We recently had a personality type test done at work and had a meeting about it. But I've always liked to see if people "match" their cars. I picture my parents in two cars that they no longer have. I think what kind of car you drive can say a lot about you. So, what kind of car do you drive?

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2000

Answers

I drive a *brand spankin' new* dark-green 2001 Toyota Corolla. I bought it four weeks ago. It's wonderful. I love it. Just so you know, I had my old Corolla for 13 1/2 years.

What (I think) this says about me: I'm practical, dependable, not flashy. I don't change for the sake of fashion. When I find something (or someone) I like, it stick with it (or him or her). I like green.

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2000

Right now I'm driving a very crappy late 80's brown taurus with no a/c. What does this say about me? I'm cheap and a mooch - it's my dad's car.

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2000

My first car was a silver 1984 Ford Mustang LX. I had it from when I was 20 until around 26. Then I had an emerald green 1992 Mazda Protege LX. I had that until I was about 32.

I drive a midnight blue 1999 Volvo V70 Cross Country and I LOVE it! Yep, my dream car is a Volvo station wagon. :-) I never would have guessed that had you asked me even 10 years ago. But it totally rules. I'll leave it up to you to decide what that says about me (although I can probably guess).

My wife drives a charcoal gray 1998 Volvo S70. It is a total joy to drive and is basically what got me looking at Volvos in the first place.

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2000

I'm driving an 88 Nissan Pulsar from my cheap but woohoo days (T- tops, man.) It drives great but I want a station wagon too. Since I keep my cars for a while, I'm going to look at the VW Passat. I heard they're fun to drive. ** does anyone have one? I also thought about one of the Subarus (with self changing tires *snicker*) but I'm worried about reliability, repair cost. They're not that common in Florida. Plus I can't figure out why the Foresters (?) ar cheaper than the regular Legacy wagon...?? WOW, that's off topic, huh?

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2000

I drive the Clown Car, which is a dark green '90 Subaru Impreza with the paint rubbed out in big spots where we had body work done. (Some guy ran into us in the HEB parking lot.) Hmm. Maybe that's not a very lucky car. I also drive The Bus, which is our "new" white Ford Clubwagon van. It seats twenty.

My dream car is a midnight blue 4-door Explorer. Or maybe a Plymouth Voyager or whatever they call their vans. Or maybe a super-bad-ass station wagon. I hate to admit that I crave SUVs or vans because people automatically think certain things about moms who drive those. But fuck it, I want something that'll haul my kids and a friend or two when necessary.

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2000

I've finally inheirited my father's Chryster Sebring convertible(hee hee), which shows...I'm too cheap to buy a car. One day, however, you will see me driving, smug grin on my face, in a green Mustang convertible, Weird Al blasting from the speakers. Ha ha!

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2000

My first car was an '82 Toyota Corolla hatchback. When the body rusted off of it (the engine was fine) my brother sold me his '89 Olds Cutless (You got a steal he said-wrong-I got ripped off). Anyway, after 120,000 miles and being nickel and dimed to death, the thing blew its head gasket and bleed-out right as I pulled into the Dealer. They took one look and told me not to fix it. So I am now the happy and unworried owner of a '99 silver Corolla. It's not that I distrust American cars, but geez, that Olds was sooo ergonomically incorrect (like 2 air vents for the driver and 4 for the passenger) and several mechanics told me they're only good for about 120,000 miles anyway. I see some Hispanic landscaper tooling around in my first Corolla still. My old Corolla didn't have any pickup, which is a hazard when you have to enter onto Interstates several times a day. But like the guy who sold me my "new" car said, "this ain't your old Corolla". I call it the Silver Bullet.

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2000

I should answer my own question, but I hadda work! I drive a newish (4 months old) red subaru legacy wagon. I love wagons. I wanted a volvo wagon, but I don't wanna pay that much. I guess I'm cheap, but I'm really not. :) I sent a picture of this car to a friend in my old town who I haven't seen in about 2 years because she said she hates Subaru.. but then she saw the car and she said "oh my god.. it fits you perfectly!"

(and the reason the legacy costs more than the forester is because the inside is bigger and imo nicer.)

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2000

I have a '92 celica. It's black and has a sunroof and a NIN sticker on the bumper. It used to be sweetie's car, but he upgraded. It is quite a good car, very dependable especially considering how old it is. I should take better care of it; right now it is filthy both inside and out. What does this say about me? I'm lazy and poor (no car payment).

