If you wanted to check out some late-model, high-dollar whips, where would you go? The local country club? A chic nightspot? A racetrack? A quick trip to Beverly Hills? It’s likely that your first thought was not of the city of Eugene–some people know it as “Havana, Oregon”–which is famous for the immortal beaters that still ply its streets. Eugene is home to the University of Oregon; in the past few years, the city has seen a large influx wealthy foreign students eager to show off their menagerie of expensive cars. The UO campus is just a couple of miles from Paul’s house, but he doesn’t get over there on his daily routine. Since I work on campus, I asked him if I might contribute to Curbside Classics some of the photos I’ve snapped, and share some firsthand news of this fairly new phenomenon.
When I came to Eugene, in 1993, it was the plethora of Volkswagen camper vans and modified school buses that impressed me. Now I can boast of having seen two Maserati Gran Turismos (sorry, no photo).(Ed: but musicalmcs8706 just posted this one at the Cohort) One of them was driving past the other at 13th Avenue and Kincaid Street, the college-town crossroads where students go to see and be seen. Three weeks ago I snapped this Aston Martin DB9 there.
The largest share of wealthy foreign students come from China, and they seem to prefer such exemplars of German engineering as the Porsche Panamera in the top photo. It is rather incongruous to see cars we associate with rich, respectable businessmen, ladies who lunch, or even hairy-chested men in mid-life crisis being driven by 19-year olds who barely speak English. The local dealers—we have Mercedes and BMW, but no Audi or Porsche franchises—must be ecstatic.
Back home in China, high tariffs, choking traffic and limits on new registrations have made car ownership difficult in many large cities like Shanghai. If you pay for a new Mercedes you also risk having it dinged up in a land were 20% of the motorists learned to drive within the past year. So when the Chinese students arrive in Eugene, a $55,000 E550 coupe (at right) or $45,000 C350 coupe (middle) seems like a bargain. They are also happy to feed meters at the rate of $1.50 an hour, and also to pay for the inevitable tickets. Some of these German luxury cars, like the Audi A7 that Paul snapped one night recently, bear decals that hint at their owners’ heritage.
The fuel-tank filler flap seems a suitable place for this Chinese-character sticker on a BMW M3 (16 mpg combined), which may return even lower mileage since the owner has modified it with a carbon-fiber hood and other expensive toys. I wish I could tell you what it says.
Other decals in English include “Pretty in China”, which hints that the male car owners are able to attract female passengers. I always see a man behind the wheel, often with a glamorous woman passenger.
At the right edge of this photo is a woman, in black boots and a skirt, on her way to class after being dropped off in a BMW 550i.
The most meaningful decal is this one, which I snapped on one of the many Nissan Skyline GT-Rs that now prowl the campus.
After I talked to a couple of students and searched Facebook, I found that the International Student Car Club is indeed Eugene-based. Making decals, going out to clubs and gathering in parking lots for impromptu car shows appear to be its members’ main activities. Note also the stuffed animals belted into the rear seat. These seem to be for Chinese car nuts what fuzzy dice were for the U.S. hot-rodders of the American Graffiti-era. No kids to worry about among this set, but I’m glad they are getting in the habit of buckling up their plush toys.
Recent posted on CC was a snapshot of this McClaren MP4-12c, which was parked on the same block as the two Maseratis and the Aston Martin pictured above. I guess this driver was not to be outdone, and paid nearly $250,000 for his curb candy. Comments on the site suggested that he went too far, but those words may be tinged with envy.
Of course, not all of the student gearheads are from China, nor are all their cars imports. One member of the International Student Auto Club drives a new Camaro.
