You know, when you get to a certain age in life, buying certain cars can raise eyebrows from your peers. Not that I personally care, but people would talk if I showed up to my next meeting in a riced out Tiburon. A Cobalt would probably have the same effect. Kinda like the same effect if a 20 year old bought a new beige Buick LaCrosse. You guys know what I mean?

But I find there are some cars without stigma....they are recognized as being cool regardless of your class in life and regardless of the cars purchase price.

A millionaire can be seen buzzing around in a 20K Mini Cooper S for example, with no stigma at all. And so can a 20 year old student.

Let me see what else? A Miata ... and I'm sure the Solstice .

To some extent a Mustang. Any Scion. Maybe the HHR.

What do you guys think? Anymore?

 

A disagree with the Scion thing... too many ricer implications.

All the others you list fit the bill, IMO.

I think cars like Grand Prix & GTO would get a pass... I mention them since we have them... the Grand Prix seems to get buyers from all age groups, and the GTO is accepted by the younger guys for it performance, and others commonly compare the GTO to BMW's.

Just about ANY SUV would get a pass....

Charger would get a pass...

The old Grand Am and Alero would get passes... G6 could I suppose....

Altima could probably get a pass....

I'm sure there are some others.

 

Chrysler 300(C)?


-Mike

 

Yeah, any LX car...even the base model.

 

 

Prius, New Beetle (for females), RSX, Saab 9-2X, G6 V6 (maybe), Mustang. These are all cars that can be had for around $20,000 but don't have a "cheap car" stigma.

 

Miata?

Ya... That doesnt carry a stigma at ALL...

 

They may not have the cheap car stigma but all those cars but the g6 and mustang have a stigma.

Prius=I wanna be cool and save the enviroment even if it costs more and doesn't get as good of gas mileage I can sacrafice looks and interior room for having a Hybrid.

Beetle=Girls car or I wish it was the 60s again, I miss the psycadelic drugs.

RSX=I wanted an Integra because they are the RoXor!!1!! but they don't make them anymore and this is the closest I could get.

Tc=I know the Cobalt is bigger and I can get a higher power supercharged version but I want my car to look like a Lexus with down syndrome so I can 'trick it out' with dealer parts.

SAAB 9-2x=I really like conservative lines and nice interior but this is more within my budget than the 9-3 is.

I know I added Tc but come on they aren't well built and look like $hit (ok the looks comment is a personal opinion). The build quality is verifiable.

 

There is a stigma with all the cars you just mentioned.

Unless it's new and hot there is something you can say about any cars driver.

Mini was cool for the first year now I always see ladies and gay guys with them. I still think they are very cool but I would never buy one.

Mustang=hillbilly
Scion? Broke old persons car
Maybe the Miata doesn't have a stigma attached but I would consider this an old guys sports car.

These are not entirely my own opinions but from experience. I sell used cars to people that would never want to be caught dead in one of these cars because they are not cool.

Cool affordable cars:

Jetta 1.8T (old body)
Mazda 3
Passat (new body)
3 series
A4 2.0t
LX cars
A3 2.0t

 

My list of cars with no negative stigma (ignoring the "affordable" part because only you know what is affordable to you, and because you can often get a 3-year-old car at half the sticker price):

Chevrolet
-TrailBlazer
-Impala

Chrysler/Dodge
-300
-Charger

Pontiac
-Bonneville
-Grand Prix

Ford
-Explorer
-Taurus (even though I hate them)
-Five Hundred
-Fusion

Toyota
-Camry

Honda
-Accord

Nissan
-Altima
-Maxima

Minivans, large SUVs, tiny SUVs, "impractical" cars (Corvette, Camaro), "weird" cars (HHR, PT Cruiser) and cheap cars all have negative stigmas to someone. Then again, to me, all Fords have negative stigmas, because they're Fords. I ignored that particular type of stigma, though. With any of the cars I listed above, the only stigma you'd come up against are brand or nationality haters, and there's never anything you can do about that.

-Jake

 

The RSX is an Integra.

 

Okay, sure, and the Cobalt is a Cavalier.

 

Other than both being Chevy entry level cars they have no relation to each other.

 

In japan, it's still called the integra i believe.

I'd say the NEW mustang. women, men, girls, boys, old, young, rich, not so rich, etc...it's a car anyone can be seen in and they wouldn't look out of place. This explains why they're moving 200k of them this year.

Mini would also make the list as well as the the LX cars.

 

bingo