Alright, I'll admit—I was a GM fanboy for years and fell into the trap of fanboyism. Throughout middle and high school, my teachers made me present to the class what I wanted my future life to be like and what I wanted to do. More than once, I stuck to the idea of wanting to be an automotive engineer for General Motors, major in automotive engineering at Michigan State University, and ultimately work within the powertrain department. At the time, my family owned a 2001 Oldsmobile Aurora (which became mine once I started driving) and then a 2014 Chevy Equinox 2LT that I quickly grew fond of. Though I liked (and hated) aspects of my Aurora, I was sold on soon trading it in in the future for a 2015 or newer Chevy Cruze or Malibu loaded with options and features that were absent in my Aurora. I also considered an Impala but decided it was too big of a vehicle for just myself. At this time I thought the world of GM.
Going as far back as elementary school, beginning in the late 2000s, I was exposed to YouTube videos involving truck pulling contests, whether it was Chevy vs. Ford or Ford vs. Dodge or whatever. As expected, the comments section was nothing more than endless bickering between full-grown men. It typically starts as this: "What an unfair test! The axle-ratios can't be compared, and the Ford was using four-wheel-drive!" a Chevy fanboy rages. "Quit your whining. The Ford won fair and square because it has more power, and the Chevy sucks, lol," says a Ford fanboy. "Oh, yeah?" the Chevy fanboy refutes, "If Chevy sucks, how can my 2001 Silverado have 259,636 miles without any problems? My sister's '06 Malibu, my son's '98 Tahoe, and my wife's '02 Suburban all have more than 150,000 miles and have been rock solid in reliability." "Because your Silverado and your family's Government Motors garbage cars were built on a Wednesday," another Ford fanboy responds. "Yeah, but Ford stands for Found On Road Dead. The Ford must have been the one built on a Wednesday, or it wouldn't last more than a minute, LMAO," responds another Chevy fanboy. Oh, boy. Now the insults are really going to fly out of people's mouths and a firestorm is brewing. If there's anything I learned in car culture, it's never insulting a man's truck. Ever. It's his baby. This is even more true for diesel truck owners. Watch out if you say something out of line. People who become butthurt will do anything to shut you down. I usually sided with the Chevy guys regardless of whether the truck won or lost. When I read these types of comments now, it's nauseating. It is a waste of time to argue back and forth with other netizens. During my time as a GM fanboy, I despised Ford, even though my parents used to own a '96 Explorer. Even though I loved some Ford Motor Company vehicles, such as the Expedition and Lincoln Navigator, I felt compelled to like an Escalade more. I've stayed loyal for so long; how could I betray the inventors of my Aurora? After I decided I didn't want to be an engineer in 2017, I broke away from being a loyal GM fanboy. And it felt great. For once, I could be unbiased when it came to cars. Though I hated Ford for over a decade, I own two of their vehicles currently; an '18 F-150 and an '18 Lincoln MKC, and I love them. Do these Fords have their share of problems? Absolutely. Just read my articles about Ford's problems. Does GM have issues? Absolutely. Many would deem my old Aurora a lemon based on its problems. The key question here is, is one automaker simply better than the other? There are many ways to answer this. Many will say, "Yes, one is better than the other." Instead, I say, "It depends on the context." From a reliability perspective, it's near impossible to conclusively state whether, for example, Ford is better than GM and Dodge or if Nissan is better than GM and Ford. Statistically, it's Toyota that generally has the best reliability out of the bunch, but they too have plenty of issues, just not always severe or pronounced. My fanboy tendencies also extended to favoring Honda over Toyota besides GM vehicles. My parents used to have a '96 Honda Accord. I didn't think too negatively about Toyota, but I gravitated to Honda because my parents had one. But then, a few years later, my dad bought an '08 Toyota Tacoma over a Honda Ridgeline. And then I realized Toyota was pretty good, too. It's long gone now, but I'll always miss the grunt that 4.0L 1GR-FE V6 had. I could have quickly fallen into the trap of now becoming a Toyota fanboy, but I resisted. I failed to resist when it came to GM. Years later, I sold my Aurora for a Hyundai Tucson. I was still convinced not to become biased and not favor Hyundai vehicles over everything else. So is it a problem to stay loyal to a particular automaker and to be a fanboy of that automaker? Not necessarily, but many take it too far. A sure sign of this is when you decide it's worth arguing with a stranger on the internet because they hurt your feelings, and you feel your feelings must be defended. To me, I don't care if someone criticizes my car. Just because I currently own a Hyundai does not exempt it from my own criticism. I openly criticize it for its fuel-oil dilution and intermittent piston slap when the weather becomes cold outside. I especially hate an irritating squeaking that has emerged this spring from the cargo area that can be heard when traveling over terrible roads. And most of them in Utah are awful. If you're a fanboy of an automaker, I encourage you to keep an open mind and realize that every automaker has issues, even manufacturers like Toyota, who've been praised for decades. Don't waste your time defending your feelings to strangers and trolls because they don't care about how you feel. Your hostility only empowers them. No automaker is perfect. Once you accept this and realize you don't need to stay loyal, you'll feel free and be so much happier.
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