[mindslight]

Indeed. All cars suffer the same speed limits and traffic, so how effective your car is ultimately depends on how you drive within those constraints. The analogy slyly condenses everything down to some car-manufacturer-marketing version of "fun", betraying both spirited drivers and whatever topic it is applied to.

Since we're throwing out analogies, Java-the-language is more like a riding lawnmower. It is capable of getting you to your destination, but will be slow and painful the entire time. There is probably some external constraint that you'll be forced to endure this, like losing your license.

[shagie]

This was something / part of the plot of The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest. I recall the main character getting a car (turned out to be rented) that was really fast and taking the team out driving on 101 in rush hour traffic to make this point.