How do I learn about the car community or cars in general?

Posted by DramaticTelephone309@reddit | askcarguys | View on Reddit | 30 comments

Ok so, my boyfriend is a car guy and I want to let him see that I take interest in what he likes but it's very difficult for me te learn new things that he didn't teach me about cars because I don't have a father that's into cars (only electric cars) or a brother that I speak with.

Where do I learn about cars? I like jdm and ofcourse like the stereotypical girl I like the miata. I also like the honda nsx, the mazda rx7 and ofcourse the porsche gt3 911 (I think that's the name). My boyfriend is more into the muscle cars but I don't know anything about that.

Why I want to learn is because he thinks that I only like cars because they look cute. I mean yes, but that's because I don't know anything else about cars then the sound that they make and how cute they look.

Can someone please drop me a link or something where I can learn something about cars

Appreciate you time🙏😔

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GreySFguy@reddit

A story. Maybe/maybe not relevant. Before COVID I met a woman at a coffee & cars. Have never seen her since. She had a pretty BMW 2002tii. She shared that she always liked these cars. She saw this one for sale and she asked her mechanic to look at it. He gave her the okay to buy it. And then put her in touch with a BMW Specialist. She stated at that time she knew very little about cars. That shop did a mild resto-mod with a focus on drivability and reliability. When we met 3 yrs later she still loved the car and it was her daily driver. She could also talk knowingly about her car. I’m confident “overseeing” the repairs she learned what she needed to do to maintain the car.

dirtroadgang@reddit

Go on YouTube. 1320video, that dude in blue, donut, that racing channel, rob dham, top gear, vinwiki, revpoint, tuna no crust, speed, the car care nut, Cleetus McFarland, carwow, chrisfix, Doug demuro. The list goes on and on and on.

WeissMISFIT@reddit

Shit I don’t watch any of those and my friends think I’m a car guy (I bought an old car and sometimes do my own maintenance or mods if I want a headache)

Secure-Sentence8462@reddit

Top gear is litteraly how I learned so much useless info about cars for the last decade of my life 🫡 I love it

Big_4_Nuthin@reddit

Watch the first 3 fast and furious movies.

ChemistRemote7182@reddit

Learn through action, buy an interesting car. Make it yours.

TGX2189@reddit

Need for speed underground

Users5252@reddit

There's many different aspects you could learn about. He would probably start seeing you as a serious car nerd if you learn about automotive design history and coachbuilding though, the mainstream car guy knows nothing on this topic unless you live in detroit.

Real-Training-8878@reddit

Just watch Jay Leno's garage, Hagerty and old Top Gear. It's just the beginning 😌

Tapelessbus2122@reddit

go watch some videos from the squidd, he makes some really high quality car documentaries. u'll learn quite a bit of car history and random facts in a fun way. then u can look more into jdm engines and drivetrains. u don't have to like muscle cars to be able to have fun conversations with a muscle car fan. i'm mainly a jdm person but i still have nice chats with my friends who like muscle cars, because at the end of the day, every car guy loves cars that make funny noises or pulls enough Gs to rip someone's neck off, doesn't matter if it's laterally or horizontally

obiworm@reddit

Squidd gave me a new appreciation for cars lol. It’s a real peek into what made cars so cool at the time and why they’re kinda falling off now. Real engineers putting real effort into passion projects to push the limit of what’s possible. It puts what makes a car actually good into perspective.

yeah, his videos are worth the long wait. nowadays, car brands are all about profits, it's not about passion anymore

Tree_Weasel@reddit

Start by doing your own maintenance. That’s how I learned. Oil changed, belt replacements, all your filters are pretty simple.

Transmission fluid drain and fill, coolant swap, and (if you have one) differential fluid change are more intermediate tasks.

After that move on to replacing brakes and rotors, thermostats, alternators, etc.

FordF150ChicagoFan@reddit

If he's into classic Detroit iron go to some local car shows with him and ask him questions. He's going to want to talk about it. When I wanted to learn more about my wife's interests I just asked her.

