I am a car guy in my 30s, I have been in the scene since the early 2000s and anyone else that was around back then knows what I am talking about with forums. Forums used to be THE place to find everything car related. Whatever car you had, you could find a forum for it with hundreds of active users any time of the day. For sale threads, regional meet ups, anything you wanted was there. It was like an online mecca for whatever car you had. If you had a BMW, there were huge BMW forums with hundreds of posts and discussions happening every day. Fast forward to now, almost all automotive forums are dead, like dead dead. For sale sections dried up, regional sections with the last posts being 6 months old. It’s a ghost town.
So what happened? My guess, is Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube divided the community so hard, and gave everyone their “own” little pages, that this is all people do now. I joined a few Facebook groups and found those to be just as dead as the forums. It’s really not the same. We used to be able to post in a regional section and by nightfall have a whole meet arranged with locals from your area. Now, that’s a no go. I miss it, and I would love to know if there is a place everyone is at now, but I am also scared that maybe that era of online car culture is lost forever. r/cars seems to be the only place I can find that has constant activity with other gearheads, but that’s only because it serves as a “hub” for car guys on reddit, which is another “hub”, and all other hubs have been abandoned. I am trying to get involved on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, but it’s not the same, how do you arrange a meet in an Instagram comment section? It’s just not the same.
I had a GT86 before I bought my current M240i and I really miss the online community that the GT86/BRZ had. There was so much discussion and proven advice you could look up
It’s almost tempting me to sell my BMW and go back toa Japanese performance / sports car.
Miata forums are booming. I don’t see those going away anytime soon. Same with the 86 twins.
As a former multiple car forum regular- I don’t know either! I used to be on a couple forums every day and posted daily, but anymore I don’t have as much to post about. I still occasionally participate in a Mustang forum and F150 forum that are still pretty active, but nowhere like what I used to.
I have wondered this a lot lately as well. I keep running into cases where I want to go deep on a subject like we used to on the forums, but there just doesn’t seem to be anyone around anymore to answer and information is fragmented in an Instagram picture here or a 20 second youtube short there. Like… how the heck does anyone collaborate on builds anymore?
The only collaboration that happens now are content creators pushing their t-shirts or detailing products on you for your chance to win a McLaren
I hate Facebook, but I use it for car groups. I have a few I’m apart of that I really enjoy. The cars that are posted, the info, the stories, etc. it’s the only reason I still have the app.
Other than that I just visit here, but I honestly prefer the fb groups.
Not just car forums. Most forums are dead as their members stop engaging and move to other platforms like here, Discord, fediverse, etc.
I think it’s a combination of factors. Social media took people’s attention. Cheap, fast cars are not really sold anymore due to environmental regulations. Modern cars are less modable. Modding cars is generally looked down upon. People have less despicable income. Urbanisation.
I’m happy to have lived in an era where you can buy an Impreza for a few grad and suddenly be part of a huge community, have new hobby and increase your social life.
The forums are still immensely valuable for demystifying the mechanical mysteries of cars. That in turn could save or make thousands of dollars. You think I’d take on a freaking SL65 without the support and experience of the Benz Brethren? HAHA hell no, I’m not rich but I learned my shit.
The forums I belong to are active. FJ Cruiser, Honda Element, Honda Fit, ih8mud, and OverlandBound.
YouTube homie
Be the change that you want to see! I try to comment on the forum. Post mods, autox results, and ask/give advice.
I own an 2008 Lexus ISF. I have been a member of those forums since 2008.
There are several good Facebook groups for the ISF, however they don’t even come remotely close to the amount of in depth discussion and the knowledge that the forum possesses.
Forums were and still are a valuable resource. It’s a shame - I feel that social media has somewhat ironically divided car communities.
Kinda Reddit? And a few Facebook groups? It’s not the same, I miss forums. I miss the prime VWVortex days. That said, I built my turbo miata a few years ago with a ton of old archived information from the miataturbo forums, so there’s still good information out there but they’re mostly ghost towns, unfortunately.
Like it or not, a lot of it has moved to Facebook groups.