Cars - Muscle, Trucks, SUV, Minivan, or Douche-Bag Low Rider?

Kickboxer

So what are the opinions on DHV with cars?  Keeping it clean and running well is a given.  But does a woman really notice the car beyond the basics?

I always joke with the guys about my minivans.  Our family had six people and we liked having the ability to take the entire family in either vehicle.  It really comes in handy when one car has to be in the shop.  Now that we have five in the house I could get a newer or cooler car.  But I'm cheap.  I won't get a new ride until the house in paid off in a few years.  Until then I will drive the older van (a 2003 Kia Sedona) while she drives the newer vehicle with all the fancy things like automatic doors.  Both are paid off which has become my default position in car ownership in my 40s.

I have adopted the stance over the last year that, "if I have to tell you I'm the King then I'm not really the King". So I look at this with the opinion that if I need the car to be more alpha then I'm sucking at being an alpha.

So do single girls look at the car much for a DHV?

What about married with kids?  What is the red pill wife looking for in her alpha's car?  Anything? 

sapper

When we brought our twins home from the hospital we had no choice but to go minivan. Totally sold after our first cross country ride. We had the van for the next eight years when it finally went kaput. As long as you own your decision and proud of it, it doesn't matter what others think. A car that's paid for, I think, is more of a DHV than someone who pays 2/3 of his monthly income for the latest and greatest.

Kathrynthegreat

As a single woman, a guy in a minivan already obviously has a wife and 127 kids and is thus a non-entity.

Expensive sports cars are a turn off. I like builders, not buyers. But Im a gearhead.

freeboro

I've got a big, black, Dodge Ram pickup that looks a lot newer than it is and am hoping to add a motorcycle to the garage soon.  Some sort of cruiser (not full dresser) and not a sport bike.

Zoroaster

I like comfort. That basically puts me out of the sports car market. They may be fun once in a while, but that's an itch I can scratch with a call to a rental company. Day to day, I like interior room, nice seats, a smooth ride. Lately that's led me to the SUV market.

Point is, drive what you like. Understand your needs, then make sure they're met. The rest takes care of itself.

Maria

Whatever makes it obvious your car is not only an instrument of transport, but you CAN drive and enjoy driving.

If you manage a nice drift in a van - that's still better than crawling along insecurely in a muscle car.

Monkeys_Uncle

My wife gets visibly turned on by the sight of a Camaro, but no other autos seem to have that effect on her.
She is militantly anti mini-van.  I think she'd give babies up for adoption before driving a mini-van.  Personally I think they are wondrously practical vehicles, though slightly less so than a pick up truck, which is what I'll drive until the day they throw dirt on me.

JesusMarimba

I drive a small econo-box. My wife has made no secret that it was a DLV to her.

Well... it was until gas hit three dollars a gallon. Now she views my gas receipts with jealousy.

sapper

I've done some pretty bitchin' drifting in my up armored HUMVEE in Baghdad but I digress...

Fit, form, and function rules the day, IMO

After our mini van went kaput, the Missus wanted out of them but still required third row for kid/family hauling. Now we're a two SUV family until we stop moving with the military 

Monkeys_Uncle

@JesusMarimba... yes, you do have to take gas consumption into the picture.  When I was commuting 150 miles round trip per day to work, I kept my pick up truck but also bought a 15 year old Honda Civic Hatchback with cash and used it exclusively for my commute.    Averaged 37mpg, it paid for itself in just over a year in gas savings, and when I didn't have to make the commute anymore I sold it for more than I paid for it.   So the DLV of driving a wuss car gained a bit of DHV for being a good financial planner... but my wife still would never be caught dead riding in that car with me.

ozzy

Station wagon > SUV > minivan

Unless you need more than 5 pass. seating, then you're stuck.

MikeInRealLife

I've been thinking about this topic lately. The FO and I both commute in older compacts that get really good gas mileage (she a 2003 Corolla, me a 2007 Fit) while we pay off our remaining debt as part of the MAP. I get a lot of ribbing from the men at work about my car, but it suits my current needs, even if my status outstrips my car's.

There's definitely light at the end of the tunnel regarding the debt, however, so we've lately been talking about saving to buy cash for higher-end (used, per Ramsey) cars. Kids aren't in the picture and never will be, we're confirmed city people, neither of us care for really big vehicles, and we'll both be commuting for the foreseeable future. Thus I've started lightly glancing at BMW, Lexus, Acura and Infiniti. I *really* like BMWs, but I worry about the reliability, so will probably end up with one of the Japanese brands.

