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?
+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.