I hear so often on Curbside Classic about days long past where young people cruised around the USA in modified Chevrolet Novas, invariably jacked up at the rear and boasting other modifications of dubious taste. Subsequent generations of young people seemed to gravitate towards Honda Civics with big wings and “fart can” exhausts. What do the young people in your area drive today? And what else did they like in the past?
When I saw this Mitsubishi Lancer (aka Mirage) the other day, I had a flashback to over a decade ago when I was graduating high school. It seemed like every second former classmate who got their open license bought one of this generation of Mitsubishi Lancer. Fortunately, they didn’t usually look this lurid.
They looked more like this. And still do. These Lancers were reliable and so there are still a few around, always with aftermarket rims…
…and the obligatory big exhaust.
Mitsubishi has always had a much bigger presence in Australia than in other markets. In fact, they were the fourth best-selling car brand here in 2018 although it’s their crossovers and trucks that drive sales nowadays. For many years, a Lancer has been a sensible, popular option in the compact segment so there’s always been plenty available on the used car market. Couple that with an available coupe body style – a rarity in coupe-averse Australia – and you’ve got the makings for a popular used car for young adults. The Evo’s halo probably didn’t hurt sales, either.
The lively 1.8 and willing handling made these Lancers pretty fun-to-drive. Alas, many Lancers came with the decidedly less powerful 92 horsepower 1.5. That didn’t stop a lot of enthusiastic young drivers from wringing the hell out of the little four-cylinder. It’s fun to drive a slow car fast, after all. And the Lancer was a good-looking car, especially in coupe form, which is why they became so common to see with a P-plate (provisional license holder) attached.
What do the young people drive in your area? Or what did they in the past?
Seriously, Uber. No saving up, no maintenance, no insurance.
Describes my younger son. He’s over it (owning cars). A great bus system and Uber/Lyft get him where he needs, and without the expense and hassles.
Admittedly, he was forced to stop driving, but now that he hasn’t for a few years, he has no intention of going back to car ownership.
I have to teenage boys. Neither is remotely interested in having a driver’s licence. I was in the licence office on my sixteenth birthday, but they have zero interest.
They have grown up in a city with excellent public transit that is incredibly cheap compared to the cost of owning a car.
One young gentleman up the street drives an early 2000s Mercury Grand Marquis. Another I see regularly drives a Nissan Versa.
A few weeks ago I saw a youngster of about 16 or 17 driving a Corvair coupe.
A coworker in his very early 20s drives a Cavalier.
The new engineer who works for me is in his mid-20s and just purchased a 2013 Lincoln MKS. Depreciation was his friend.
In this area, there really isn’t any particular trend in what the youngsters are driving. Pickups are definitely in the mix, but those are like pocketknives in their overall usefulness. If I had to pinpoint any general theme, it would be mid-sized or smaller and if I had to give a brand allegiance, it would be GM.
I’m still clinging to the title of “young person” as I’m on the cusp of 30, with our first kid arriving in a few months. We just bought a Chrysler Town & Country, my other ride is a ’96 4Runner, my wife drives a 2012 Camry. Our fellow yuppie neighbors in their 20s drive a mix of older and newer cars, CUVs and Sedans, there’s not really a single standout model IMO. Subaru Foresters, newer Jeep Grand Cherokees as well as smaller Cherokees (the new CUV one), Civics and Jettas are all well represented. Just about everyone commutes, even though we live in one of the more walkable parts of Indianapolis (walk to bars and restaurants, not so much work).
Favourite ride in these parts used to be Honda, either Civics or, if funds permitted, grey-import Integras. These days most of the nice Hondas have been written-off, and the chariot of choice seems to be a slammed A4 Audi or 3-Series.
Uncle Mellow, seeing the at times amusing experiences (LMAOROTFL) of my adult children and their friends, I would have to agree with you that their first car experience is commonly a German car like a VW, used BMW, new or used Audi.
So regarding my children and their friends, one by one, as they experienced the servicing and frequent repair issues (at times catastrophic) of their German cars, commonly their second follow-up car, especially after marriage, would be either Korean or Japanese with the Civic, CRV, RAV4, or a Cam/cord leading the pack as replacement cars. For example, there is the now classic story in our family of a self-immolating VW Jetta when its wiring harness decided to reach lift-off ignition temperature (like Apollo 13, “Houston we have a problem”) while on a Portland, Oregon, freeway, then replaced by a Civic
I find this all a very amusing recapitulation of my own long ago car ownership experiences which included an unquestionably, unreliable, worn out, but much loved, British 1960 Bugeye (Frogeye) Sprite bought in 1967.
First as youths we buy with the heart, following some deep driving passion or something considered “cool”, then when the passions are exhausted by reality, the choice is driven by either practicality or a wife, or both (LOL). In my family’s experience and in the experience of our kids’ Millennial friends, this has been an amusing predictable, and too frequently repeatable cycle.
But that first fun car,however unreliable as it is, is likely like experiencing a young, fun, beautiful, but capricious woman, always becoming one of life’s unforgettables mixed with the frustrations, a memory to be savored when we get older, like for me now.
Cheers.
In Cape Town, South Africa it’s VW, generally a Citi Golf, or any VW really. We are talking total immersion, screen savers are Citi Golf or hot Polo, forget that Lambo tat..
A- and B-segment cars, all hatchbacks, there’s an almost endless choice. Offered by the European, Japanese and South-Korean automakers. An example of an A-segment car is the VW Up, whereas the VW Polo is a typical B-segment car. Or respectively the Peugeot 108 and the Peugeot 208, etc.etc.
Young enthusiasts often opt for something German. A used VW Golf, Audi A3 or a BMW 1-series or 3-series. The friend of a young co-worker happens to drive a black BMW 3-series Compact 325ti, a prime example, I’d say.
Let me retry to attach image of Mk 1 Golf in Salt River, Cape Town, with street art by Raphael Frederici. Old pic but good timing, IPAF, the International Public Art Festival closed here just this Sunday.
