5 Reasons on Why Being a Korean Petrolhead Sucks
1. The Car Scene is Black and White, Metaphorically and Literally
Take a drive into any Korean city like Seoul or Gangnam or Daegu and hit the highway. Miles upon miles of cars, all black and white (with the exclusion of taxis and industrial cars, that are usually orange and blue, respectively). Almost all of them Hyundais, Kias and Ssangyongs, and these days, often BMWs and Audis. But in the end, they are all still either black or white, and here is the reason why.
A large percentage of car buyers in South Korea are most likely no-nonsense businessmen/women. Those people you often see with slick black hair, with their white office clothes and black leather shoes wearing glasses, hanging their coats on their shoulders and often on the phone talking about business and money matters, yeah, those people. Korean business workers are usually very mindful about efficiency and focus, as a result, they usually dislike things trivial to work, or distractions, and this includes fancy colors and flashy designs.
2. Japanese Cars are Unicorns
This one is a particularly hard one to take for those Japanese car enthusiasts such as myself. There are almost NO Japanese cars pre-2010s in South Korea. If you’re a Euro or a Korean car guy with money to spend on new cars, then Korea would be just as good as any other country for you in terms of the car scene because of the rise of German car sales.
Its mostly because of sociopolitical animosities between Korea and Japan mainly because of the cruelty the Japanese had inflicted upon us Koreans during the 19th century, and the older ones are rather bullheaded in standing for culture and history, and since the older people are in charge of commercial business, obviously, they still tend to retain this mentality, as a result, Japanese cars have almost never touched Korean soil.
3. Personal Performance Tuning is Illegal
Oddly enough, ricing is acceptable in Korea (I’ve seen a few), but modding the performance of your car is completely illegal (unless you got special permission from the government, which is still near damn impossible to do) because of many reasons we petrolheads hate to be inhibited by because of law; safety, mechanical issues, insurance, and emissions. That is why you cannot see even sleepers, because inevitably your car will be checked, and if it is, you’re screwed. Your car as well.
4. No Chevrolet Corvettes
This one might disturb the American car lovers and Corvette fans. Among all the cars to kick out of Korea before launch, the Chevrolet Corvette was banned. They singled out the Corvette.
It was banned with the advent of plans to sell the C7 Corvette in Korea, but the Korean car market prohibited it because it was “too loud” to pass Korea’s rather strict engine noise regulations.
Yes, you heard me right. It was banned because the LT4 engine was too loud for South Korea. Of all the gloriously loud cars to ban, they singled out the Chevy Corvette. Never mind the screaming V12 Enzos and Lambos we have in this country and kick the American car out because it’s way too loud to safely resonate the streets of our high rise metropolises.
5. Your Asian Parents will Never Understand
Asian parents want nothing but the best of their children like any rational parent would, but they’d often shove the priority of school and studying down your throat whether you want it or not, which is why they’d usually scorn recreational activities, and yes, in my case, it would include car loving, as pointless daydreams and tell you to study.
(CarThrottle.com)
