<enter's thread, hesitant of context of "beat on"....>
I beat on mine. I'm thinking that probably means something a little different to each person, but to me, I'd say that I do. I certainly don't baby it. And I get where Duff's coming from - it's a car. But I can also understand the attachment that forms. It's a natural human behavior (and Love the Beast is a great flick). I had a car once that I loved. And then my friends messed around with it. I flipped out, they didn't understand. Caused me to re-think things. I used to be really anal about that car, when we finished repairing something significant, I would drive it like it was a piece of glass, for fear of it breaking again. And then I realized one day, 'eff it. If it's going to break, it's going to break. I'd rather have the thing break so I'd know what to fix, rather than drive it like grandma and never enjoy it. I apply the same logic towards the Mustang (and I race it). I drive that mofo. That's what I bought it for.
I don't love my cars now. I don't love my first car (still have it, at my parents). It's a car. What I love is what the car represents, the memories my first car remind me of (similar to what Bana in Love the Beast felt towards his, I don't think he loves that car specifically, he loves everything around it and the memories it holds for him, which end up translating as love for the car). I learned how to work on cars through that car with my dad. We bonded. The car has sentimental value for me for that reason.
A lot of you guys probably love your car because what it means to you, or what it represents to you, or because of what it reminds you of. It's the emotions and thoughts attached to it. Duff-meister over there doesn't have that type of attachment for whatever reason, and that's okay. Others do, and that's okay too. For me, where I am now, I don't love my cars. But God do I enjoy the hell out them. They are an enabler for me. And that's what I love.