Muchhappierwife

I have a minivan. I hate it, but I have my two, and tend to bring several of kids on my daughter's football team and my son's soccer team to practice, and when it is baseball season, I am transport for the entire pitching staff. Lots and lots of dirty cleats, so it is very necessary.

DH got a new mid-sized SUV last year. Big woo. I guess I'm not a car or truck kind of girl, I didn't really care about anything he looked at, and he looked at a wide range of vehicles. But it was really hot to watch him negotiate the price down to what he wanted to pay (it took a weeks worth of phone calls from them with a lower and lower price each time to which he just said no, and then hung up) and watch him write a check for the whole amount when they finally caved. Major DHV. Him buying that car was the most alpha display I'd seen in years from him.

LazyAlpha

You need different vehicles for different occasions.

Truck (and maybe some trailers) for getting stuff done around the house, (property, ranch, estate, whatever you have) or on the job.  Kind of good beta and captain of getting things done.

Minivan or SUV for taxiing kids around and hauling groceries.  This is often the vehicle you acquire for her use.  You need to demonstrate competence in acquiring and maintaining this for her as another beta trait.  Women like to "wear" their man's value, so its important that this not be the cheapest vehicle in your fleet.

High end luxury sedan, limo, horse-drawn carriage, ... whatever she dreams of as her chariot for showing off on dress-to-the-nines date nights.

Something to peacock in:  Muscle car, sports car, prettified 4x4, low rider, classic, hot rod, exotic import, crotch-rocket, chopper - whatever you personally like to ride to give that bad boy vibe.  Should be painted a color that women just don't understand like black, bright red, racing yellow, neon, blacked-out gangster, or have some stripes, or flames, or maybe a vanity plate like "t0plss" or "pssywagn".  In almost all cases, it should have a fairly loud open-pipe exhaust or a distinctive high revving engine noise that sounds nothing like a plain old car.

Boats, planes, snowmobiles, atv's, jet skis, dirt bikes are all toys, toys, toys.  They lighten up the mood and are just plain fun for the whole family.

Trying to pick the perfect vehicle that can meet all these needs at the same time is tough.  You really need a fleet.  Thus the concept of the total "cylinder index" as a method of measuring a guy's value accruing from his vehicles.

Patrock

Last time we bought a vehicle I said flat out, NO MINIVANS. The wife agreed that the vehicles were more or less my domain and we got an SUV with a third row. In all honesty my biggest con for a minivan is the lack of power. I like to have some oomph in my vehicle, and life is a little sadder when I don't. Every vehicle I've owned has either been a turbo or a V8, save the truck I had out of necessity.

IMO if you take the time to pick out something pleasing to the eye (or at least not terrible to look at) and take the time to keep it in shape, you're ahead of the game.

       vs.    

Patrock

vs.

Mustache

Kickboxer said:

Both are paid off which has become my default position in car ownership in my 40s.

So I look at this with the opinion that if I need the car to be more alpha then I'm sucking at being an alpha.

THIS !!!

1. A debt free person can walk tall and automatically reflects alpha.

2. It's a damn car, worse money pit next to a house. You constantly have to spend money into it to try to retain a certain value to it.

For me it is about ownership, I don't give a crap about other peoples opinion on my ride. You can drive a little Fiat or so, as long as you own it you'll be way ahead of most people.

Kickboxer

@Chief_TC, I love muscle cars.  You should look into getting one....

Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week.

On a serious note, sometime in the 70's Camaros took a nose dive in the looks department and didn't recover until Bumblebee rocked it.  But then everything took a dive in the 70's. Don't even get me started on a Mustang II.

Pesty

All I have to say.. 

I don't own a car, or truck or a van.. 

I ride a fucking motorcycle because I'm awesome! 

The wife has a CRV and loves it and when I do drive it, I still look awesome in it. 

Monkeys_Uncle

I rolled around for a few years in my youth in an 87 Firebird IROC-Z. That puppy was incredibly fun to drive. Also had some inappropriately large Kicker speakers in the trunk cavity... yes, I was that guy. I remember searching high and low for a CD with the Knight Rider theme on it, but in the pre-internet area such things were not easily found. I think the Firebird scratched my sports car itch for life... I enjoyed it but have never desired another car like it. My 'just for fun' car would be a 60s-70s era Boss Hog style boat of a convertible. A few years ago I came perilously close to winning an eBay bid for a mostly restored 67 Chevy Impala ragtop.

Timitz

AlphaBelle said:

Trucks are hot. Guys driving trucks are automatically + at least 1.

I like to hear this kind of talk. I have a 99 Tacoma. My wife violently opposed a van. She likes sports cars, trucks, and motorcycles.