In the past there have been posts from younger NAM members questioning if the MINI is a "girls" or "guys" car. In my area it's about 50/50. I recently viewed the following article in another car forum. This article from CNN addresses just what men and women look for in a car. It's kind of long but interesting. It begs the MINI question, do more men buy the Copper S and more women buy the Cooper? I'm a guy and I have an MCS05. My first after delivery "add on" was rally lights. Now I have two headlights, two fog lights and two rally lights. Now I have more lights... but what about Horsepower?

By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN/Money staff writer: June 05
Top cars: Men vs. Women

When it comes to cars, it's easy to figure out what men are after. It's women who are complicated.

While men may, indeed, be from Mars, women are from someplace much more complex and difficult to figure out. Maybe Boston.

The figures, supplied by NOP World, a market research firm, show specific car models and an index number representing how many men -- or women -- intend to buy that car and no other compared to the percentage of their gender-mates who intend to buy the average car.

In other words, these are cars that seem to sell most disproportionately to just one sex or the other.

The most striking thing about NOP's data is how easy it is to figure out what guys want.

The Porsche 911 -- the most overwhelmingly male passenger car -- has an "Index Male to Total" of 214.3, for example. That's more than double the average. The car's "Index Female to Total," on the other hand, is just 14.3.

It's surprising the 911 doesn't grow hair on its hood and eat Krispy Kreme for breakfast.

Other cars at the top of the masculinity dial include the exotic Ford GT supercar, Maserati Spyder, Jaguar XK8 sports car and the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.

You get the idea: If it's very fast, awfully fast, terribly fast or way, way too fast, guys like it. Also, they tend to be expensive.

The one common trait among cars that women like is that they are not expensive.

The most womanly car, with a "Female" index of 200, is the yet-unreleased Pontiac G6 convertible. (You go, Oprah! Plus, it's a convertible.)

Actually, the G6 has a wide lead in the "girl car" category. The closest other passenger cars are the Suzuki Forenza with an index of 150 and the Volkswagen New Beetle with an index of 147.6.

How do women decide which cars to buy?

"If you picture a fraction with cost as the numerator then, as the denominator, you have things like reliability, performance..." said Doug Scott, NOP World's automotive analyst.

He went on with a long list of factors.

To sum it up, women add up the good things, subtract the bad things, then compare the result with the cost of the car. Then they think carefully about the result.

Men, it seems, just add stuff up then wonder if they can afford it without having to switch to domestic beer.

If a typical male mind -- take mine, since I'm evidently not doing much with it -- were expanded to the size of the United States of America, that portion of the mind dedicated to responding to the word "enough" would be the size of a bumper pool table in a New Jersey bar.

That portion of the brain dedicated to responding to the word "more," on the other hand, would occupy everything west of the Rockies, including Hawaii and the territories of American Samoa and Guam.

That is why the Mustang GT has four headlights. Not because men want more headlights, but because those two extra headlights -- Ford calls them "fog lights" but, really, they're headlights -- are only available on the V8-powered Mustang GT.

The male driver of a V6-powered Mustang, with its 210-horsepower engine, clearly has "enough" power. Probably more than enough.

But when stopped at a red light next to a four-lighted 300-horsepower Mustang GT it is immediately obvious to everyone that the other driver has "more."

This is the same reason that Dodge has greatly increased the size of the "Hemi" badge on its cars for the 2006 model year. The larger badge makes it very easy to see, at some distance, who has "more."

Dodge has stated outright that it designs and markets cars for men. So it has given us the Dodge Magnum, a muscle-car station wagon. It has also given us the new Dodge Charger, a muscle-car family sedan with four doors, roomy back seats and a nice trunk.

Clever, those Dodge boys. Clearly, they understand that, even though they are marketing cars to men, most men don't just go out and buy cars on their own. They still have to get the thumbs-up from someone else.

Women. Always making stuff complicated.

Top 10 cars for men
1. Porsche 911 coupe, $70,095 - $193,765
2. Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, $28,504 - $35,274
3. Ford GT, $143,345
4. Volkswagen Phaeton, $68,905 - $104,455
5. BMW 6-series convertible, $76,900
6. Jaguar XK8 coupe, $69,830
7. Maserati Spyder, $92,302 - $96,465
8. Mercedes CL, $96,720 - $132,320
9. BMW 6-series coupe, $69,900
10. Porsche 911 convertible, $79,895 - $141,995


Top 10 cars for women
1. Pontiac G6 convertible, (Not yet available)
2. Suzuki Forenza, $13,994 - $18,494
3. Volkswagen New Beetle convertible, $22,940 - $27,100
4. Volkswagen New Beetle, $17,185 - $27,100
5. Pontiac Sunfire coupe, $11,460 - $15,770
6. Volvo XC70, $36,080
7. Mitsubishi Eclipse convertible, $25,744 - $31,544
8. Chrysler PT Cruiser convertible, $20,045 - $29,120
9. Kia Rio sedan, $10,535 - $13,065
10. Kia Optima, $16,585 - $20,585

 

I don't know about all that, but I'll say this much: If the MINI is a girl's car then hand me a skirt and get out of my way, 'cause I'm still going to keep driving mine.

/gary

 

I believe the majority of posters here are men.

Female Driver in SE7EN!