In Canada, it is the venerable Toyota Matrix. It was so popular Toyota kept it for the Canadian market, long after it was dropped in the USA.
retry.. apologies. third time lucky hopefully
Just a wander around my neighbourhood at what the 20 somethings are driving now:
Kia Rio
Acura ILX
Ford Fusion
Nissan Leaf
Hyundai Elantra
Subaru WRX
Nissan Pathfinder
Honda Civic (but not as many as they used to be)
The ones that are memorable are the ones that are out of character, like the young guy a say last weekend driving a second generation Prius, windows rolled down, blasting death metal music. I’m guessing that car was a hand-me-down from his parents.
But more commonly, BMWs are what I often see being driven by young people. Many older 3-series, and also some nicer ones. Since I live in a somewhat affluent suburb I wouldn’t be surprised if the nicer Beamers I see driver by young people are also hand-me-downs.
Young people, at least here, are at least as stratified or more so than the general population, so it’s very difficult to answer. We have rich Chinese students driving Lambos and other exotics. Blue collar guys drive giant 4×4 diesel pickups. Cannabis industry guys go for Toyota Tundras and Tacomas and 4Runners. Typical middle class students at the university drive their parents’ hand-me-downs: a sea of CUVs and sedans; mostly Japanese/Korean brands. Less well off young kids drive old beater Toyotas: old Camrys have become extremely popular for obvious reasons. That cover just a few of the various groups. In this day and age, fragmentation is huge, so generalizations are difficult.
One thing is clear: the overwhelming majority of kids just drive transportation, cheap and reliable. Hence gobs of older Toyotas and such. There’s no doubt that not many kids are into cars like they once were. You look at old pictures of high school and college parking lots from the 50s ad 60s and 70s, and it was quite a different ball game. The lots now are deadly boring, with a very few exceptions.
So I wonder what your opinion is on the future of the car hobby. Hagerty pretty much says it will only grow and grow. I, on the other hand, wonder where all these people, who will grow the hobby come from, given the predominately younger attitude towards cars today. Will there be a large group of people to replace all the aging and dying Baby Boomers who were truly a car generation?
Of course they would say that, as they have a very strong vested interest in that outcome. The more a vintage car is worth, the higher the insurance value and hence the insurance policy price. And the more cars will be preserved/restored, meaning more cars insured. They’re hardly a neutral or disinterested party.
I don’t have a crystal ball, but based on the obvious fact that a lot fewer kids are really interested and involved in cars, I’d say that these kids when they’re in their 50s and 60s are not going to be collecting the cars of their youth, meaning old Highlanders, CRVSs, and Toyota Camrys. Do you?
The percentage of kids willing to learn practical skills and get their hands dirty is also dropping. Who works on their 12 year old Nissan Altima?
Of course there will be exceptions…
How many people in their 50s and 60s now are collecting 4 door Impalas and town and country station wagons at any appreciable value? Seems like the cars of their youth are in fact the cars they dreamed of having in their youth, not the run of the mill that they were surrounded by in reality. Same will be of the current young generations, the ones watching YouTube and playing video games.
Paul, among my adult children, I have an adult son age 36, living in densely packed urban Boston using Boston’s aging and questionably reliable, at times frustrating, public transport daily, who loves driving my ’73 914 (which he has told me hopefully will be his when I ultimately die–hopefully only in the long distant future)). He absolutely enjoys driving the 914 in Hagerty’s Silver Summit rally in the mountains of Colorado every May. A week ago he called me to remind me to register (already done!) for the rally which has become a delightful yearly father-son ritual for us.
As usual I will drive the usually, but not always, faithful 914 out from Ohio to Colorado for the rally. This winter’s 914 engine rebuild has gone successfully and the engine has been successfully transplanted back into the 914 in preparation for this year’s Colorado trek.
In my experience, Millennials, or at least Millennials that I know, have as much interest and enthusiasm about cars and driving as the other old farts like me participating in the rallies that I do each year. Driving in the mountains of Colorado or British Columbia will do that, and I have seen it happen to my wife and kids.
Hagerty as a company also encourages this enthusiasm. Two years ago my son was introduced to and allowed to drive both the Hagerty 1969 Camaro SS396 and the Hagerty 1972 Oldsmobile 442 convertible in the mountains of Colorado–and he had a hoot with and had huge broad smiles while driving both cars. Motoring enthusiasm is alive and well, especially when nurtured.
If I took my sons on an expensive tour where classic cars were available to them to drive, they’d love it too. Who wouldn’t?
The question is: is your son buying the numerous sports cars that you did at his age? How many had you bought at age 36?
Of course he’d be happy to have your 914. But it’s not like he’s ever spent a dime on its expensive care and feeding, or any other hobby car? Or?
There’s a giant difference between the pleasure of being exposed to a classic car and between spending your time, sweat, tears and money to buy and own one (or several of them).
I don’t have a crystal ball either only my eyes and what I see around here and around here is California. As one mentioned that Millennials will pick up the baton I don’t see that happening in large numbers comparable to Boomers. Baton meaning the Baby Boomer cars of the 50s and 60s.that the aging Boomers can sell them.
Taste and what you grew up with change with each generation which Boomers seem to ignore about their cars. Are Gen X busting down their doors for their cars or for the cars they equate to? Can Boomers cars continue to appreciate or stall before a slow decline?
I, as a card-carrying genXer, have next to no interest in purchasing a Baby Boomer’s cast off Chevelle, Lincoln, or Mustang, but am absolutely interested in purchasing the cars that I lusted after and in some case already owned back in the day, including another MkII GTI, an Audi Turbo Quattro (that ship has sadly sailed with all the dollars…), a Mazda 323GTX, and as of Danny’s post a couple of days ago, a reawakened desire for a Celica GTS or Supra of that vintage, amongst others including maybe an 80’s Mustang 5.0 lest I be accused of being an import-lover only. If I eventually sell the 911 this may well happen as no good garage space shall go unfilled in my house…All of these are already extremely rare in good condition and prices are increasing but with the exception of the Quattro, still completely affordable as a “hobby” car.
