The New Pejorative: Chick Cars

[cincygoblue]

Some blather by Jerry Flint, but entertaining and somewhat informative. I thought most VWs were for chicks, including the Beetle, Jetta and Passat, but I didn't know the Yaris was already a chick car (though it is cutified ugly and low-power). Thoughts . . .

The New Pejorative: Chick Cars
Jerry Flint

There are chick flicks (tearjerkers), chick lit (bodice rippers) and chick food (salads and yogurt). And chick cars. Real guys are not supposed to like these cars.

“Some cars have a feminine cast, and they are just cars I don’t want to drive,” says Ken Gross, who writes about cars for Playboy. Among his examples: Toyota Motor's (nyse: TM - news - people ) Solara convertible and coupe and the Chrysler PT Cruiser, which he calls “an old chick’s car.” To his list, you can also add some older models, such as the plastic-bodied Saturns, the Chevy Camaro and the old Mustang with a six-cylinder engine instead of the V-8. “Why would you buy the six when you can get more power?” he asks.

Here are some other so-called feminine cars, according to car writers we interviewed: the VW New Beetle and Convertible, Mazda Miata MX-5, Hummer H2 (that is strange), Lexus SC 430, Jeep Liberty, BMW X3, Chrysler Sebring Convertible and the Subaru Forester, which, rumor has it, is favored by lesbians. And Tom and Ray Magliozzi (aka Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers of Car Talk from NPR) called the VW Passat the “ultimate chick car.”

Says John McElroy, host of Autoline Detroit, a TV show, “It’s [a car for women], the kind of car no manly-man would be caught dead driving. It’s the kind of car that would make your drinking buddies laugh out loud, right in front of your face, if you drove up in one.”

Of course, not all auto scribes feel this way. Warren Brown, car writer for The Washington Post, says flatly, “There are no chick cars. Many of the cars that are supposedly ‘chick’ cars, such as the Volkswagen Beetle or Toyota Yaris, are automobiles that I thoroughly enjoy driving. And the last time I checked, I was certifiably male.”

more at link: http://www.forbes.com/2007/01/08/car...rtner=yahootix

[Quickening]

The ultimate chick car, VW Passat. So true. Yesterday I was cruising down the highway and a Passat was up in front of me, it turned out to be a hot 20 something girl, and we were cruising around 80-90mph

[69Firebird400]

That's a pretty comprehensive "chick car" list. And the guy who says there is no such thing as chick cars doesn't know what he's talking about. I can tell you that I would never buy any of the above vehicles, no matter how good they are, because of the image they project onto their driver.

I'd also like to nominate the Mini Cooper to that list. The Grand Am has historically sold well to women, and I get a distinct feminine vibe from recent G6 advertisements, though I can't place my finger on what specifically gives that to me.

[guitarlix]

Best paragraph

"Apparently, the folks at Mercury have decided that the Mercury Milan is a chick car," he says. "Thus, we have a damsel of decidedly Midwestern bent asking women to 'consider' the Milan, talking about how that car offers more than the boss's car, pointing out with little subtlety that the 'boss' is a woman."

Everytime I watch one of those Ford Bold Moves videos, this is the impression that I get.

[Kowalski]

It's not a new pejorative.

We call it the "Girly Cars". Sounds a lot better than "chicks cars"...yuck!

Volkswagen Passat is definitely NOT a girly car. This little Ford, though, just can't get any more girly:

[rearden82]

IIRC, Car Talk's "ultimate chick car" was the Cabrio, not the Passat. Which is very true. Pretty much every time I've seen someone in a Cabrio, either a chick was driving or it had a rainbow bumper sticker.

[cfch3399]

Let's put it the other way around. What guy-cars are left?
Charger
Mustang GT
Grand Prix

[guitarlix]

I would have no problems driving a Mini Cooper or a Mazda MX5. Both cars are fantastic!

[rhvfd10]

Originally Posted by cfch3399

Let's put it the other way around. What guy-cars are left?
Charger
Mustang GT
Grand Prix

I'd add magnum
1/2 ton trucks (they drive them like cars)
and, of course
for the well off,
Caddy CTS & Corvette & all the other performance luxury cars.

[atomicshark]

Originally Posted by cfch3399

Let's put it the other way around. What guy-cars are left?
Charger
Mustang GT
Grand Prix

Funny you should mention the Mustang. It was originally created as a "Secretary's car". That would make the Mustang the original "chick car".

[cfch3399]

The V6 was the secretary's car, who wanted the looks but not the performance, that's why I specified GT. I've never seen a girl drive Mustangs GTs around here.

Originally Posted by atomicshark

Funny you should mention the Mustang. It was originally created as a "Secretary's car". That would make the Mustang the original "chick car".

[mkaresh]

Originally Posted by guitarlix

I would have no problems driving a Mini Cooper or a Mazda MX5. Both cars are fantastic!

I'm with you on this one. I don't deny that different cars project different images, but some men are more concerned about seeming ultra-manly than others are.

[uboys]

There is nothing new at all about that perjorative.

However, I think that those are the cars people are being increasingly pressured to drive ("zippy" little city cars like those enlightened Europeans).

I just wish all cars had similar character. Bland is bad.