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2000

Bingo, Gwen! People automatically think things about men who drive great big station wagons like mine (especially big wagons, because no one figures they can be sporty or fun). When I bought mine practically everybody raised their eyebrows at me and started all the questioning: "So, your wife must be pregnant, right?" "So, I guess you're ready to have kids now, huh?" And on and on...

I'm not wild about SUVs, but I didn't want a car with a trunk anymore, either. I wanted something big enough to haul people and stuff comfortably around in, that was easy to load and unload, four-wheel drive (I do live in Colorado, after all), but nothing as big as an SUV.

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2000

I drive a 96 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4x4. Ssshhh, don't tell anyone I drive a SUV. The lease is up in April and I will be going back to a car. I sometimes drive my husband's car which is a 99 Audi A4 Quattro that is modified and is a blast to drive.

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2000

On the SUV note, I used to hate 'em unil I actually rode in one. It's fun to be big! But if I had my dream car it could be a volvo. I'm not sure why they appeal to me so much. I know that they're supposed to be very safe and that is important, but mostly I really like their shape. I'd also realy love to have a big long 70's luxury car, a really pimpin' cadillac or something.

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2000

I secretly want one of those military vehicles -- are they called Humvees? Hummers? The ones they sometimes give away on Price is Right, I mean.

Paul informed me today that when we sell our land, he wants to buy me a new car. So this topic is timely for me.

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2000

I heard once that a humvee can drive over a 4 foot wall!

-- Anonymous, August 25, 2000

1995 Red Jeep Cherokee. Not the Grand Cherokee, the basic, stripped down truck-with-a-top Cherokee. 2WD, 'cause the suburbs aren't that hilly and if it snows in Atlanta, I stay home.

It's the baby of the SUVs, but it has a decent-sized engine for its weight so I like it a lot. Just enough room for a semi-permanently installed dog crate, a car seat, two grown-ups, and all the decrepit snack food crumbs one household can generate in six years. And it's paid for, yahoo!

-- Anonymous, August 26, 2000

Until a few months ago I drove a '92 Saturn Station Wagon and my husband drove a 1989 Ford 250 Pick up. We sold the pick up and now my husband is driving the wagon. My new drive is a 1995 Suburban. It's embarrasing in a way to be driving an SUV but I'm over it. My husband is in the military, I'm 5'10" and I spend too much damn time hauling my son and two dogs all over God's green Earth visiting family to be driving a tiny car. Also, it's four wheel drive so we can get to a cabin my husband's family owns way out in the middle of no where year round.

I think we all know what driving a big ass SUV means. But, I swear, aside from the SUV I try to be enviromentally sound. Really!

-- Anonymous, August 26, 2000

I drive Red Sonja (who pitched her rearview again this week, that bitch). She is a much-abused but completely-paid-for red Mustang convertible.

She says that I like being abused by my possessions, that I'm too poor to buy a new car that I'd like better, and that I liek convertibles. I've never had any other kind of car.

-- Anonymous, August 30, 2000

If I ever buy an SUV it will be this Daihatsu: the Hello Kitty model. Check out the door locks and key fobs. Kawaii!

http://www.daihatsu.co.jp/cata/kitty_move/top.htm

-- Anonymous, August 30, 2000

i drive a 78 comero or firebird i always get them mixed up. its in realy bad shape and is rusted all over the place cuz we have bad winters here but i only paid 150 and it runs. i used to drive that pinto bean car!!!!

-- Anonymous, September 03, 2000

red convertible mustang. my prize possession. I get guys with it, I really do. All that crap about girls liking guys with sexy cars doesn't play out; most girls don't really care what a guy drives as long as he's cool, has a nice butt, and calls when he says he will (in my experience.) But guys dig my car. No one drives it but me, but I swear I've gotten more than my share with Mustang Sally as my, er, wingman.

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2000

I drive the dog mobile. 89 Astrovan w/212,00 miles and more doghair than a kennel. Mommy has a 98 Chev Lumina that I bought for her. She had my Toyota truck before that. I want another Austin Healey 3000 MKIII again. Or another Corvette. I love sports cars. But I need my van to go camping and on surf trips with my boys. James

-- Anonymous, November 04, 2000

Uh oh - I don't drive a car anymore! It was wrenching selling it (came from a car culture), it was paid for, clean, worry-free, but parking here in the City is NON-EXISTENT and people are horrid drivers. The insurance to just have it parked on the street was $75 per month! So, now I walk and take the bus - and, trust me, THAT took some getting used to! When I was in my 20's, I have a '71 Super Beetle - I LOVED LOVED LOVED that car and cried when I sold it. I will drive pretty much anything - as long as it has standard transmission and runs. I HATE cars that have every little thing always going wrong with them. As for SUVs - when I lived in a rural area, people had had SUVs for decades - to haul hay bales, muddy dogs, feed, manure, you name it. Here, in the City, people drive them - for what? To pick up their dry cleaning and double, non-fat lattes??? A lot of people bought them and then realized they didn't even fit in their zero lot line or underground garages. Pretty funny. ---- -