On the subject, nearly every gen Xer I know that are into cars gravitate towards muscle cars, but typically not the rare high dollar ones boomers spare no expense for, in fact without any direct evidence besides anecdote, I’d suggest they have more of the clones and restomods of the bunch than boomers. Most people my age who are into cars wouldn’t spend much more than $10k on a *nice* hobby car, let alone take on some major restoration project on a rotten out hulk, or spend all the money we’ll ever have on a classic car to fund some boomer’s retirement. It’s not lack of interest or physical skill(which is learnable by the way). The reality is boomers created a muscle car bubble while younger generations who might otherwise be interested find suitable (later model) alternatives, while others have different tastes all together.
Really most of the doom and gloom I hear about young people hating cars comes from people whose own kids aren’t interested. Were you interested in the same hobbies your parents were? My Dad loves football, has a full blown basement man cave and everything, yet sports never took with me.
I also forgot to bring up the fact that those fast and the furious movies are among the highest grossing movie franchises. Think baby boomers have been buying tickets to see those? Think people are there for the plots and acting? Even if younger generations aren’t driving around in cars they like, if they have any at all, it doesn’t correlate to a lack of enthusiasm for cars.
I find this whole debate/issue rather tedious. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the percentage of young people that are “Into cars” has dropped by a significant extent.
The perpetual counter arguments, like yours, are anecdotal. Sure, you’re always going to find/know/see young people into cars. It’s not a black or white issue, although I understand humans want to turn it into that, like everything else, unfortunately.
Yes, there are lots of young people into cars; just not nearly as many as there once were.
And here’s just one obvious reason: how much fun is it to drive a car in the endless hours of gridlock that is ubiquitous in America’s mega-cities?
American car culture was always about experiencing the freedom of open roads. That’s largely gone, depending on where you live.
Look at Japan as a glimpse of our future: yes, they have very intense car cultures of various kinds, but in percentage terms, these are a very tiny slice of the overall demographic. In reality, the overwhelming majority of young people there are riding the subway, train or at best driving a kei-car microvan. And if they want to be entertained, they go to a car show once or twice a year. Or watch a FF movie. But going to a show or watching a movie is not exactly the real thing, is it?
If you’re going to equate seeing a FF movie with being a genuine car enthusiast (as in owning and spending money on an enthusiast car), I’m not buying it. As are they.
If you find the debate tedious then why run the QOTD? Confirmation bias?
Both arguments are anecdotal, but this is a much much larger country than Japan, and not every city is Tokyo. American car culture is about fantasy as much as the freedom, most Muscle cars never see a real drag strip, most SUVs never climb a trail and most broughams weren’t going to the opera every weekend. Has gridlock ever not been a problem in American cities? As far as I can tell LA traffic has always been abysmal, yet it practically invented American car culture.
I would agree that enthusiasm about getting a drivers license and the freedom it allows in the minds of your average 16 year old has certainly waned, but that’s not the same thing as being a car enthusiast, where the car extends into a hobby, not simply a hopeful means of fleeing parents and finding your way in life. I’m not sure the percentage of hobby enthusiasts has declined that much from previous generations.
The big cultural shift from the boomer generation is that the vast majority of modern day hobby enthusiasts don’t really care about the new car market or put money into it.
If you find the debate tedious then why run the QOTD? Confirmation bias?
I didn’t run it. Another self-publishing author did. I don’t tell them what to post. Anyway, the question just asks what young people are driving.
The debate is with you, not the issue in general. There’s so much objective statistics and information on the subject that debating the issue of whether as many young people are car enthusiasts now as in the past is pretty absurd.
The question in my mind is why are older car enthusiasts so vociferously defensive about the obvious decline? Are they that insecure about what they chose to spend/waste their money on?
For that matter, I don’t consider myself a “car enthusiast” in the way most people would. I don’t spend money on fast/expensive/toy/classic/special interest cars, fixing them up or improving them. I only keep my old truck to haul crap to the dump. I don’t go to car shows. I certainly don’t go to FF movies.
Am I a car enthusiast?
If I didn’t know anything about you, Paul, yes I probably would assume you were an enthusiast based on this site and your old truck alone. But that’s where I question the veracity of the statistics on the subject, the parameters for what makes an enthusiast are more complex and murky than a high school parking lot or Toyota 86 quarterly sales figures. If younger generations are consuming numerous forms of car related entertainment, chances are they are enthusiastic about cars, with one of their own or not.
I’m not even disputing a decline, but I personally don’t have the perspective to remember back a time when there more enthusiasts to fear a pending death spiral in the hobby, as I’ve encountered no shortage of car enthusiasts my age and younger in real life or through social media who are as talented and passionate as any 50 something car guy I know. Plus people come and go from it.
But yes, the older generations probably have a lot of denial going on if they have retirement investments in classic cars. I do however firmly believe younger enthusiasts (raises hand) will snatch these cars up, but it’ll be at a painful fraction of what they’re expecting to get.
I’m currently 25 and most of my friends are in their 20s, but most of my friends are car people which skews the data a bit. Among cars driven by my closest friends include:
2018 Range Rover Sport
2018 Chevrolet Corvette
2017 VW GTI
2012 Land Rover LR4
2008 Audi A6
2010 BMW M3
2001 BMW M5
2017 BMW M240
2019 VW Tiguan
2018 MINI Clubman
2015 Audi A4
Pat does currently drive an ’04 Camry though 🙂
But as far as your average 20-something around here however, I’d say that by far the most popular vehicles are Jeep Grand Cherokees and Jeep Wranglers. Jeep carries a lot of equity among people who don’t care a whole lot about cars otherwise.
Very similar to what you see on the street outside a local high school in Danville only newer. Clearly, given the town, mostly all bought by the parents. Very different from my high school lot in 1971 where the cars were hand me downs or bought by the student.
I’d be interested to know how many of these young adults are still living with their parents (or a parent), or still receiving financial aid from the Bank of Mom and Dad.
No disrespect meant to your friends, just a generational difference in attitudes toward living at home, about which much has been written. And I’m not judging: I was unusual among my friends for living with my parents until I was 26, which was facilitated by being much younger than my four older siblings, three of us still living in a house once occupied by seven, and an ailing father who needed (but rarely showed appreciation for) occasional assistance. But when I moved out, it was into my own house; I’ve never paid rent.
