the Japanese manufacturers can develop. They will brag about how they beat a Porsche or Corvette or Mustang off the line. If that's not a clear textbook definition of ego then I don't know what is. Guess I better get back to my old psychology books and study up. Or perhaps I better send a copy of the book to Volkswagen.