 

I got to ask this ... Who cares? If you do care, WHY?

 

Thanks, airmini, for the very informative and smile-filled, albeit with tongue in cheek, post. This puts into perspective a buncha questions.

I wonder if the best-selling models (Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, etc.) scored down the middle and were designed specifically to appeal equally to both sexes. A few years ago, I read that more men buy cars than women. I also read that men still make more money than women. The gap is closing, but nowhere near parity. Maybe this has an effect.

In my town (and especially in Silicon Valley) a lot of women drive Mercedes 500SLs. Maybe women who make more money than men are also attracted to extra headlamps.

 

Orrrrrrr, perhaps those 500SL's were bought for them by their rich husbands?

 

Ouch. Yep. I know two of those.

Not to get too far off thread, but one of them is kinda funny. First time I met her her husband joined us late so I was witness to a tiny domestic conversation that I paraphrase:

She, "Something terrible happened today."
He, "What? It's not one of the kids is it?"
She, "No, it was something embarrassing."
He, "What happened?"
She, "Look at my feet!"
He, "What?"
She, "The flower fell off my shoe."
He, "That's okay."
She, "But these are brand new Pradas."
He, "You know their quality. Get something else."
She, "But it was horrible because it fell off when I was talking to the contractor and even the maid was laughing at me."

Guess you had to have been there in Renaissance splendor in the heart of Silicon Valley, but to me it might as well have been the Loire.

 

I sooooo agree with that sentiment. Why do these threads keep coming up?

 

If the MINI is a girls car, then call me Danica Patrick...

dan

 

Danica patrick is hot

 

Well, I guess my girlfriend and I are extra-girly then, as we have a New Beetle and a MINI. Actually, the Beetle used to be mine, but is now hers. It's funny, she gets more compliments in it than I ever did - hmmmmmmm.... :smile:



Okay, I'm off to the mall to buy another pink shirt!

Cheers,
-Justyn

 

With all the possibilites and the freedom to modify/change the MINI, it is one of the most versatile cars out there. It can be totally "girly" or very masculine. There are examples of both and in between all over this site.
Anything that is slightly different or creative is typically criticized as not being MANLY?

 

Well, that's the whole issue, isn't it?

A lot of people will not consider buying a BMW because they are afraid of being associated with yuppies. Many will not buy a Kia because it has an economy image. A lot of men don't want to buy a car that is perceived as being "feminine". Let's face it, MINI falls into that last category.

I chose MINI because it is fun to drive, and I am also attracted to its image of being hip and unconventional. I will admit that the public perception of it being "girly" is a negative for me, although overall this was a low factor in my decision. I think a lot of guys struggle with MINI being a high performing car, but they don't want to compromise a masculine image. The same goes for the Miata.

Richard

 

Well I glad MINI didn't show up on either top ten list. Better for resale. Twice as many people are in the market. MINI has done a great marketing job.

 

Arghh. Thats my point What do you care what some stranger thinks of your car. If YOU like it, the hell with anyone else. Its your money, your ride, you drive it ... not them

Where is Dr Phil when you need him

My wife wanted to put some stickers on the car for Autumn, clingly leaves and such. Go for it. will I drive it, ABSOLUTELY. If someone thinks its "girly" tuff "sh...t

Oh, and for the MEN who are afraid of their image ... maybe there should be more of them so the supply goes up and the prices go DOWN!

 

This one is...

 

Is it mostly an American male thing? Do European males have any problem driving MINI's I wonder? I think it comes down to there being a lot of pressure on males, especially Americans, to embrace everything that is masculine, and shun anything that has even the slightest hint of the opposite.

 

Can there just be a filter on NAM -- so when "MINI", "Chick", "Girly" (or any derivation thereof) or "Gay" occur in conjunction with each other, regardless of combination, the entire thread is automatically blown to shreds by the server, thus sparing the rest of us?

Cause, you know what? It's inevitably going to be locked anyway. At some point, someone (possibly me? possibly now? again? as usual?) is going to point out the stupidity and offensiveness of such topics and someone else is going to respond negatively and -- I don't know about you -- I just can't walk away from a battle like that and it will ALL SNOWBALL DOWNHILL AND OUT OF CONTROL SO CAN WE PLEASE conspire to keep my bloodpressure down, PLEASE??????

 

I got some great pills that work to keep the blood pressure down

 

Breathe deeply OmToast. Breathe deeply. The fact that there are silly people in the world is nothing new and nothing we didn't know earlier today or even two days ago. :smile: Breathe deeply...................

 

OmToast, you could refrain from clicking on the thread, since you know doing so will only serve to agitate you. It's not like the OP tricked you into reading his post by disguising the topic as something totally different than what it really was about

 

Sure you dont want those pills?

 

Please may I have some, Chow? I'll PM you my address...


And even if I don't click on the thread my life is already tainted by its existance. It's not like I can not click on a thread titled; "Is the MINI a girls car?" and continue on in blissful ignorance. It's stupid and offensive wether or not I click on it, so my only hope it to persuade the world.... :impatient :impatient :impatient

PPE... I know and yet, I find that I cannot help myself

 

Like a wise NAMer told me...it is like watching a train wreck...you know you should turn away, but you can't...(she was referring to another thread, but it applies just the same)