-- Anonymous, November 05, 2000

a daihatsu applause, my second in fact as the older model got written off and was I clapping? Could have this one repossessed soon (long story) in which case I'd like a secondhand hearse - great legroom in the back you see plus you can drive slowly and take in the scenery without having some idiot in a white Astra van glued to your bumper flashing his headlights

-- Anonymous, November 05, 2000

I drive a 96 Ford Escort -- the very common green colour. It's a hatch-back. I mostly love it.

I like tidy little small cars. It's a tight fit with Mr. s, myself and two kids, but I also kind of like that. I'm the one who packs the car. It's like a little puzzle. The only thing I don't like about it is the limited seating though. Five (the max capacity) is a very tight squeeze and impossible unless the kids aren't with us (two car seats eat the space in the backseat). I resist the urge to minivan. I want a station wagon, but they don't seem to have a third row of seats anymore. What happened there? Didn't the Brady family travel around in a station wagon?

My car encouraged packing light, which is what I like to do anyway.

-- Anonymous, November 06, 2000

My everyday car is a VW Passat wagon...excellent car for the money. My warranty has run out so I've let me husband bastardize it with rally racing modifications. I take clover-leafs like nobody's business and get to work in like, 98 seconds. It is a fun and practical car, though. I got it as a reliable replacement for a '63 Ford Falcon which is a sweet little-old-lady car but can gobble the gas. (I'd trade 'em both today for a '68 Volvo P-1800 or possily the new Mini-Cooper.) Oh, and on nice days I ride my Vespa or Lambretta scooters so the neighborhood kids can throw dirt clods

-- Anonymous, December 02, 2000

My wife and I have owned quite an array of vehicles in the last 20 some years:

Impala wagon, AMC Gremlin (fun to drive), '73 Dodge Charger (brightest yellow ever made, it would dazzle your eyes like snow on a bright day!), Olds Cutlas Supreme, Toyota Corolla, Chrysler LeBaron, GMC pickup, Subaru Wagon (300k miles and still strong),Olds 98 Regency Brougham(sp?)(land yacht cruiser max deluxe excellent),Buick Regal, Mitsubisi Gallant (all wheel drive, corners like it's on rails regardless of wet, dry or snow), '85 Suburban (a tank on tires, hauls whatever you want wherever you want it to go.)

-- Anonymous, December 02, 2000

Just had to respond...I drive a teensy Dodge Omni, sorta silver and rust colored. She is currently 14 years old, gets great gas mileage, and I can park her anywhere. Due to the hatch, she also has a Tardis effect going on (bigger inside than out...)

But I miss my station wagons...

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2001

How did I miss this topic?

I now drive Millie, a light blue 88 Plymouth Sundance, and she was my first "I picked her out all by myself and she's all paid for" car. I've owned every cheap sports car on the market: Sciracco, GTI, Porsche 924 (2), RX7. But Millie, sweet Millie, is the car that drove me and my frog from Omaha to Central PA with no problems and has been getting me where I want to go every since. Because she's so old and paid for, I have this beautiful freedom of not worrying about her. On campus, the parking spaces are nice and tight so you can rest assured that every day there will be a new ding or dent from car doors, but I don't worry about that. She has Yellow Submarine stickers all over and one Patagonia sticker and one "Trees are the Answer" sticker.

I'm combing the market now, and as much as I wish I could afford an old Volvo or old Saab, I'm looking at new Foresters and 1998-2000 BMW 318s. The idea of having a monthly car payment scares the shit out of me.

-- Anonymous, January 28, 2001

Um, no Saab if you're concerned about money. Everyone I asked said EVERY repair on one of those babies was $500. Even windshield wipers.

Sigh. I like Saabs.

But the next will probably be another station wagon...

-- Anonymous, February 03, 2001

Woah i just gotta say most of you people are crazy!!! Wanting station wagons no way. I have owned a 96 Dodge Avenger (totaled it), a 95 Ford Mustang GT Covertabel (got totaled damn suv's!!), and now i got a 2000 Ford Mustang. I am only 17 hehe but my mommy loves me. Well these are the kinda rides you people need to get!!! They got mad power!!! Speed kills only if you wreck!!!!

-- Anonymous, March 13, 2001