Chick Cars what are they???

What a way to come out ... good on ya mate ... lol.

Pete

 

If you ever make it down to the McKinney Ave. area and are near Primo's, there is a fairly new(less than a year old) apartment building that is roughly 18 or so stories if my memory is working correctly. Take a peak at the first spot on the right inside the parking garage. Most of the time there is an H2 with what looked to be about a 4" or so lift and massive tires. The first time I saw it, my initial thought was "Wow, this guy's really overcompensating for something." I cracked up when I found out it belonged to one of the Stars and his girlfriend/fiance drove it most of the time.

-ag

 

I would beg to differ. I think the SC300/Sc400 are not chick cars. However the SC430 certainly is.

 

I don't think I saw these two:
Toyota Celica
Chevy Cavalier

 

I'll put a spin on this. I think it is sexy as hell to see my wife driving my Maranello!

DL

 

Jim,

It appears that you're going to write a story from this odd mix of information. Very interesting. What will be your angle; which cars MOST American women are driving, or what the rest of us are driving? Are you referring to our daily drivers, our weekend cars, or all of our vehicles?

Because the same 90/10 principle applies to the male of the species too. Last I noticed, MOST men weren't driving anything of interest. But we want to talk and read about the FUN stuff of the 10%.

I certainly have developed opinions, like many of you, about specific cars because of who tends to drive them. But calling a certain model a "chick car" well, I doubt Mercedes or Maserati is crying in the boardroom because "chicks" are buying their automobiles. A good car is a good car. And an Outback is always in front of me going 5 miles under the speed limit....

Suzy

 

There was mention in Autoweek about Volvo's attempt to tailer a vehicle to a female market niche like this.

One designer quoted said it was crazy, what's next, a car for one religious group but not another? Brings to mind that "Jesus on my dashboard" song! LOL


Dutch Mandel weighed in that a good car was a good car, didn't matter the gender of the driver. Did you read that piece?


Amada wants the six speed Trans Am, says the 308GTB takes too much $$$ to fix. How's that for an insightful eleven year old?

Janet says a Mini Cooper would be a correct choice.

 

Boy, sure seems like the Boxster/Boxster S is misunderstood by many people here. For starters, according to Porsche, 80% of the owners are men.

With regards to the 'poser status' mentioned a couple of times, its worth noting that in Car & Driver's testing the Boxster S posted the highest g-forces below $100K (Viper excluded). This is posing? And as far as the stock wheels go, 'upgrading' to 18" wheels will degrade performance. People who track their Boxster only use the bigger wheels for the bling-bling effect around town. They have a stock set for the track.

In my mind, a chick car is any car that doesn't make regular visits to the track. Many men will always drive chick cars no matter what they buy. Nika and others like her will never own one.

 

vw beetles, and in particular cabrios...would say miata...but in spec racing trim, looks fun! audi tt is too.

 

Amen! That being said I am going to try and track down my testicles and get to a track sometime soon! But then again, having said that, the next time I do get out to a track, I am sure I will get lapped by a girl sitting on a phone book driving a Geo.

-ag

 

Yes but 80% of the Boxter owners do NOT track them, and simply have bought them because they are cute and their nancy dancy friends think they are cute too. The number I see around Sydney's business district with the owe so trendy drivers is amazing. I have never ever seen one with a normal looking bloke driving it, and I have never ever seen one scream past me and get chucked into a corner ... but have had plenty of 911s do that, and enjoyed every second

In the end it does not matter how capable they are, my sister in-law wants one, and that has completely written the Porsche Boxter off as ever being a real car. She HATES cars (and drivers ... wait yep you guessed it a 4wd thing which will never see dirt ... and scares everybody else off the road), but thinks they are cute.

You just have to look at them, there is nothing masculine about them to me.

Pete

 

Performance is not a measure of how much or what kind of person they are for owning x automobile. Buying a car based on any reasons other then financial capability and personal preference means your a poser. Even if its something so minute, you like the way the interior lights up when you open the door, thats something to go on. Buying something and not having "a clue", makes most regular drivers you see on the road, posers.

50% of Jaguars purchased (this was before the X-Type debuted) were bought by women.
Over 50% are driven by women, by what percentage, 60-70% isn't out of line I don't think, the article didn't contain this info (taken from Jaguar magazine produced by the factory).

A guy driving around in a Jag is...

1) An exec wanting that level of car but not an MB or BMW
2) Driving the wife's car
3) A Jag enthusiast
4) Purchased an S-Type or an X-Type cheaper than a 5-series or E class.

I started out as a #1 and am deep into the downhill slide to an extreme of #3.

I've noticed Boxters also driven by women are nearly all attractive.

"Click & Clack" top 10 list of cars...

10. Chevy S10
9. Volvo Wagon
8. Ford Ranger
7. Nissan X-Tera
6. Geo Tracker
5. Honda CR-V
4. Ford F-150
3. Jeep Wrangler
2. Subaru Forrester
1. Subaru Outback

 

Good post BTW. Please send those Boxters over this way, I have never yet seen a woman drive one ... not a born as a woman anyway

Only having fun ...

