We love our 4WDs.
They’re not soulless, practical solutions to the problem of locomotion.
Whether we like it or are aware of it, our cars form parts of our identities.
As humans, we identify with certain brands that we feel support our perception of ourselves. Being a Toyota owner means something. Being a Land Rover owner means entirely something else.
This isn’t merely hollow marketing.
As humans, we’re tribal, social creatures. We construct our maps of meaning by identifying with certain tribes and not others. We use the products that we own to signal to other apes who we are, where we belong and what we value.
We exist through comparison.
Why is this important?
Because articles like this one tend to focus entirely on practical, logical aspects of car ownership. And yet, we make our purchasing decisions, in large part, through our emotional centres.
It means that regardless of the findings that I present here, you’ll have your own biases and preferences, and that’s perfectly OK.
Take them into account.
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