Whether you admit it or not, your car says something about you. And I
was tired of mine saying, "You are a spoiled irresponsible snob." (If
you've been reading this blog from the beginning, it's the
aforementioned gas-guzzling luxury SUV.) I consider myself more of a
hard-working, eco-friendly girl who wants a reliable car with a bit of
style and a great sound system. So after much deliberation, searching
on Edmunds, asking everyone I know, and generally making an idiot of
myself (and a mess of varied salesmen) bouncing from one end of the
price/style/etc. spectrum to the other, I settled on the newly
designed, 2005.5, VW Jetta TDI.
Why? It's sporty, roomy and the diesel engine gets 45 mpg highway.
Important in this day and age when you pay more at the gas pump than
you'd pay for Manolo pumps.
Turns out I was my salesguy's second-longest sale. So, sue me, I can't
just toss $25k out without thinking it over and asking everyone I know
what they think. (I did, however, buy the car without ever driving
it.) But I know what I like when I see it. And I've driven a similar
model so stop already.
Being a style freak, the car buying process got me to wondering, do
people pick their cars more on style/personality or on price and
reliability? Turns out that depends on whether or not you have two x
chromosomes.
NOP World, a market research firm, figured out that, when it comes to
cars, men and women are wildly different (They need analysts for
this???). Turns out men like fast, expensive stuff, and women shop by
price. Kind of like the inverse formula for clothes. Not surprisingly,
the top car for men is the Porsche 911 coupe, which sells for $70k-
$193k. That's a lot of clams. Women's top pick, by contrast, is the
Pontiac G6 convertible, which, weirdly, is not yet out, but the coupe
and sedan sell for under $25k. We may be the weaker sex, but looks
like we're smarter. J/K guys.
As for me, I went on looks first, mileage second and then price. And
the fact that there's plenty of trunk space for my shopping bags. I
guess my choice might say that I'm the only girl in a family of boys
with three uncles and twelve girl cousins who have boy cousins that
are once removed. And that I care more about economy than high style.
But that's okay. I have more to spend on clothes and jewelry.
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