The Fast & Furious tuner crowd around here* likes the Subaru WRX, older generations of Civics and Lancers, and even the most recent generation of Lancer EVO or a Lancer hopped up to look like an EVO wannabe… Fart can optional… Wing a must.
* Baltimore Area
Going back a decade, it was the Dodge or Plymouth Neon. Why both marquises of the Chrysler Corp had to have their own Neon was beyond me. During this phase, you saw a lot of youngins driving Cavaliers and Sunbirds from GM; and the Ford fans like their Focuses.
Roll it back another decade, and it was the Fox Body Mustangs, and if you were from Essex or Dundalk (in Eastern Baltimore County), then stereotypically, you had to have a mullet and drive a Bitchin’ Camaro (used with apologies to the Dead Milkmen).
But in my high school days (graduated in ‘78), it was cars like a ‘69 Charger, or ‘67 Impala SS, or a ‘67 Cougar, or a ‘66 Mustang, or a ‘72 Chevelle…. ya know, cheap used cars… that of course go for HUGE $$$ nowadays at Barrett Jackson.
Even my high school buddy’s ‘71 LTD 2-Door Hardtop Coupe with a 400 Cleveland (or so he claimed.. I thought the Cleveland was a 351) would probably fetch big bucks now at such an auction.
A lifted truck with a loud exhaust is the preferred ride. The ricers have pretty much come and gone. But mostly it’s hand me downs from the parents; Camrys, Explorers, etc.
Pickups, pickups, pickups. This is central Texas y’all.
Wow! Nothing. Unless the parents give it to them most young folk I associate with don’t have a car. They’ll hook a ride with friends, bus or walk. They don’t seem to be “car culture” people like we were. I’m a bit older than most. I’m 62.
Invariably, trucks. Tacomas, Colorados, and Canyons, right up to the Super Duty Diesels and Duramax Sierras.
Where I live in central Mississippi, it appears that all automotive passion has coalesced around lifted diesel pickups, equipped with ginormous tires, smokestacks, and massive grill guards. However these rolling monstrosities admittedly account for a very small percentage of vehicles on the road. Best as I can tell, most young people are content to drive whatever they can get their hands on.
It was a different story back when I began driving in 1997. I don’t think teenagers back then were any more into cars than they are now, but I do think the average teenager in the past was more concerned about the car they drove and the statement it made. As for the small contingent that actually had motor oil running through their veins, it was about evenly split between the old school V-8 brigade, who drove Mustangs, Camaros, or souped-up G-bodies in various states of disarray, and the sport-compact set, which were mainly Hondas and the Diamond Star coupes. That soon became the dominant form of automotive passion, at least where I lived in the northeast, but that era faded between 2005 and 2010. I don’t recall the last time I saw (or heard) a ratty Civic with a fart-pipe.
Now it’s all trucks, at least until the next undiscovered fad…
A bunch of young folks in Tualatin drive 1990s-2010s Japanese cars including myself with some SUVs, Minivans, and some trucks mixed in including Mini Trucks. Dodge and Ford full-sized trucks are the most common, there are a number of Tahoes, and surprising amount of cargo Ford Econolines too boot. Some young folk drive more random vehicles like this Mercury, older domestic vehicles like Pontiac Sunfires, and the occasional Tempo.
Funny that you mention Tualatin. I’m 24 and live in Tualatin so you’ve probably seen me around. I currently drive a pretty beat up looking 1994 Mazda Protege. I used to drive a 1993 Mazda MX-3 and a 1995 Volvo 940 wagon, but they’re both currently on long term loans to various family members. Most of my friends own multiple cars, so I won’t list them, but one of the more unique ones is a 2005 Acura TSX that has a supremely beat up body and worn interior, but new headlight assemblies. I will say that what I see in Tualatin reflects exactly what you state.
Oh neat, someone else from Tualatin. I will keep an eye out for those vehicles then. I live near the Tualatin River and do not bother venturing into the parts of Tualatin near Tigard or up on the hill near the high school though I do notice the car demographics are a bit different there. There are some Cherokees around as well and of course the cars driving around are more expensive when you go to Bridgeport Village.
My daughter’s classmates and friends that she hangs out with that are 16 and 17 appear to drive the following based on what I see parked at our curb…:
A couple of 2007-2012 Rav4s
A first generation Highlander
A third generation Avalon
An early red Saturn Vue
A BMW 3 series at least a decade old (Bougie!)
A second generation Land Rover Discovery that is just as unreliable as I always thought they were, it’s operable at best 75% of the time, if that.
A 2008 Nissan Maxima (starting next week when her BFF gets her license.)
Thank goodness we moved neighborhoods a couple of years ago (coincidentally) to go to the high school she wanted to go to, if still in the other ‘hood the cars would be similar but all new or nearly new. Off that treadmill, hopefully for good. I think the Wrangler she will likely get will be among the “nicer” cars of her direct peer group.
In Columbia Maryland, the cars the youth(and a lot of folks drive) are the following:
Kia Optima
Kia Sorento
Hundai Elantra
Hyundai Kona
Honda Civic
Honda Accord
Honda Fit
Honda CRV
Toyota Camry
Toyota Corolla
Toyota RAV4
Toyota Tacoma
Chevy Cruze
Ford Fusion
Ford Escape
Ford Mustang
Scion TC
Scion XB
2000-2007 Ford Taurus (sedan and wagon)
I never see any Yaris or Accent or Rio around. I don’t see any Honda HRV around ether
Columbia is a wealthy city in a county that is in the top 10 wealthiest counties in the USA. But folks here by and far are not into status cars, if you drive by a huge expensive home, you most likely will see a Camry/Accord/Toyota SUV in the driveway over a Benz
And yet I work in Columbia and you’d think they were giving Teslas away at the local dealership down there!
And yes, I know Tesla doesn’t have dealerships, but these cars have to be coming from somewhere. They are all over Howard County!
True that. However they are mostly driven by folks in their late 40’s to 60’s(pretty much just like the Corvette crowd) the younger folks that want the green experience drive a Prius.
There is also a really large contingent of Maserati around Howard county.
