Poorly Written Book Review: 'Plays with Cars' by Doug DeMuro
'Plays with Cars' is an ebook, but I have a hard copy. Does that make any sense? No.
If you're a car person, you've probably been in this scenario: Sitting on Craigslist or eBay late at night (possibly drunk), you find a cool car, a car that you'd usually never be able to afford. But this one is cheap. Too cheap. You're spidey sense is tingling, "there's so much wrong with this car!" it says. But your subconscious wants to throw caution to the wind and pull the trigger on that sucker. "Wouldn't an old Land Rover be badass?" You say to yourself. "Hey look! I can almost afford that Ferrari 308!" you say. Or "Oh look at that S-Class! The air suspension shouldn't be a problem! A guy in an internet forum says that should be easy!" or maybe it's "How bad can 'needs a fuel pump' be? That should definitely be all that's wrong with the car considering the once proud owner is now trying to unload it."
Usually our spidey sense wins out, and we avoid the pitfall. (Or we're too drunk and it's too late to call the owner, and that S-Class Craigslist special doesn't look so sexy the next day.)
If you've ever wondered what it would be like to actually buy a car like that, look no further than Doug DeMuro's 'Plays with Cars'. From a Lotus Elise to a first-gen Toyota Prius, Doug has owned a lot of unreliable cars. Thinking about a 1995 Land Rover? Doug has, and bought one. 500hp Mercedes wagon with a rear-facing third row? Doug's been there too. Crashed a company-car Porsche into a tree? Yep, Doug.
Doug's sarcastic and funny writing style can usually be found humouring up the interwebs on sites like Jalopnik and The Truth About Cars, and that same trademark humour can be found on the pages of Plays with Cars. If you have read any of Doug's articles and LOL'd, (sorry I'll never say that again) you'll like this book. If you read the following lines and laugh, you will also like this book.
"I surveyed the rest of the field, in addition to David's car and mine, the group included a few other Lotus Elises. There were also a few Porsches, a few Minis, a few Mustangs, a few Corvettes, and bizzarely - a Jaguar XK-8 convertible.
'They run a Jaguar parts company.' said Sean.
They'd have to."
If you own a Lotus hat, and possibly a Lotus jacket, you will probably not like this book.
Don't own a Lotus hat? You can find Doug's book here.