I would say the Mini has a pretty gay stigman attached to it, unless you choose to turn a blind eye to it.
Every car gets a stigma in the market place at one time or another. It seems unavoidable.

 

But they aren't named Integras in Exton, Pennsylvania are they?
So if you go to the Acura dealer today and said I want to see a 2006 Integra, not an RSX and Integra, what will they say to you? Will they say "Sure let me show you the 2006 Acura Integra or will they say that we don't sell an Integra anymore it is called an RSX?

My money is that they call it an RSX. Just because it is called something else in another country doesn't mean that is its name everywhere.

Do you understand that just because you think something should be called a particular name doesn't mean that you are right?

 

There is at least one in Exton, Pennsylvania that has Integra badging, but of course that is besides the point. When did I say that I think the car should be called Integra instead of RSX. I don't recall ever mentioning that. What I was have been saying trying to allude to(perhaps unsuccessfully) that whatever it is called, both cars are the same damn thing, albiet with mild variations for the market the car exists in. Hence, and RSX is an Integra. I don't see what is so hard to understand about this. My original post was in reference to JakeRobb implying that the RSX and the Integra were in no way the same, when obviously he had no idea the Integra was still in production everywhere else in the rest of the world.

This is getting extremely abstract, and needlessly complicated. Not to mention off topic.

 

Around here a Muscle car has the Hillbilly stigma attached to it (I personally don't think so). These are the cars that I see people drive or come into buy. They are from all walks of life rich, poor, white, black, any gender, ect.

 

I agree with Guy. When I lived in southern Pa, sometimes hillbilly would be attached to Mustang/Camaro drivers. However down here, no such thing as most Mustangs/Camaros you see are generally well taken care of, older restored ones, or in most cases the top dawg models such as Cobras and SS's.

Also in Pa (where I lived anyway) owning a BMW or Mercedes meant rich, classy. However they're common place down here, as common as an Accord and classy doesnt always come to mind when you see the shape of some these cars.

 

Out here in Cali, Camaros have none of the "trailer trash" image it has in the south or even Arizona, and say Trans Am out here, and the 4th gen WS6 comes to mind more quickly than "Smokey & The Bandit", which I get the feeling there isn't alot of people out here anymore who associates the car with the movie.

 

Forget you guys.....

I'd drive a Mini in a heartbeat.

 

The Mustang carries a stigma of being a teenagers car or being an "old man recapturing his youth by buying a pony car". The only cars that don't have stigmas attached are cars that are new to the market, or sell so terribly they don't last long enough to ever develop one.

 

Where I live in Pa, Mustangs and Camaros dont really carry much of a stigma, but they are in no short supply here, either. Around my area, there are so many BMWs and Mercedes that no one seems to care. I see so many 3 series a day it is baffling

 

Maybe the regionalized - aspect is involved here, because in Detroit lots of folks have contemporary cars like newer Mustangs (especially the 05) and there does not seem to be any stigma. I think it's much more a function of the CONDITION of the car... if a Mustang or Camaro is ratted out, filthy, dented, with Flowmaster mufflers and tiger skin seat covers, then yep, people are going to form an opinion when they drive by. The same is true though of the wimpy sport imports and econocars... and frankly I see just as many of those (if not more) in such a condition.

As for people buying the chromy, skinny-tired torque-anemic econocars... those are by rights the ones who DON"T CARE what their car or anyone else's is really like... most of them think of a car as an appliance like a dishwasher, for getting from point A to B. The poor souls... they'll never enjoy the exhilaration of holding on for dear life in a V8 RWD muscle car running wide open on a freeway ramp

 

In this area - I couldn't disagree more. Most V8 cars are driven by guys in their 20s-30s, most female drivers are 20s-40s. The teenagers right now are in the last fox-body cars and the first SN95 Mustangs because they are cheap and plentiful. On the other end, when I see a Cobra or Saleen, there's usually a guy or gal with grey hair driving it... occasionally a younger guy in his 30's.

I certainly don't see how a $35k Cobra or Saleen can be stereotyped as a "teenager's car".

Interestingly enough, the same goes for the F-bods too. The nicer SS and WS6 cars seem to be driven by 30-somethings, and they are almost always clean and well-cared-for. I see as many Mustangs and Camaros at Sapona Country Club as I do Mercedes and BMW's. In the last 2-3 years, I see more guys looking to shake the "appears that I have money" syndrome by buying Impala SSs, Marauders, T-birds, Mustangs, 300c type cars. Not typically the cars you would think would show up at the C-Club.

 

It really does depend on where you live. Most of the 4th gens owned by the members of NJFBOA are young guys, in the Sub-30 group. Most older guys that are into cars drive older iron, and some younger guys, high school and the like, drive third gens and early 4th gens, but most deffinatly, the majority of LS1 owners are between 20-29. I barely see any older guys driving a 4th gen.

 

Not all of Cali. My mom is a cop and was working with the DEA for years over here in the valley and she refers to 3rd gens as crankster-mobiles. When I told her I bought a 95 Camaro she got mad. I was like, WTF? She told me that people would think I was a meth addict all the time. But she thought a 95 was a 3rd gen body. I made her apologize.
But I know that the Bay Area and So. Cali dont seem to think the smae way about them. I lived in San Diego, San Jose, and a few places outside of LA and never saw the hillbilly or redneck stigma. But don't forget that there are some country folk in parts of Cali. Not me though!

 

Try driving the high end versions of the cars I listed you'll be surprised

 

Bah. I doubt it. The vaunted Audi A4 2.0t for example... 3540 lb, 200 hp, anemic 207 ft lb torque. Is that supposed to impress me? My GTO would eat that poor little puppy for lunch....