Of course the telling thing is that Columbia has Apple Ford which is one of the larger Lincoln dealer in Maryland, yet you hardly see any Lincolns around Columbia
In our part of Melbourne, Australia …. mostly small hatchbacks. Toyota, Hyundai, Kia, Honda, Mitsubishi and then a mixture of other stuff – older Camrys, Civics etc. Not many Australian made Fords and Holdens. A few smaller cuvs for those with a bit more money. For those who can afford “European” status, VW is the overwhelming choice.
Tampa, FL I see a lot of the 2004-2007 Acura TLs, but those are starting to thin out. The Lexus IS, BMW 3 Series especially the e46 coupe and e90 sedan, Honda Accord, Infiniti G and basically any 10-15 year old German car. All of them tinted, lowered, and with custom wheels.
Here in rural Wisconsin, the young men mostly drive lifted or modified pickups, both new and old/rusty. If they’re not part of the pickup crowd, then it’s typically imports or a WRX.
The young women seem to drive smaller American sedans, Subaru Outbacks, or a multitude of small/midsize SUVs.
Besides the standard hand me down cars and SUVs (Fusion, Equinox, RAV 4, CR-V, Camry), poorer young people often drive older Impalas, Malibus, Explorers, or a gen 1 or 2 Focus. Older Pontiacs used to be everywhere but they are dying off quickly.
In my area of North Texas, l remember my cohorts mostly drove one of four types of car:
Large pickup (mostly bought for them by Mommy and Daddy)
New sports car (see above)
Vintage/ classic car (my best friend at the time drove a 1982 280ZX. A rival of mine drove a white F body Camaro
Hand-me-down/ second hand claptrap (I fell into this category, with my 2000 Honda Accord. Another friend drove a late 90’s BMW, and classmate had an early 2000’s Dodge Caravan that was purple)
You must’ve been quite the outlier with Helen. 😉
Locally there seems to be a bit of a thing for 3-door Vauxhall Astra VXRs/VXR wannabes, mostly Hs, a G or two and at least one J. All the usual sound effects.
Flush parent purchases – new Jettas, Kias, Hyundais.
Poor folk – Old Pontiacs and Saturns, oldish Hyundais and Kias, some Camrys, Civics and Corollas.
A few months ago I saw two twentyish guys emerge from a late model Ferrari – the driver’s t-shirt said “I’m a fucking deadbeat” on the back.
Here in Munich West Coast college town, I’d characterize it similar to what Paul wrote; the type of car depends more on the type of owner, than just youth. It may be slightly different than Eugene, or just my perceptions. Here we don’t seem to have wealthy Chinese students with Lambo’s, and the only cannabis industry (legal) person I know has very generic vehicles, but cars do seem to reflect lifestyle as well as wealth. For example, I’m active in our local mountain bike club, and many members drive Tacoma’s, 4Runners or Subaru’s. The lifted domestic trucks seem more prevalent in the agricultural parts of our county … and I suspect some of that agriculture is only semi-legal. The performance cars in the heavily Latino areas are more likely to be older Acura’s, 350/370ZX or V6 Infiniti’s; in wealthier areas that mantle is borne by the WRX.
My son got his license just as soon as he could, just a few weeks ago in fact. We got him a 2003 Honda Civic coupe, which is still a fairly common teenager car.
I recall lots of “kids” in Western Australia a decade ago driving Falcons and Commodores, which I found refreshing and a little nostalgia inducing. (Although the memories it kindled were more of Mk4 Cortinas and Mk1 Cavaliers and Marinas)
As Johannes mentioned, in Europe under 25s pretty much uniformly drive small hatchbacks. My mind was blown when my now wife told me her first car, at 16, was a Crown Victoria.
In my area most high school kids either drive hand me down Toyotas and Hondas or brand new Hondas and Toyotas bought by their parents. Less affluent kids buy their own older Honda Civics, Acura Integras, or Mitsubishis and Subaru turbos. Young adults seem to drive the same type cars. Young adults with a decent job and still living at home are driving all those new entry level Euro cars: Beemer, Mercedes, and Audi.The twenty five to thirty year olds I work with make good money and drive new American trucks and SUVs. Many of them quit wasting their money on cars and try to save up some money for a down payment on a house. The down payment is usually 100,000 bucks! The only folks driving old American iron are old farts like me.
I teach high school and older BMW 3 series have replaced the “ricer” Civics and Accords as the car of choice. It is really strange to see 3 series with wings and lots of crap (stickers and other ornamentation). It makes me wonder if this is what BMW had intended when they flooded the market with cheap leases.
The more common cars among kids who drive hand-me-downs are 90s era GM intermediates such as the Buick Century and the older Accord,Civic,Corolla, Camry type cars. Rarely do you see project type cars like we saw in high school in the 80s such as the jacked-up Nova that William mentions in this article. Several years ago I had a student who drove a Flair Bird era T-Bird. That really stood out in the parking lot.
In case you’re wondering what the teachers are driving… Camry, Acccord, Civic, Corolla, and Forester head the pack.
if they own a car, it’s a cheap piece of shit.
Sorry, Boomers. 1968 was almost 5 decades ago. you need to be “put out to pasture.”
Uhmm, 1968 WAS 5 decades ago. Who needs to be “put out to pasture?”
At 19 in Melbourne, I drive a grey market HK spec 1997 Volvo S90. Definitely not the average first car, but does quite nicely. I ride my bike to work and uni most days, so the car has only done 3000km in six months (191k km in 22 years) and avoids heavy commutes.
Here it is in all it’s Regent Red glory
As a 19 year old in Europe… Dude, I love that car!
I’m 35. When I was in high school the lot was everything from new BMW 3 series to old B and C body GMs, A bodys, older pickups, some tired Camaros and Vettes, and lots and lots of early 90s Altima sedans and Civic coupes.
