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The New 2017 Audi A4 2.0T Quattro Premium

$ 399 mo*
36 mo. lease

$4,693 due at signing

Harry Kirsbaum poses with his
Mini Cooper from his first JN
car column in August 2004.

Magna Society

Audi Sylvania

5570 Monroe St. | Sylvania, OH
www.sylvaniaaudi.com

*$4,693 due at signing, plus taxes, title, options & dealer charges. $0 security deposit. For qualified
customers who lease through AFS. Lessee responsible for 25¢/mi. over 30,000 miles. Subject to credit
approval. See Audi Sylvania for complete details. Offer expires 5/31/16.
2018520

Rated #1
In Best Purchase Experience
in the Midwest
2013 and 2014

Harry Kirsbaum | Contributing Writer

Jeff Stewart

Assistant New Car Sales Manager

Serving the Community Since 1969

248-636-2736

CONGRATULATIONS

GLASSMAN SUBARU

A division of

Glassman Automotive Group

Serving Our Community For Over 45 Years!

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24 May 12 • 2016

The
Future
Of Driving

I

f you are reading this, I am making
several assumptions:
• You are a car person, otherwise
you’d skip over this section and go
straight to the obits.
• You live, or have lived, or are think-
ing of living in the Detroit area.
• You are not going to like the future
of driving, according to Esquire.
According to an April 16 Esquire
story, the future of driving is very un-
driving like.
Of the “five imminent things chang-
ing the future of driving,” four have
nothing to do with the act of driving.
“Several companies are developing
fully autonomous vehicles, and then
there is the increasing impact of the
sharing economy,” the story stated.
“With cars being so expensive to
own, more and more people are turn-
ing to car-sharing services like Lyft. Put
all of those factors together, sync them
with the phones in our pockets, and
it’s not impossible to imagine a world
where fully automated, fully personal-
ized electric cars arrive when we need
them, take us where we need to go and
then drive off when we’re done.”
Yes, electric cars are making a pres-
ence, but these other things have noth-
ing to do with the act of “driving.”
Ask any Detroiter who’s lived here
more than 20 minutes.
We’ve been car-centric since Day One
of the automobile, and it’s easy to see
the results.
Detroit is only now constructing a
light-rail system that will eventually
extend from West Grand Boulevard
to the start of the Woodward Dream
Cruise.
The start of the baseball season
coincides with the start of the pre-
Dream Cruise, where parking lots on
Woodward fill up with old guys show-
ing off their classic cars.
And classic cars are defined as those
automobiles manufactured before cup
holders were invented. When ashtrays
and cigarette lighters weren’t an option.
Unless stuck in rush-hour traffic on

the Lodge, the act of driving to a car
enthusiast is joyful.
Cruising down an open road in a
muscle car, windows down, nothing but
the throaty sound of a powerful engine
filling your ears, and the thrill of shift-
ing gears, becoming one with the car,
what else do you need?
A car that isn’t connected to you, but
your smart phone? A car that drives
you to your destination by itself?
Is that driving, or just giving up?
I come from a family of drivers; my
dad loved it, my brother loves it and so
do I.
My dad’s pride and joy was a 1968
Buick Riviera with the largest engine
Buick ever made and air conditioning.
My brother owned a muscle car in high
school, a 1965 Chevelle Super Sport con-
vertible. Olive green, four on the floor,
and he removed the hub caps, painted
the wheels black, installed chrome lug
nuts and called them mag wheels.
I wasn’t allowed within 20 feet of
the car when he wasn’t around, and he
never let me sit in the front seat.
My first “real” new car was a five-
speed Mini Cooper that I drove hard
until it died. I couldn’t help it. If your
car could take a corner at 25 miles an
hour, wouldn’t you do it all the time? I
didn’t care about its bells and whistles.
The performance captured my heart.
Unlike my dad and brother, I’m not
the most gifted driver when it comes to
directions. I consider getting lost as part
of the adventure. Now that my smart-
phone can give me directions, I can be
just like everyone else.
It’s technology in the driver’s seat.
“It’s not impossible to imagine a
world where fully automated, fully per-
sonalized electric cars arrive when we
need them, take us where we need to go
and then drive off when we’re done,” the
Esquire story said.
And, in 2116, Detroiters will sit on
folding beach chairs watching a 2042
Chevy Volt drive itself in the Woodward
Dream Cruise.
What fun.

*