Sometimes you just don't have to share the interest either. I'm a car (really more trucks than car) guy and my wife could never get herself interested. My wife's interest in cars ends with the audio system and infotainment screen and she can't figure out my complete refusal to own a front wheel drive vehicle (and didn't even know the difference before I explained it).

Shooshplz@reddit

Ask your boyfriend shit. Show interest in his hobbies by engaging with him in his hobbies 👌

xTheGame69@reddit

Lurk moar

Also play Forza Horizon. Great game that is very car culture centric

But for real go read in car subs

r/streeto is fun

Fun-Discipline6978@reddit

YouTube, there’s lots of videos of people talking about the history of the cars. Their achievements, powertrains, etc.

Like this video on the NSX is great. https://youtu.be/8hno6t2AYi0?si=Di4qKdJTwcewcFMA

They have videos of RX7s, Porsches, GTRs, and they’re entertaining IMO

Rare-Bet-870@reddit

There tons of YouTubers hoovies garage, Doug demuro, jay leno, throttle house , older donut media, and a bunch more depending on maintenance or performance or general shopping and etc. you did say jdm so japonic, Jesse iwuji has a channel called “the r34 GTR” which is one of all Jdm which sounds like fits in line with you

Bwoss275@reddit

I say watch a show called roadkill on YouTube it's all about taking old beat up muscle cars and drag or autocrossing them.

ZimaGotchi@reddit

Buy a $2000 Miata. Take it apart and put it back together again.

LandCruiser76@reddit

For a first timer this would be a lot. I’m building a car now. I would be so screwed had i not spent the last 15 years doing smaller projects first. Def agree on a Miata but for a first project I highly recommend getting something that already runs and drives but just needs some clean up/ wear items

WittyFix6553@reddit

The perfect “first project” is a 2005 Honda.

You’re not wrong Honda is also a great platform. Love the k series motors

You can still get a miata that runs for $2000

Really? My area that gets you one that cannot be registered (emissions). Colorado I usually see around 4 for something you could start driving

Well I don't live in an emissions regulated area, just adjacent to enough that I can get bargains over there for exactly that reason then register them here.

Shot-Swimming-9098@reddit

It's surprising how often this question gets asked here a lot. Often, but not always, by women regarding a relationship with a dad or boyfriend. My daughter asked me the same thing.

https://old.reddit.com/r/askcarguys/comments/1qeg0po/how_to_do_go_about_learning_about_cars/

When I was a kid, I begged my parents for a subscription to road and track, and they said no, so I'd go to the library to read it. I memorized the car stats like 0-60 in the back. Nothing could stop me from getting to car magazines, and I studied them the way I should have been studying my school books. I read the ones I bought over and over and stashed them under my bed like they were a playboy.

Like I told my daughter, with everything there is available to you, if you come here asking this question, you are not a "car guy," and there's nothing wrong with that. When my daughter was little, she'd hang out with me in the garage, do art projects, look at what I'm doing, and then eventually she decided she'd rather sit on her phone than help change oil. If you don't have an emotional connection to a car, there's not a website or video that will change that.

BudgetKing5519@reddit

Liking them just because they're cute is fine, not everyone is a mechanic or needs to be a total aficionado, you can just like cars, hell you can just like one type of car really.

If you want to learn about muscle cars probably just search muscle cars on youtube, probably some documentary or video essay on them, a few videos of competitions or shows, maybe someone makes a video repairingor racing or modifying their muscle car, whatever grabs your attention really, you can look at pics and learn to tell the models apart, and look at how they changed through the years and that will let you see a car in the street or a movie and say "oh it's X car" and know a bit about it too, so you can appreciate it more when you do spot them. I'd recommend you look up muscle cars and pick one you think looks cute, and learn about that one, how it works and its story, so you have an anchor to interest you in the topic, then pick another or a few and you'll know plenty about them soon enough.

marcus_peligro@reddit

Youtube

Muttonboat@reddit

There's not really a "do this" to learn about cars

Like anything it's just read a lot, talk to people, go to events, and ask dumb questions.

what's stopping you from googling or researching the history of muscle cars now?