Today I live in Manhattan and am one of the few people in my circle with a car in the city (let alone people with two cars, although my second car is not kept here). Most people take public transportation, taxis, or Uber. And rent if they need to leave town. My suburban friends are mostly married and some have kids. A few of them have mid sized Subarus, another have a Dodge Ram pickup a CUV I cant remember. A third, the husband has an Acura sedan and I don’t recall what the wife drives. The few friends I have in Manhattan with cars have pretty nice ones, or just borrow pretty nice ones from their parents…these are mostly well off Manhattan natives. So I am a real outlier with my well preserved Lincoln Town Car garaged on the east side and ’75 Olds Ninety Eight up in Connecticut.
It amazed me now how many suburban teens do not have licenses and how many parents don’t insist they get them (city kids are another story, I taught several New Yorkers to drive in college 15 years ago, and it seems fairly common through the generations that many don’t learn as there’s no frequent need). I couldn’t wait to get my my license…in 2000. While not yesterday, it also wasn’t 1955. But Smartphone addiction and helicopter parenting seem to have caused a massive cultural shift in the past 10 or 15 years.
Pickup trucks, pickup trucks and more pickup trucks with a few Jeep Wranglers thrown in for good measure. Of course, we are a rural area, too.
Enthusiast wise, trucks, WRXs, Miatas, 240s E46 BMWs, and SN95 era Mustangs. Regular people? I dunno, Subaru’s Jeeps as far as newer stuff is concerned, any old car for the rest, there’s no real pattern.
For what it’s worth, high school parking lots aren’t a good measure for car interest in young people. Helicopter parents don’t typically approve fun cars and if they do the kids can’t afford them on their own. Most cars are handmedowns. Anyone who knows me knows I have been into cars since early childhood, but even I didn’t rush out to get my drivers license until I was almost 18, I couldn’t afford the car I wanted until then so I wasn’t particularly interested in having one just to drive Mom’s Nissan Quest, same went for much of my friends. You have to go out of the way and be patient to find a *cool* car on a teenager’s budget, it’s not 1976 where every small used car lot had a Roadrunner or SS Chevelle in inventory they were desperate to get rid of.
95% are Jacked up, sometimes questionably modified square body Chevy pickups, 90s Toyota pickups and 4runners usually modified, and some 90s jeeps and domestic full size pickups. Haywood county, western North Carolina.
In Freehod, NJ-whatever mom or dad owns. The ‘car culture’ just isn`t too strong among millennials over here.
My 18 yr old daughter drives the Citroen Xsara TDI I gave one of her mates has a Nissan Note, another drives a Hyundai Getz another has an old Ford Laser, not sure what teen boys drive but old Jap imports are pretty popular and very cheap to buy.
THose older Jap imports almost always wear aftermarket rims here simply because ex JDM they arrive with super skinny tyres that offer zero traction but great fuel economy and handle appallingly,better shocks a wheel & tyres are almost obligatory.
As to that foreign country – the past – in ’87, my first was a 22 y.o. Falcon, and that wasn’t outrageously old. But the industry was still well-protected, and Aus was still subject to economic rollercoasting, so cars of all types kept their value. Only rich kids got anything like new cars.
Now, after 27 years of unbroken economic growth, no car industry and zero tariffs – and a wealthy country by any standards – there’s no economic need to drive such old cars. Something like a perfectly good (and entirely unrusted) 2006 Holden (Opel) Astra, with plenty of miles up, isn’t worth more than perhaps $1500. So such cars are prevalent in poorer areas, especially as fuel has always been quite pricey in this country, and remains so. (Currently $4.90AUD per US gallon). Those Lancers you mention are literally worth nothing within the trade, unless they’re grannie specials, & even then not much.
Bogans who’re prepared to spend more on petrol than they take home, they drive Commodores and Falcons. Hard, and occaisonally in a straight line.
In posher areas, kids have brand new lowline small cars. And in certain pockets, expensive to very expensive Euro jobs and young Chinese drivers.
And plenty of all young in trams and Ubers who don’t drive and probably never will.
In the northern suburbs (Melbourne) a few years ago, a Commodore with a noisy exhaust was the number one choice for young guys.
Now its much more fragmented like the industry itself, its hard to see any dominant make, or maybe I’ve stopped taking notice.
Nah, they’ve handed all those Commodes on to the street-level ice dealers, in my too-recent experience of living next door to such in the north-east ‘burbs!
But you’re spot-on, it’s not really possible to identify a preponderance of one or two makes any more. And I too have probably stopped paying any real attention, as long as the young bastards aren’t on my lawn….
Four sorts in my bit of England.
First are the huge cohort who just aren’t interested – they will end up at college in a big town with public transport but are happy to rely on Mum and Dad’s taxi for now.
Second are the stay at homes: they left school, got a job live at home with no student debt. They have Golf GTis, Subaru STi, Ford Kugas but mainly BMW 1 and 3 series.
Third are those with indulgent parents who paid for lessons which they passed eventually to be rewarded with something nice and safe like a Toyota Yaris or a Nissan Micra.
Fourth are those that have to scrape cash together from somewhere for a 10-15 year old. Which will be mainly a Renault Clio or a Vauxhall Corsa and maybe a Ford KA (although they have mainly rotted away now).
My kids? My daughter and her husband gave up their Clio as they didn’t need it in London. They are looking to move out before they hit 30 and know they will need a car. She fancies a Citroen Cactus – but then she is an architect.
My son is 23. His girlfriend in Japan has a Nissan Moco. He is moving to Tokyo in April and has no interest in cars whatever… Although he does have a licence!
Around San Antonio, Texas, I see the younger guys and gals in four or five year old Nissan Sentras, Mitsubishi Lancers, Mazda 6s or 3s and of course Honda “tuner” Civics with the screaming muffler. Wealthier kids, gals are in brand new Kia Souls, the guys in black Jeep Patriots. When I was a senior in high school, back in 1977, the school parking lot was full of early 70s Buick Electra’s, Oldsmobile 442s, ’66 Mustangs and VW Beetles. I myself had a ’65 Mustang fastback, my girlfriend Donna had a huge ’64 Ford Galaxie that broke down and left four of us stranded at the local burger joint. Japanese cars were considered a curious oddity at that time.
And must mention, the grown up Moms here, nowadays, are all slowly tooling around the Walmart parking lot in their gigantic Dodge Ram 4×4 Super Duty pickups as if they’re in a Toyota Corolla.
