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Throughout Honk’s history, we’ve spent a great while on the why. This truth has become more and more evident as I’ve sifted through our endless unfinished project files in my weary, somber daze.
Consciously or not, I think we’ve always known that our best hope for unique insight as car writers lay within the terrible neighborhood of cultural and psychosocial analysis — partially because we’re not getting paid, and it’s a lot of fun — but there’s another factor, too.
Each time I sit in an unfamiliar car and blab for 12+ straight hours as we dilly dather about abandoned Missouri mornings, I leave feeling as if I’ve spent the time meditating. I am now certain that I really do gain more than just entertainment and some achingly-titanic raw video files.
In the chambers of exclusively-automotive positing we construct, I have arrived upon many a precious proverb and — truthfully — why else am I alive?
The subject of existence is not inappropriate in a conversation regarding Toyota’s flagship sedan, which is a bit startling, isn’t it?
I did not spec the foglights, I will never again see clearly enough
to live with purpose.
This film is pretty crazy, if I’m honest. It’s by far the most surreal content on our channel in a very long time.
I have thrown away everything of substance I’ve been given. I have become a ghost.
Weightlessly, I steer the Avalon through my frivolous reality.
It was Brent, though, who offered the pinnacle crux of the night:
“It’s refined but it’s not extravagant. It’s competent, but it’s not extraordinary. It’s like driving a loaded Ford.”
I replied in kind:
“The luxury equation is there; the aspiration isn’t. It’s well-engineered, but that’s not enough. Luxury is an attitude, but Toyota shouldn’t be expected to understand it.”