Fat Cars, Thin Cars?
In a “Perspective” a radio piece for KQED public radio, Lisa Lyon compares the effects of driving a new car to the effects of losing a lot of weight: people treat you differently depending on how you look and what you drive. Big surprise. But I was most interested in the car talk; it made me feel slightly guilty for occasionally judging people based on what cars they drive. (Such as, if you have a Prius, you’re probably a hippie. If you have a Hummer, you’re probably a jackass. If you have a VW Rabbit, you are almost cerainly awesome. Etc. etc.)
I also wonder what kind of cars people tend to drive proportionate to their size. Do small people choose small cars? Do big people choose big cars? Do you like your cars like you like your women/men?
My younger cousin, who is petite and rail thin, has a giant truck that is on oversized wheels, and I think she needs a trampoline to get into the truckbed. I had a friend in L.A. back in the day who drove a hearse. And who did I know who bought a fire engine on eBay to take to Burning Man? My favorite cars are little hatchbacks with lots of headroom and legroom, which tells you not much, I guess. If I were a car, though, I probably wouldn’t be a hatchback. I’d probably be a… um… okay, where’s a Facebook quiz when you need one?
Thanks to Michael for the link!
Posted by mo pie
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I have a niece who drives a Lincoln pickup, and while she’s tall, she’s not real big. She looks hy-larious driving this huge truck on the tiny cobblestone streets of the northern city she lives in currently. I drive a 98 Honda CRV, which I bought after a test drive in pouring rain, and the car handled like a dream. (Love the always-on 4 wheel drive!)
My sister will not drive anything besides her Lincoln Navigator, even tho she lost her job, and has to make the $900/month payment. But she can’t downsize, oh no! what would everyone think, that not only is she fat, she’s POOR! (Which she’s not, but she loves to poor-mouth) I like my cars like I like my partners, chunky, handles well, and doesn’t cost a mint to own and drive.
I like cars that work.
What? I don’t drive. I have night blindness, no sense of direction, and transportational narcolepsy. It would be folly beyond expression to put me in charge of half a ton of metal moving at fifty MPH.
As for Mr. Twistie, he dreams of one day having the cash to restore his beloved ’67 Mustang to its original glory. In the meantime, the Jeep Cherokee we inherited from a young friend when his grandfather bought him a new car for graduating from college has plenty of room for most of the sound equipment Mr. Twistie needs to haul, and it hasn’t quite died yet.
It’s enough for us.
My husband and I drive a Ford Escape. Small suv for larger people. We don’t need the huge suv, this works for us.
We bought a new car a few years ago, and I really noticed during test drives how uncomfortable some of the seats are. I always liked those big old American cars with bench seats, but now everything has bucket seats so-named because they make you feel like you’re sitting in a bucket. Not fat friendly. And probably designed by men.
So it made a difference in terms of picking a particular model, but the basics were decided on standard, prosaic grounds — who needs to fit in, what are we using it for, can we afford it.
I suspect you’ve got to be single if you really want to choose a car that reflects your personality.
We have a minivan to fit the family in (really, an SUV inside is not efficient in how it uses space); and a small car for commuting. My hubby is a big guy and that does limit our choices, he has to be comfortable in the seats; and sometimes that means we can’t buy the best milage or best repair odds…
If I had my own pick though, I’d get one of those cute little mini-coopers.
DH has a Ford F150 4WD (a necessity in MN when you work in a town 25 miles away from where you live) and I have a Ford Windstar minivan. I like the minivan because it’s easy to get in and out of with arthritic knees, I fit behind the steering wheel with ease, the seatbelt/shoulder harness fits, and there’s room for me, DH, my son and his wife, and the grandsons (not enough room for all of us in DH’s extended cab truck or my son’s extended cab truck).
DH won’t drive my minivan, calls it a wannabe-Ford and a chick-mobile (says he’d have to be in disguise to drive it) and that his truck is what men drive (I’m not sure if he’s serious or joking when he says that). I’ve driven his truck (in fact, I’m the one who test-drove it when we we were looking for a newer truck for him, and recommended he buy it) and I like it, other than it’s not easy to get into (17″ rims means it’s pretty high off the ground).
I don’t care what my vehicle supposedly says about me, all I care about is that it runs decently, gets decent mileage for its age (it’s a 2001 and gets 20 mpg), and is easy for me to get in and out of, and has room for all the people I may need to haul around. I don’t even care about color, but it does have to have a CD player in it (gotta have my tunes).
I don’t have a car. My mode of transportation is the subway or my feet.
