Picture yourself driving home at night, and you’re stopped at a red light. Seconds later, another car pulls up in the lane next to you. You peek over and see blacked-out, tinted windows and the speakers blasting so loudly the vehicle is physically shaking. The light turns green, and before you even have time to shift your foot to the gas, the car next to you speeds over the limit with roaring and popping sounds, leaving you in the dust. 

Guys will modify their cars’ pipe exhaust and remove the mufflers that leave their vehicles with a louder and more “raw sound.” They make updates to their car to take away from other cars on the road, essentially promoting some sort of superiority that can easily be translated into blatant narcissism.  Most young men who take up cars as a hobby; they see them as these big expensive toys that go fast and look cool, but at the end of the day, this obsession can be incredibly toxic, illegal in some cases, and most importantly, dangerous. 

These modifications come with illegal add-ons or removals, resulting in citations or even arrests. Some of these illegal car changes include engine swaps, loud exhaust with a limit of 74 decibels, suspension, mufflers if the sound level is over 15 decibels, and finally, the most common one: tinted windows. These guys use upgraded torque and horsepower of their cars by speeding down roads and highways to show off simply just to get other people’s attention. Not only are they putting themselves at risk, but they’re also putting other drivers at risk, all for the purpose of showing off a stupid car with the purpose of getting you from point A to point B. 

The community of these so-called car guys is jammed-packed with toxic masculinity, making it incredibly discriminatory and judgemental, especially towards women. In reference to cars, men often refer to them as “her.” A well-known comparison of cars and women is comparing headlights to a woman’s breasts; this is just another way for perverted men to make their pig-like comments while connecting them back to their personal lives. 

When women find their hobby in cars, their dedication to it is often put into question. Some men see women as an accessory to the car, while others feel threatened by the presence of women in the hobby. These are also the same men who feel as if their car could be used as a “chick magnet” and often harass women by honking or revving their engine at them to get some sort of reaction. 

Along with the obsession comes pointless, stupid movies jammed packed with cool cars and crazy action scenes, but most importantly, the inclusion of hot women to drool over. Fast and Furious, a billion-dollar movie franchise, has had a total of 11 women in the entire cast for eight movies. The sore lack of women and focus on cars presents this as a man’s movie. The male gaze in this movie is, simply put, pretty women and fast cars. Overall, I think that the problem isn’t the hobby itself; no one hates these guys for being interested in cars, but the problem is the annoyance and the ignorance that they carry with them. They disrupt the community and leave others in a dangerous position, along with making their hobby an exclusive club only for men. Car guys could use a top-to-bottom makeover, reflecting on how far they should let their obsession take them.