A couple of years ago I met several students from Qatar who had enrolled in my course (about cars). A couple of them drove modified Mustangs, another a BMW X5. They taught me and their classmates a lot about cars and driving in their home country which, of course, is far wealthier than China. In Qatar, rolling a Land Cruiser on a sand dune or having one’s Nissan supercar confiscated by the police apparently is a routine experience. And unlike the Chinese students who buy their cars here in Oregon (no sales tax!), all of the Qataris shipped over their rigs from the homeland. Last Friday at dusk I spotted this Nissan 370Z wearing plates from home. I believe these are from Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates.
According to several recent news stories I’ve read, the major auto makers fear that the college-age markets of North America and Western Europe increasingly regard bikes and buses as cool, but cars as a waste of money and fossil fuels. These savvy young drivers might buy a Kia Soul or Hyundai Elantra (if it has enough USB ports), but they’re not interested in hot-rodding or the high-ticket rides that drive the manufacturers’ profits. This appears to be true in Eugene, where bicycling students put stickers proclaiming “One Less Car” on the frames of their one-speeds, and skateboarders respond with a sticker boasting “One Less Fixie” on their boards. Nevertheless, the international students who drive the cars pictured here still follow the old-school way of showing off expensive cars.
[Long-time CC reader Gordon Sayre is Assistant Professor of English at The University of Oregon]
Looks like we got a bunch of spoiled brats who desperately need a five-year employment experience at McDonald’s. At gunpoint if necessary.
No joke!
Problem is, these folks are members of the ‘privileged’ class, kind of akin to princes and princesses back in the day. No way they’ll be working at McDonald’s, unless their parents go in the way of Bo Xilai’s. You could say they’re being educated appropriately for the positions they’re likely to end up with.
Like I said, at gunpoint if necessary. My experience with people from this class has always been that there’s nothing wrong with them that a bit of enforced living like the average citizen can’t cure. It would at least give them a (forced) appreciation of those around them. Which would make them much better citizens.
“Like I said, at gunpoint if necessary. My experience with people from this class has always been that there’s nothing wrong with them that a bit of enforced living like the average citizen can’t cure.”
I think Chairman Mao tried that back in the ’60s – it looks like it didn’t work…
As in an executive position of McDonald’s in China?
In another 40 or 50 years, lots of old cars will be driving around in Eugene, and others will be sitting under tarps or under trees as they slowly decay. These cars will all be in the second category due to being cost-prohibitive of keeping on the road.
The “young kid,rich parents” deal is alive and well up here in Vancouver, Canada also. The kids are always getting pulled over by the police for racing each other or worse,getting in accidents. A 19 year old was pulled over the other day for not having a front licience plate on his new Lamborghini Aventador…turns out he didn’t even have insurance on it! Cop gave him a $500 ticket and the kid complained about the cost of the fine!!
Most of the bike riding tools won’t be driving because they can’t get a job that pays more than minimum wage with their brand new “marxist philosophy and flower arranging” degree.
Nice generalization. Im an engineer for a major electrical utility who bikes everyday (4 miles, don’t pay parking or gas). It’s cheaper and faster.
Oh please. Take your stereotypes elsewhere.
Your 1975-vintage generalization aside, a large percentage of the UO students ride bikes because they live nearby, and parking is very limited, not because of any ideological reason. Or they (god-forbid) ride the (commie) bus!
Plenty of UO students have cars (mostly Japanese-brand hand-me-downs), but to drive them to class would be utterly futile.
You’re also forgetting that, around a college campus, ownership of a bicycle is a lot more practical on a day to day basis (and probably faster during high traffic periods) than car ownership. I found that out back in 1969 when I started bike commuting around Erie, PA; and it is equally true today.
Besides, don’t knock my customer base. I’ve got a good enough side business refurbishing bikes for college students at the University of Richmond, VCU and Randolph-Macon that it keeps my own bike fleet running, AND has paid for all the maintenance bills on my Porsche over the last three years. I’m seriously thinking of actually hanging out a shingle on the property and going formal next spring.
Your personal prejudice is a couple of decades out of date, too. It’s “Transgender Studies” nowadays.