Before I moved to NYC I had a Ford Focus. Before that I had a Grand Am, but this bitch ran a red light and totaled it.
Oh, Mini Coopers are so cute! Love them!
I have an Oystercard (a pass for the London transport system) – my main mode of transport is a double-decker bus :-)
When I need to drive, I use a car from Streetcar, which is a pay-as-you-go car club. So I drive what they have (usually VW Golfs or Lupos).
I bought a car a year ago when I moved away from the city and glorious public transit. I’ve got big hips and my right leg turns out a bit which means I kinda sit like a lot of men with my legs spread when I drive for comfort. Almost all the cars out there today have really big middle consoles that prevent you from stretching out your right leg! I ended up buying an older Camry which still had normal leg room. This issue goes away in most SUVs, but I just wanted a car..
I drive a Ford Aspire, it’s a tiny little car, on par with the Geo Metro in size. I’m short and fat, I drive short fat little cars, so yeah, my car choice fits me.
I drive a silver Neon sedan. It’s not my dream car (oh, you hybrid Honda Civic or VW Rabbit convertible, how I love thee), but I adore it anyway. I love it even more that I paid cash for it and have never had a car payment and that it gets nearly the same gas mileage as the new cars (about 29 mpg). My husband drives a Jeep Cherokee that is great for hauling around plants, rocks and bags of dirt for my garden. He doesn’t really like my car because he says he doesn’t have room to stretch his legs (he’s 6’1″). I have to do a giant highstep just to get into the Jeep, but I like driving it. You’re higher than everyone else and just know that with the Jeep’s steel body and bumpers that you can run them over if you wanted to. The Jeep is horrible though for long distance drives because the wind rattles the canvas top and by the time you arrive, you’re partially deaf.
I drive a 2002 Mercedes sedan, which is a hair larger than mid-size. I like it, but I can’t help feeling that if I had a newer model, it would offset the judgments that people make about my fat. I may never be mistaken for elegant or chic, but at least I drive a nice car. That said, though, I long for a Mini Cooper. My husband has already hinted, though, that it would be a poor choice for my heft – though legroom wouldn’t be a problem, as I am short.
I just purchased a 2009 Nissan Murano–my first “foreign” car. I looked at a lot of cross-overs and I ended up with the Murano for a couple of reasons–LOVED the way it drives, the cargo space and it has LONG seat belts. I don’t have to squirm around to get them closed and I LOVE THAT!
My only complaint is that I wish it would get better gas mileage… :)
As a fat chick who drives a Beetle Convertible, people absolutely treat me drifferent. Not because of my fat, but because my car is pretty much beloved. I get comments from passerby EVERY time I drive around with the top down. People stare, they point, they roll down their windows to tell me how much they love my car, they stop me at gas stations to gush. It’s amazing, that car has done WONDERS for my self esteem, and is likely the closest I’ll ever get to knowing what it’s like to be famous, with all the people gawking at me everywhere I go.
And I love it!!!
I used to drive a small pickup, not because I needed a lot of room but because I have hip problems and it was easy to get in and out of. I currently drive a hyundai Elantra. Small trucks just kept getting bigger, and so harder to get in and out of, so I figured I might as well save money and get good gas mileage.
If I ever get enough money, I’ve got my eye on a Forrester. It’s increased in size so it’s just the right height for me and my hip, and it’s got plenty of room in the back for the dogs (an equally important consideration).
I’ve been fat all of my life and I’ve always hated driving big cars and trucks. I prefer a small hatchback, but with my hip problems, I compromise for something that sits a bit higher off the ground.
Remember Woody Allen’s ‘Sleeper’? When he wakes up from being cryogenically frozen and finds a 200 year old VW Bug that starts up as soon as he turns the key? I’ve got a Toyota Corolla that’s pushing 25 years and I’m, just now, having a bit of trouble with the electrical system. With most cars built after the 80’s your lucky if you can get 3 good years out of them. And GM wonders why they almost went bankrupt.
The Toy is basic transport. It’s roomy enough for the Wife and her 700 Pound Gorilla (‘What does a 700 pound gorilla do? Anything he WANTS!’ After doing everything she tells me to, of course.) Air conditioning = open all the windows and drive real fast. Heat works during winter, after market radio died a buzzing, whimpering, death quite some time ago, but it’ll still make 70mph. . . . On a downhill. . . With a tail wind, and the milage is one of the main reasons I didn’t get rid of it last year. Our Other Car is a minivan that with plenty of room, good for hauling stuff. Milage could be better. A LOT better, but it get the job done.
