Exotics vs. Muscle vs. Imports: What attracts us to our favourite cars?

When I was a younger, I used to play a lot of video games, and being the gear-head that I am, you can probably guess what games I played. That’s right, car racing games. My childhood might’ve been spent indoors, but hey, it’s still a childhood nonetheless. One of the games that I played was the Need For Speed series. In most (if not all) of these games, you play the role of a street racer. Speeding around digital cities, racing virtual drivers and then running away from the virtual police when things got hairy. I had a ball playing these games when I was little, I felt like a champion when I played those games.

One of the games that I played in particular was Need For Speed: Carbon. I played this game religiously and I think i owe this game for my desire of modifying cars. At the very start of this game, it forces you to make a choice between three beginning cars. They were the Chevy Camaro (Muscle), Alfa Romeo Brera (Exotic) and the Mazda RX-8 (Import). Depending on what car you choose determines what car crew you join first, and this can have a impact on the way you play the game. No matter how many times I restarted that game after playing it through, I would pick the Mazda RX-8 EVERY SINGLE TIME. Why did i always choose that car though? Was it because I liked the colour? The rims? Did I think the car was faster because it had two exhaust pipes instead one one? I never really stopped to think about it until now, and it has me pondering over why we, as car enthusiasts like the cars that we do.

Being at the Automotive Business School of Canada, a popular conversation topic is: What’s your favourite car? and most of us can give a straight up answer with little to no hesitation, but no one really knows why say they like this car. If it’s their dream car, it’s likely they haven’t had the chance to drive it. I certainly know that I haven’t driven or even been near my dream car yet, but it’s amazing how quickly we can name our favourite car with very little or knowledge of or any experience with the car itself. When I ask them why, they always give the same confused look, as to say: What do you mean why?”Some them proceed to give me obvious answers like: It looks cool! or It has over 500 horsepower! or Under 7 minutes at the Nurburgring, bro. A lot of performance cars these days have these characteristics and a simple answer like that really doesn’t give me a proper explanation as to the reason why one would like that car in particular. I believe that these desired cars of ours can speak to us subconsciously in a strange way. I think that there was a very good reason as to why I always chose that Mazda RX-8 every time. A reason that influenced my tastes today. A reason that the first car that I would ever own would be a Mazdaspeed 3. One that I couldn’t really put my finger on until I’ve given it some thought. I don’t really have a clear answer, I’m no psychology expert; however, I think that our taste in our vehicles can relate back to our deep desires, personality traits and even our childhood memories. So, the question stands. What influences our taste in cars?

Personality

As car enthusiasts, we all see the cars that we own as an extension of ourselves. I know that each and every one of us, treat our cars with the upmost care, in some cases, sacrificing the well being of ourselves to care for our cars. If you modify your car, you’re likely to find yourself modifying to your own personal taste. If you’re a little bit nutty, you might fit some sort of unique part to your car which isn’t a part of the traditional mod scene. If you want to stand out, you’ll likely get a flashy wrap job. If you’re a serious person, maybe the time attack track weapon is more your route. If you’re a sort of loud-ish person and want everyone to know you exist, you’ll probably fit a straight pipe exhaust and enough subs to open your own chain of sandwich shops.

Since we all like to modify our cars to fit our personality, is it such a crazy idea to that the reason we have our preference of can be determined by our personality?

Before I get into why I think this is a solid reason, let me tell you a little bit about myself. I’m currently only 18 years old, I’m a pretty quiet person, I don’t get out and party that much,I always think rationally and visualize every possible outcome before making a decision. Most of the time, I’m in a constant battle between fitting in and being myself. I’m a pretty realistic and practical person, this meaning I don’t like doing something if I know that there is a chance of me getting in trouble with law or higher authority, I always like leaving a margin for error and always prepared for an emergency in case anything goes wrong. But one thing that I can tell you is that I really like speed. A lot of speed. Stupid amounts of speed. Even though i’ve never been a “popular” person, I’ve always liked to have fun and socialize with others, but at the same time not spend a large amount of money, as i’m actually quite a cheapskate.

Now the reason as to why I think our taste in cars subliminally relates to our individual personalities is because the car that I currently drive is a 2007 Mazdaspeed 3 (Mazda 3 MPS). For those of you who are not sure what that is. It is a hot hatchback (or wagon, what ever you like to call it) powered by a 2.3L turbo. Other than the turbo, there’s not a whole lot that differs it from the everyday Mazda 3’s out on the road today, well other than some minor body modifications, but that’s about it. What does this have to do with my personality? Well lets think.