GTX440 does have a point. Just about everyone I know went to school for something useless (myself included). I know one person with a mathematics background, and he’s making bags of money at a local company that makes enterprise grade networking equipment. As for everyone else my age? Art school, philosophy, art school, animation, film school, generic liberal arts degree, and my personal favorite who changed her major from Biochem to major in 14th century European weaponry with a minor in Ottoman military history. Job prospects? Almost none. Ability to do anything useful? Zip.
That said, I went to film school, dropped out and have worked at a coffee shop for three years. At least I managed to buy a house and don’t suck my parents bank accounts dry like the typical useless twentysomehing.
Well, I can identify with this year’s graduates who are having trouble finding gainful employment–I graduated into the teeth of a recession in 1991 and worked crappy jobs for a few years until I went to grad school and then fell into what turned out to be an IT career. My degree is in Political Science and East Asian Studies. My wife’s is in Russian and Soviet Studies (she got her degree and the USSR went out of business 6 months later). We both do pretty well for ourselves now, after a lot of hard work and hard lessons. So you can do something with a liberal arts degree, if you pick up some life skills while you’re earning it.
That said, I’m not sure what a degree in 14th-Century weaponry is good for, although it must come in handy at renaissance fairs.
I’ve been a re-enactor, 14th-17th century for close to twenty years, primarily Elizabethan, early American colonies, English Civil War and French and Indian War (French Marine). I have no doubt that I have a better practical understanding of 14th century weaponry, having done a lot of period fighting, than any college graduate with a degree on the subject. And I don’t have a 21st century politically correct bias to my information, either. All the PC in the world ain’t gonna save your ass if your defensive guard is too high.
“changed her major from Biochem to major in 14th century European weaponry with a minor in Ottoman military history” – how did she tailor her degree to have such a specific degree?
I have a bachelors degree in history- it would have been cool to have been able to specifically study something that obscure- even if its useless
my university just gives out history degrees
I have a professional job downtown, and ride my bike to work most of the Summer. Less aggravation, cheaper, and a great way to get some exercise.
When my dad went to UO back in the ’60s, he drove a Valiant – but when we came back to Canada and he went back to riding his bike to work.
I think I may have to jack you, keep showing up at the same time, in the same place driving the same car. One day “gone” Pull a god damn Keyser Soze on your shit…… Your not that big of a deal chicken head, lame (translation for you – “rame”)
Looks like they need a course in College Beater Appreciation and Repair…
Spend a semester in a car that costs no more than $500 and keep it running with nothing more than an 8 way screwdriver, rusty Vice Grips, a roll of Duct tape and six feet of bailing wire.
(Who puts a Bio-hazard sticker on the fuel door, stands back and thinks “Yeah! That’s the Stuff!”??)
I am not one to envy the “1 percent,” but I am a little miffed that kids of rich foreign parents are rolling in $60k+ cars in college while they are likely paying little to no tuition because they’re “international students.” Meanwhile this kid of working stiffs had to borrow every dime, because his parents came from this country and paid taxes here, but fell in the “too well off for need based aid, too poor to actually afford college” hole.
What? I thought it’s usually the ‘in state’ students (locals) that get charged less tuition due to some support from the government. International students usually gets charged full price, sometimes even a little extra. At least it was that way in my university. Do the University of Oregon do it the other way? Or is there any other universities that do that? It’s just don’t make much sense to me.
Actually, a good many state universities are finding ways to artificially limit the number of in-state students who can apply in order to have room for more out-of-state students who pay higher tuition rates.
Joe; I don’t know where you’re getting that idea.
In-state tuition: $8,010 (only somewhat subsidized by the state)
Out of state tuition: $27,360 A key profit center for the UO, and all other state universities. Out of state (and international) tuition is key to helping keep in-state tuition somewhat affordable despite the state’s dramatic reductions in support of the state higher education budgets.