If Lotto finally decides to recognize my wildest desires. I’d probably end up with a Porche 997 GT2 with the full kit. Painted in a blurred out urban camo motif (Thus making it harder for the Authorities to see me when I blow by them at ridiculously inadvisable speeds).
My first car was a used (and crappy) Buick Century that practically imploded when I moved from MA to CA. Then I bought a used Camry, which not only made multiple trips between San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, but transported my kids all over the place for a few years. It is now in the hands of another family, still running great.
We have a minivan, and Hubby has 3 motorcycles. The van was actually given to us by Hubby’s parents, after they saw me struggling with 2 kids (plus carseats, kid stuff, and dog) in my 2-door Camry.
I am, I suppose, the epitome of a Suburban Mom.
I do not shop for cars, I “try on” cars. Srsly. Even when I was 16 and I got my first car there was a lot of trying different cars to see what fit. This is because not only am I 6′ and fat (the fat didn’t really seem relevant at the time, but my father SO NICELY pointed out that if my ass were smaller I wouldn’t need so much leg room, SO NICE.) but I also have some issues with how my legs work.
I walk on my toes, the tendons in my calves are/were too short when i was young, as a result I cannot, for instance, sit in a normal height chair with my feet flat on the floor for any length of time. I have to be able to extend my legs a lot and keep my toes pointed. This essentially adds another 4″ to my already 32″ inseam (plus my 6″ deep ass, thanks for the reminder dad.)
So leg room is a problem, Hip room, also a problem. I cannot drive toyotas, nissans, etc. I have “tried on” a VW and it was fine, but, y’know expensive.
So I drive a Ford Explorer. Hilariously, my boyfirned who is 6’4″ and carries most of his weight and height in his upper body cannot drive my Explorer because he is all scrunched up. (Picture Mr. Incredible in the beginning of the Incredibles movie.)
My Dad’s other favorite joke about me and cars is “We could get you a Mini Cooper, but really, where would you wear it?”
Ah…there’s nothing like the love of a woman for her car, at least not here in LaLaLand!
Realized not long ago that my cars seem to be in inverse proportion to my size. Years back, at 260 lbs., I had two VWs in a row, a gorgeous midnight blue Beetle followed by a wine-colored Dasher Diesel (over 50 mpg nearly 20 years ago!). Now, at 180 lbs for the past few years, I’ve had an absolutely massive Range Rover & now a curvaceous Lincoln Town Car. Go figure…
If car dreams came true, I’d have the vehicle I fell in love with 40 years ago: the 1970 Mercedes 280SE (full-size, not sports model) convertible. Now THAT was a car!
Another one of the car-free here, but I get to ride this beauty around every day.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9342148@N06/2625876582/
I have a Mitsubishi Lancer because my mom wanted the “free” TV the dealership was giving away. Except they didn’t give it to us (!). I have an inexplicable fascination with Honda Civics. I don’t know what this says about me. Probably that I am… reasonable.
I am short and fat and I drive a 2005 Hyundai Elantra.
But I wish I were driving my girlfriend’s tiny little Suzuki SX with the windows everywhere and the pep. And it’s small.
And my dream car? A Smart Car.
I don’t have a license (long story) but when I had a learner’s permit, I drove a Dodge Caravan (hated it), a 1992 Caprice Classic (hated it as well, had back wheel drive, felt like I had no control over my steering), an old Dodge Shadow, and a Chevy Cavalier. My favorites were the Shadow and Cavalier, the tinier cars. I felt more confident and safe, and despite being deathfat I fit in both just fine. If I ever get a car, it will be more compact, or a small pickup truck.
I am so guilty of judging people by the cars and I had to laugh out loud when you said a person who drives a Hummer is perceived as a jackass…my words exactly! I also assume a guy who drives a monster truck has a tiny penis, sorry to all well-hung monster truck drivers of the world :-)
I bought my vehicle (small truck with camper shell) for my dog so she can go on trips with us and not cover the interior with her beautiful (but annoying) long fluffy Australian Shepherd hair.
…I still believe whole-heartedly than you can judge an individual by their car, 99% of the time. That being said, I am tall and fat and I try not to take any shit off of anybody: I drive a Ford Focus ZX3. It gets decent mileage and has the up-graded engine. Which means when some asshole in a Hummer tries to intimidate me, I haul ass around him.
…I also have issues with road rage…
:-)
Before that, I had an ’87 Honda Accord that I absolutely adored. That car had 300k miles on it when I sold it. *sniffle* Great leg room.
And how many of y’all can actually fit into a Mini? I couldn’t even get my hip into it!