19 year old in northern Portugal here.
Most guys drive late ’90s and ’00s SEAT Ibiza, Opel Corsa or Renault Clio, mostly diesels, and van-converted. Some wait a year or two and get an Audi A3 or E46 BMW.
Girls are usually backed by their parents and a lot of them have 2010-ish Minis, Fiat 500’s or 1-series BMWs. Diesel is also the norm.
I drive a 1993 Audi 80 1.9 TDI, which I’m fixing up, and plan to also get a 2002 A4 this year.
What do you mean by “van-converted”?
Back seat removed. Divider mesh installed. Rear side windows taped up. Tax reduced. I guess.
Yes. No rear seats, and divider mesh.
Covered windows aren’t mandatory, and it’s legal to tint them.
These cars were so common in “van-converted” form because they were cheaper when new (less taxes at moment of purchase), so you could have a Diesel for little more than a petrol model, and they were bought a lot by companies and single people. Actually, companies still get a tax deduction buying them.
My brother had an Ibiza FR and the “van-conversion” was a joke. It was still fully carpeted and had ashtrays in the cargo area.
Here in Naples, FL there are so many late model, low mileage “condo cars” available that I’m often shocked by what I see kids driving around. A good example would be a stanced ten year old Infiniti G37 coupe with blacked out windows and fartcan exhaust. Odds are it’s not insured.
My low mileage’05 Town Car was a Florida “Condo Car”.
The surviving owner reluctantly sold it when her husband passed away. She sold their Sarasota condo and had no further need for the car parked in the garage under the condo.
She actually started sniffling as she waved good-bye when I drove it away.
Good question, and no one car sticks out. In the cohort of my kids (20s, middle class suburban, midwestern) there are still parental and grandparental hand me downs like Civics, Accords, Camrys, Avalons and the occasional Buick or Impala.
Of those I know who have purchased their first “real car” I can think of a late model used Focus and a new Civic.
Get to more rural or less affluent areas and it is old pickups.
Only familiar with my youngest daughter’s (high school senior) age cohort here in Omaha. Based on her comments I’d say only maybe half of her friends even have a drivers license. Those who do, including my daughter, mostly drive a family hand-me-down vehicle, most likely some late model SUV or CUV. Parents seem to want a lot of metal around their young drivers.
More than once I have been slowly-shaking-my-head bemused by guys in their twenties trying to get me to sell them my elderly 1989 Lincoln Town Car.
One enterprising young man showed up at my front door, explaining that he had a police friend of his “run my license plate number” in order to get my address.
I assured him that he would offer him first refusal, if/when I decide to sell it.
A friend of mine is looking at one for his son who is about to get his license. I have tried to tell him what to watch out for, and I may get a visit on a test drive if he gets serious.
This generation of the LTC really is an easy car to drive; once you get acclimated to it’s overall size.
You can see all four corners of the car from the driver’s seat, the drivetrain, power steering and brakes are all in automotive harmony with each other, with no unpleasant, sudden surprises. The HVAC works well and never taxes or over-heats the engine. It is a smooth, well balanced driver.
With the power seat jacked ALL the way up, even my petite (5 foot 4 inch) sister can drive this one (much to her amazement) at speeds and highway lane changes that frightens her husband.
+1 to what’s been said here. Young persons drive transportation, several of our friends and siblings have college age kids, almost all of them drive appliances and/or hand me downs. For instance my niece drives her grandfathers former Kia Rondo to university.
There are some bright spots, the kid across the street (trades apprentice) drives an older BMW and my one nephew (recent IT grad) drives a Scion FRS with a manual transmission.
I don’t know any young people who are “old car people” like me. Hemmings is dreaming in technicolour, the old car hobby is in serious decline. Every time they run a story on another old car junkyard closing the cry goes up “someone save these cars” but there is nobody, there isn’t even enough people to save the old cars still in good condition. Sad to say but like JPC’s upright piano, that’s how it goes..
Every time I go to a “classic car meeting ” I tell my wife: The hobby is dying, just look around and see if you can find a owner who is younger than us; I tell you, it is not easy ( we are 50).
On the new car field there are have some awesome cars around but they are very expensive. If you can only afford an average car, your experience can be as exciting as buying a toaster.
21 year old currently enrolled in a university with a highly traditional student population (read: very few students not between 18-22). The student body has a ratio of around 60:40 female to male, with a significant proportion coming from high income households. The carscape is what you’d expect, with females skewing towards newer sedans & small SUVs, while their male counterparts having a significantly higher proportion of pickup trucks, many of which have been modified. To exemplify this, I drive an Acura TSX, & have seen at least 3 other students drive a 1st generation TSX around town. My current roommates, neither of which I knew personally before transferring here last fall, drive a E46 3 Series & a 12th generation F150 FX4 SuperCrew. Neither are what I’d call car enthusiasts, & the same applies to my 19 year old sister, who currently drives a weirdly configured 2010 Camry LE (it has hubcaps & leather seats). The university I previously attended from fall 2016 to spring 2018 had a similar male to female ratio, but had significantly more nontraditional & local students, & significantly lower students from high income households. The carscape there was more interesting to myself, but then again many of those were likely just cheap transportation options for individuals who care little about cars.
You name it.
Everybody is younger!
Younger kids are not into “performance cars” and drag racing/HP as much. Maybe some are into ‘tuner cars’ or “LS swaps”, but it’s not like “American Graffiti” anymore.
CPO Audis, Beemers and Jeep Wranglers, along with common CUV’s seem to be driven by those who “have to” get a car.
In North Side, Uber/Lyft reins supreme, and they can only tell what ride sharing car to look for by its license plate, no brand recognition. Young Uber/Lyft drivers seem to like Accord/Camry/Altima, not many CUV’s.
Good used sedans are dirt cheap.
And gas mileage and reliability are of paramount importance, any dollar saved in that arena is a dollar of scarce profit.
Even if I’m not a “young person” anymore, the young people are still driving about the same as what they did when I was in high school: pickup trucks and 10- to 15-year-old sedans. CUVs are becoming more common than they were in 2009. A major city 30 miles from me has an active tuner scene that’s about 80% WRX/STIs, 15% Evos, and a smattering of older models, and there’s also a Golf subculture (GTI or otherwise), but those largely stay in the city.