The UO actively recruits student all over Asia for that exact reason, and the UO is particularity successful at it. The UO “brand” ranks particularly high in China, for some reason.
The number of Asian students here has soared in the past decade, and is giving Eugene a substantial change in its demographic; cars included.
And it’s not just the UO that profits; but obviously the car dealers, expensive apartments are being built like mad, more Asian restaurants, etc. Welcome to the new reality!
It’s the same in Canada, and we still have many of the same racist attitudes floating around, as rednecks for some odd reason thing they get it for free but then again such people can’t even spell “university.”
Huge amounts of school and university space was built for the baby boomers and the only way to keep those institutions open is by international students. In Vancouver, 25% of all the kids in the public schools are foreign students, mostly Chinese. When you add landed immigrants it’s upward of 90% in some schools. The foreign students pay $25,000 per year.
Tuition for a Canadian at the University of British Columbia is $4500 a year while foreign students pay $25,000 and up. It’s a big addition to the local economy here and the graduated licencing on cars has helped keep the death toll down.
My father is a retired university professor and he says that the students also profit because they get exposed to people from truly different cultures than they would without the out-of-state and international students.
There’s also a profit because the international students learn how good the US is and start demanding similar programs and freedoms at home.
Not to mention insurance companies! The cost of insuring an Aston Martin or some such to a young (might be even under 20!) international students who just got his/her license must be mind boggling. Next time you get to chat to one of those students, Mr. Sayle, ask mow much they pay for insurance!
” ask how much they pay for insurance”
10 bucks says they won’t have a clue. Daddy gets the bill.
PN: Please specify `Asian’. 😉
Yes, that is a bit too generalized. 🙂 We don’t get a lot of Turkmenistanis at the UO.
I don’t have the exact breakdowns, but obviously from those primarily South-East Asian countries that can afford it: China, Korea, and Japan most prominently, but also others, including a fair number of Indians.
They pay tuition. In fact, they pay more.
You’re not entirely wrong to be miffed, but I think your target may be wrong…it’s a matter of some controversy here in California that international students, most commonly from nouveau-riche families in China, are being allowed to come in and take slots at UCLA and Berkeley that would otherwise go to California residents, because they can be charged more tuition, not less. (Of course, the students themselves aren’t paying, it’s daddy back home.) The UC system wants the extra revenue.
A good friend of mine grew up in Hong Kong and attended college here in the US, but he drove a beater Civic–his dad was a civil servant, not an executive. He was and is naturally frugal and made fun of his mainland counterparts who indulged in flashy cars. Now he drives an Acura TL that he bought new several years ago, having driven the Civic as far as it would go and saved up the cash to get a new car (he also doesn’t believe in loans). And he’s since become a US citizen, and a very responsible one. So not all foreign students behave this way.
I ordinarily do not believe in sharing much personal information online but this is an area of my professional expertise, and I’ve been part of two higher education delegations to China in recent times, one sponsored by the British Embassy and one by the US Department of State. I’ve met lots of college and university officials, and students and parents in travels throughout China.
It is unfortunate that these particular students receive an inordinate amount of attention because I do not think they are representative of the majority of Chinese students who go abroad for undergraduate and graduate study. Indeed, last year when I was in Guangzhou I spent a good bit of time with a number of undergraduate students who want to pursue graduate study in the US and none were from families of great wealth, gained either through business or bureaucratic connections. In fact, what would allow them to come to the US for professional graduate degree programs is that both parents work and contribute and both sets of grandparents also provide support (for their “one” grandchild) to their education. I met some parents who were making great sacrifices to send their children abroad and were worried about their safety and well-being in the US (note that two USC grad students from China driving a 10-year old BMW were killed by armed robbers this year in front of the house where they were renting rooms).