“I’m a practical person”: A large amount of us know that one of the many advantages of the hatchback is the large trunk. In the event of me needing to carry something quite large (your mom) I can fit it in my large trunk with little to no issues. Also coming along with all the equipment that you’ll find in your daily driver such as A/C, radio, ipod connectivity and a glove box that can fit a small child, it really is a practical vehicle.

“I’m not popular, but I still like to have fun.”: Let’s be honest, any one who owns a Mazdaspeed 3 did not dream of driving one since they were a little kid, but that’s not to say that they aren’t excellent cars. I’ve developed such a strong relationship with mine, that Taylor Swift can write a song about the time that I have to sell it. Where this car isn’t the most popular choice like a Supra or a Skyline. This car is still heaps amount of fun. Having a engine that pumps out approx. 265 horsepower out of the front wheels makes for a quite an exhilarating ride. Especially on a wet track day, where you can get the back end out on every corner for some good old FF slides.

“I’m kind of a cheapskate”: For the thrills and performance that come with this car, you really are getting your value for money. When I bought my Speed3 about a year and a half ago, it was valued at $10k And nowadays, I’m seeing them come up on the market for under $8,000. You really can get this amount of fun for a relatively low cost, I think that relates back to my character, as I want to have fun, but not really down to drop hundreds of dollars on alcohol to spend a night in a club.

“I’m in a constant battle with fitting in and being myself.” I hate to admit it, but it’s true. I want to be accepted, but at the same time do things that I want to do things on my own terms, and I bet a lot of you feel this way sometimes too. My car doesn’t really represent this, but the way I modify it certainly does. The modifications that are on my car are all things that have been done before on other Speed 3’s. Not a whole lot is unique about it, other than the fact that I have an iPad installed in the dash, which, to my knowledge is yet to be done on another Mazda 3.

Childhood Environment

I recently watch an interview with former Fast and Furious star: Sung Kang (a.k.a Han). This interview happened at SEMA where he was talking about his recently finished project car which was a wide body Datsun 240z. The interviewer asked the question. “Why did you select this car to build?…What about it made you feel connected to it?” Sung replied: “My generation grew up around the 240z, we saw it driving down the street and it was just a part of our car culture growing up.”

Sung Kang and his friends who had built the car had an attraction to the 240z, and he mentions that the car was just always a part of their generation because they saw it driving up and down the street. That being said, I think a large amount of our taste in vehicles depends on our surrounding environment as kids. I didn’t grow up around any crazy good-looking or fast cars. The car that my parents owned when i was a kid was a old Chevrolet Jimmy. But I was exposed to the world of sports cars when I started playing video games. Playing a game like “Need for speed: Underground” where most, if not all the vehicles were imports. I think seeing how fast the cars went, the way I could modify them, and the crowd of people cheering me on when I won a race really got to me as a kid. I think my 5 year old self really developed a liking towards these cars that I drove in the game. I’m not saying that it’s purely video games that influence your taste in cars. Everyone’s experience is different. Maybe as a little kid, you helped your dad around the garage on an old Mustang, maybe you watched the original “Fast and Furious” and saw Paul Walker (R.I.P) beat out a Ferrari F355 in his tuned Toyota with “overnight parts from Japan.” Maybe when you were little kid, you went to a WRC rally and saw the famous Colin Mcrae (R.I.P) power slide a hairpin corner in his “555” Subaru WRX and the sensations and sounds you felt and heard just stuck with you ever since and created a base your desire of that car.

What i’m trying to get across, is that I think a large amount of what makes that connection from enthusiast to car is more that just, “It looks cool.” I think that a large amount of the feeling of attractiveness that we feel towards a car can be both related back to our own unique personalities, the environment that we are in, and even our childhood memories. Maybe I saw something in the Dorito powered Mazda RX-8 that just clicked with me.

I want my readers to think about this right now, what is your dream car? Given the information that I have stated above, is there a personality trait that you share with the car? Or a memory that creates attraction to that specific car? What about the car that you currently own? does your persoanlity or memories relate to the car you have? Let me know in the comments section if you come up with something, I’d love to hear what you guys have to say.

Bennett Cook

a.k.a: PerformanceandLuxury

Automotive student. Automotive Broker. Automotive enthusiast.