Pete
ps: I'm also a bit of a Jag enthusiast.

 

Usually in tennis match type outfits or tight sweat pants/sweaters, just to stir your imagination.

Sunny

 

Have you ever seen a Porsche 550 Spyder? This car, with its racing history isn't masculine? You don't see the resemblence between the two?

 

Maserati Spyder Cambio is a chick car?

360 Spyder?

There's tons of Ferrari models that have removable tops, are they all chick cars? How about the Porsche Targa? Not my kind of car, but a chick car?

Don't these cars combine looks and performance? The Maser Spyder, at least to my eye, is a better looking car than the coupe, but still goes like stink! 4.9 sec 0-60 and great handling is not a "chick car" per se.

Even the Corvette convertible has lots of punch, with a drop top. How about all the brit cars from the 50's to present with convertibles?

Lots of convertibles to choose from, saying they all put looks ahead of performance is kind of a broad statement, no?

Well, just my opinion.

 

Last summer Gillette Co. asked me and my husband to use our Testarossa in an in-house sales video and an ad display for their new Champion Mach3 razor. (This is before the commercial-they used a Saleen for that). For the video shoot we went to a nearby Civil/AFB and they closed the third runway for us. They brought in a rented Porsche Boxster (not an S), a Corvette convertible (automatic), and a Nissan NSX (standard). We have an acceleromator by GTECH that we brought along, so while they were filming still shots of our TR, my husb and I were racing the rental cars up and down the runway. What a blast! The tower radioed over that they were watching us, not the planes!

The Corvette, w/ 350 hp, was just as expected, great American muscle. Oh yeah! The Nissan surprised me though. It was nimble, quick, and kept pace with our TR. I would never have looked twice at this car, but it was serious fun. And the Porsche-oh what a disappointment! Anemic, slugish handling. Perhaps it was in the wrong crowd. I have not driven an S.

A favor please! There is a Gillette Champion Mach3 Turbo stand-alone display (cardboard). It's about 4 feet tall, there are Champion razors hanging on it. It would be in the razor aisle at Wallmart, or CVS or the grocery store. At the top of the display is a 12" X 12" picture (header) of our Testarossa shot from the rear of the car. It was photographed in Gillette Stadium parking lot--not that you can tell. The prancing horse is blurred, F wouldn't give permission. Gillette never sent us the picture, so if anyone sees the display pull the header off (please). Send me a PM, I'll pay for shipping. And bail. I should probably post this elsewhere too.

Vintage Jag XK 120 and 150 are two of my favorites.

Thanks so much.

Suzy

 

Since you are in Dallas, here is a great way to get started:

http://www.thedriversedge.net/

MotorSport Ranch is only about 1 hr to 1 1/2 hours from Dallas. Its a very fun and challenging track. After a few Driver's Education events I got hooked and became a member there.

There is no shame in getting passed, its all a part of the learning process. After a weekend at one of these events you'll be a better driver than 98% of those who think horsepower is everything and believe taking an on-ramp fast is performance driving. I consider myself pretty slow by track junkie standards but I will outdrive just about anyone who's experience is limited to the street. Just watch out for the girl in the Geo with racerchicks.com bumper sticker

 

You should come here, good mix of men and women driving them here. One lady in my parking garage complete with baby seat.

 

Yep all chicks cars.

If they put performance first then they would get rid of the unaerodynamic windscreen, etc. A coupe is FAR more aerodynamic and superior in handling than any convertible because of the extra chassis rigidity ... and before you bring up the F50, lets explain that mistake.

The F50 is only a convertible so the owners can get a little feeling of what it is like in a real F1, ie. with an open top.

Thus yes EVERY convertible compromises performance for that lovely dovely air in your air feeling.

If you do not believe me look at the race tracks, you will NOT see a F360 spyder race in the GT series, you will not see a Maserati Spyder do the same, they are ALL coupes for aero and chassis stiffness reasons.

In the old days many raced the California Spyders ... but we still had a lot of learning about racing back then.

Note also race cars that were designed with no roof like the Testa Rossa do not have full width windscreens ... and if they did then Ferrari were fools.

Pete

 

Biggest chick car? VW Cabrio.

If I ever see a man driving one I will pull him over and insist on an explanation. He better have had to borrow his gf/wife car because his is broken and he's on the way to the hospital for emegency surgery, fleeing from a tropical storm, late for the birth of his first child etc. No sane man would be caught dead driving a VW Cabrio.

 

Suzy,

Do you mean Acura NSX or the Nissan NX (which is an economy car and not a exotic) ?

 

No question. My daughter has one, and she loves it, but when I had to drive it the other day to get it serviced, I put on a hat and sunglasses and hoped no one would recognize me.

To top off the embarrasment, I ended up at a stop light next to a guy driving a very nice TR. Ducked, hid, and then turned right to avoid further embarrasment.