That said, there is no question that rising wealth levels and degrees of corruption are presenting a different picture to the world. The most egregious example in China involving cars of which I’m aware is outlined here:
http://www.businessinsider.com/ling-gu-car-crash-why-everyone-in-beijing-is-talking-about-a-brutal-ferrari-crash-from-earlier-this-year-2012-9
There is also no question that US public universities have become increasingly dependent on the additional non-resident tuition income from international students, the majority of whom currently are Chinese, and this is both beneficial and troubling for both sides. It is a direct result of the withdrawal of public support for universities by states throughout the US, the public college and university systems in California being one of the largest and most visible examples.
Not denying the phenomenon noted in this article, I want to make clear that just as in the US, in China there are millions of hard-working lower and middle-class people who want the very best for their children and a US college or university education has become a major aspiration for these families. The children from these particular families are not rich and do not come to the US able or wanting to engage in the conspicuous consumption observed in Eugene.
I live in the West Side of Vancouver, which has been, in the past five years or so, literally bought up by wealthy Chinese mainlanders trying to get their (dirty) money out of China. Vancouver’s real estate market is nothing but a money laundering scheme for Chinese robber barons trying to get their money out of China. With this year’s power struggle, there have been even more coming in.
In fact, Vancouver may as well be Shanghai annex and I know the people well because I work with them every day. There are exotic cars all over the place, so many that they have lost their exclusivity. We have government run insurance here in British Columbia and they law says they must sell insurance to anything with a licence. The basic rate is the same for everyone, so the first $200,000 of liability costs exactly the same for my 13 year old Acura driven by and old fart as it does for a Ferrari driven by a sixteen year old. Fair, eh? And of course, the rich kids driving them attract heat like crazy since so many of these exotics get involved in fatal crashes.
BMWs are dime a dozen here but I am heartened that the Black Forest Gods have finally offered up the Hello Kitty Package (at a reasonable$8995) for the 3 Series. We now have the Ultimate Hello Kitty Driving Machine.
Huzzah! Another fellow English teacher!
With around 1,000 students, we have quite a large ESL center here at Kent State University. A good chunk of our students are from China and Saudi Arabia, giving us quite an eclectic mix of cars. And while we don’t have anyone mucking about in McClarens, we do have too many BMWs and Mercedes to count. Also in the mix are Mustangs and Camaros, favored by the Saudis. The Saudis curiously favor the Camry and its ilk, so most of the families here have those.
At the end of the day, they all seem to like my lowly Caprice wagon.
I am not exactly an ESL teacher, Jordan. We run an agency to send tutors to the homes of wealthy Chinese. There’s no money in classroom teaching.
Well my good man I was referring back to the author of the article 🙂
I knew this post would elicit a lot of comments, and indeed there are 25 of them in the first 45 minutes!
Thank you Paul for posting the tuition costs, which are very much to the point. For whatever reason we have not yet heard complaints from Oregonians that their spots are being taken up by international students. And it is very informative to hear from Canucknucklehead about the similar situation in Vancouver. Because of Canada’s more generous immigration policies, it sounds like the students’ parents are more likely to accompany them to Vancouver than to Eugene, thus driving up real estate prices as well as putting more expensive cars on the roads. I know that in Quebec, the in-province tuition is even lower than in BC, but most of the international students are from Haiti and Africa. The lesson is: if you don’t like the influx of wealthy foreigners and their cars, stop teaching English! Teach French instead!
Paul was kind enough to edit and format the story for me, but he left out one of the photos, while repeating the decal on the fuel cap door. The missing one is of the stuffed animals in the back seat, which I guess is also part of the Hello Kitty aesthetic.
Whoops! My bad; it was late…It’s in there now. Sorry!
That’s what the back seat of a Nissan GT-R is good for anyway!
Wouldn’t most of the Oregonians you see be ones that actually made in into U of O and thus weren’t displaced?
We have a similar problem in WA with preference given to foreign/out of state students making it very hard for in state students to get in particularly at UW.
In state student: Do you have a 4.0, high SAT scores and good extra curricular activities? Then we will consider you.