Here in my little enclave of Hamtramck, most of the younger kids are Bengali or Yemeni, and those that have cars tend to have hand-me-down Accords or Camrys. The more affluent Bengalis have a real love of Mopar LXs of various sorts, particularly Hemi Chargers and Challengers. The more affluent Yemenis have a preference for larger luxury SUVs, I’ve never seen so many Lexus GX470s in one place, and I spent my formative years in Oakland County. To truly have a car of your own at a younger age is not as common in Detroit as it is in surrounding areas, our insurance is sky-high. Many take the risk of driving around sans-insurance, and probably more use a family member’s car to get around. The state of public transit is absolutely dire here, unless you live in Midtown or Downtown (which is $$$$)
Here in Winnipeg, the young people drive whatever they can afford.
Sunfire is still a very popular choice.
I’m 21 and have no interest in owning a car after watching people at my high school pour money and time into cool old cars that never ran right or looked good. I can get around on the bus or biking, and my bikes allow me to still get my hands greasy, work on something mechanical, and personalize/customize for a lot lot less money.
Friends drive:
2003 Oldsmobile Alero
2001 Jeep Cherokee XJ 4×4
2015 Toyota Matrix AWD
2006 Mazda3
2013 Subaru Impreza
2017 Toyota Tacoma
1990 Honda Civic
1991 Saab 900
I live near the beach in Santa Monica in a large building filled with millennials, many employed in Silicon Beach, with some physicians, lawyers, dentists, and film/TV folks thrown into the mix. German luxury/sports sedans are still popular among this specific group – at one point there were five identical black BMW 3-series in the garage. Audi A3/A4 and Mercedes CLA 250s also find favor, and we had one Jaguar XE. But increasingly over the last couple of years CUVs/SUVs are taking over, with Jeeps very popular (Compass, Cherokee/Grand Cherokee, even Wrangler). I agree with Paul’s contention that the youth population is too stratified to make sweeping generalizations but also that there seems to be much less auto enthusiasm among the younger set. Instead, here they use Uber, Lyft, and SoCal’s rapidly developing public transit system.
I occasionally watch Mecum (and other) auto auctions and am amazed at the number of Boomers (my gen) paying outrageous prices for muscle cars and far more mundane vehicles from the 50’s- 60’s-70’s. I would predict – as have many here – that prices for many of these cars and trucks will plummet in a few short years. I have zero interest in owning any of these cars but enjoying seeing and reading about them and am glad so many do preserve them.
It varies with class and location. At Oregon State the well off international students drive newish BMWs, Audis and the odd Lamborghini. My son’s friends drive a mix. The more well off have recent vintage Hondas or Hyundais courtesy of mom and dad, the less well off have a variety of wheels courtesy of hard work and saving. My son has a 2003 Buick LeSabre, one friend has an Aveo and another has an early 90s F250 diesel and a Hyundai Accent commuter while another friend runs a 10 year old Volvo. Our old neighbor in Bend had a CC worthy fleet including an early 80s VW Rabbit convertible a 90s Suzuki Esteem station wagon, a late 90s Subaru wagon and at least one or two others I forgot. Also the high school parking shows a wide range of old pickups, new econ boxes etc, plus the occasional Impreza with fancy wheels and a fart cannon exhaust
In Beaverton fewer high schoolers drove since parking was tight and public transit and a bicycle would go almost anywhere.
I’m a 21 year old college student, I’ll just list out everything I drive and any friends cars I can remember.
2015 Subaru Outback
2004 Toyota Land Cruiser
2000 Nissan Sentra
2008 Ford F150
2006 Infiniti G35
2006 Mercedes Benz CLK
2018 Ford Mustang GT
2013 Hyundai Elantra
2013 Ford Mustang
2004 Jeep Wrangler
2004 Acura TL
2008 Subaru Forester
2012 Toyota Rav4
2009 Mazda6
2017 VW Golf Alltrack (6 Speed)
1984 Mercedes Benz 240TD
1983 Mercedes Benz 240D with a stick
1994 Honda Del Sol
2002 Toyota Tacoma
2008 Honda Element
2015 Chevy Camaro 6 speed
1998 Jeep Wrangler
2016 Ford Focus RS
2015 Subaru XV Crosstrek
2013 Toyota Rav4
2016 Toyota Corolla S
2009 Toyota Corolla S with a 5 speed
2010 Volvo XC60
2019 Genesis G70
2004 Nissan Altima
2017 Hyundai Elantra
2009 Mitsubishi Lancer
2013 Hyundai Sonata
2016 Hyundai Tucson
2006 Subaru Outback
1999 Mazda Miata
1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee
I live in a small coastal town in NC with mediocre public transit, and super high Uber prices. It’s basically impossible to not have a car here, so nearly everybody I know in college owns a car.
Just a few miles south of CA Guy here in Redondo Beach it is somewhat different. Being in a more isolated corner of Los Angeles, public transportation is not well developed. Wealth is more concentrated with older GenXer’s. Young people not living with parents leave town for lower rents. I have seen a reduction in modified vehicles, ricers, bro trucks, Jeeps. muscle cars, in the last decade or so. They were never that popular around here, but used to be more common.
High School boys ride skateboards and girls ride in mom’s suv. High School parking lots contain mostly hand me down Japanese branded sedans or cuv’s.
By grandson in San Diego waited until 18 and had a job before he bothered to apply for a license. His mom and other relatives chauffeured him around until then. A stock old Civic is his current ride.
The rust monster is very active in Ohio, so cars rot quickly around here. I don’t sense that most kids care about cars like I did when I was 16. My kids spend a fortune on uber and lyft rides but I guess it’s cheaper than a DUI/OVI.
My kids drive a Honda Accord and a Kia Sportage, both hand-me-downs from us, and as long as they start in the morning, the bluetooth works and the a/c blows cold, I don’t hear much about them either way.
Within my extended family, kids drive a mix of Accords, Altimas and one Acura TL.