Out of state student: Do you have a pulse, is the check good? Great you are in.
Ok so maybe I’m exaggerating a bit but with my involvement with the robotics team a number of students with great grades that in the past would have easily gotten in are going out of state just to get into a 4 year college.
I’ll have to drink at Renny’s (with my camera) more often…
I’ve read about this phenomenon in a few places recently, but thought it might be urban legend. I live in a University of California college town, having moved recently from a town adjacent to Stanford University (no shortage of wealth or international students there) and spend a lot of time in Berkeley but either I’m oblivious or this is not happening in Northern California. Late model Hondas and Jettas is about as upscale as it gets here, but bikes and skateboards rule.
Don’t think the Aston Martin is a DB9 – looks like the entry-level Aston ( V8 Vantage ?)
Do the folk who create these high end supercars expect them to be driven by youngsters with little talent or experience and used as fashion accessories ?
Do the folk who create these high end supercars expect them to be driven by youngsters with little talent or experience and used as fashion accessories ?
Absolutely. Its called selling your car-soul to the devil, but its what pays the bills.
yeah, its a V8 vantage
I don’t think they care so long as the cheque clears.
A very different car scene to the one Paul shows us. Rich students with high priced rides are a common thing here too often with no proper licence but they arrive with wads of cash to help smooth the way which doesnt work as well as it does back home,
Wow, I read the article and chuckled a little. Rich kids will be rich kids, whadya gonna do. Then there’s all this animosity in the comments. All I see, in Oregon as in metro Boston, is new people and new money coming into older cities whose population and economies might otherwise stagnate.
It’s not the foreign students’ fault that colleges aren’t using their dollars to expand access. No no, they have to throw that money towards competing in “big-time college athletics” that mock and pervert their non-profit status.
“The basic rate is the same for everyone, so the first $200,000 of liability costs exactly the same for my 13 year old Acura driven by and old fart as it does for a Ferrari driven by a sixteen year old.” – The Canuck
THIS is the only thing I find objectionable here! I understand the desire to make insurance affordable for poorer, higher-risk drivers who need a car for work, but you’d think there’d be some way to means-test it.
““The basic rate is the same for everyone, so the first $200,000 of liability costs exactly the same for my 13 year old Acura driven by and old fart as it does for a Ferrari driven by a sixteen year old.” – The Canuck
THIS is the only thing I find objectionable here! I understand the desire to make insurance affordable for poorer, higher-risk drivers who need a car for work, but you’d think there’d be some way to means-test it.”
I live in the next province over from Canucknucklehead where we have private car insurance, so I don’t have direct experience with ICBC.
My understanding is that the only things they *don’t* take into account when setting the *starting* rate are age and gender – so a 16 year old boy and a 35 year old woman with no driving experience and no claims will pay the same rate for basic liability coverage.
If the 16 year old in the Ferrari starts getting into accidents and getting tickets, he can expect his rates to go up. And collsion and comprehensive will cost a *lot* more for a Ferrari than for a 13 year old Honda.
It looks like ICBC rates vary based on location, claims history, how the vehicle is used, etc. More details here: http://www.icbc.com/autoplan/costs/premiums-set
The decal on the grey M3 fuel filler door is translated as “made in China.”
And the sticker would most certainly *have* been made in China. Maybe the car, too.
The sticker on the BMW M3 fuel filler flap says “China Made” (Made in China)
This shit is hilarious. Love seeing these cars and would love to have had daddy float the bill in college, (grad 2003) in Econ and Bus, (did not have flower arrangement dept yet….) damn… But kids this is Eugene, serious? Get a Richard Mille or something if you need to flaunt (your parents wealth), it rains here and you guys drive like shit. Not hating just think its funny, why didn’t you guys go to SD State where you could actually drive them all year? Oh yeah Bc you’d be just another one of many. You’re definitely drawing attention, (disclosure) I drool every time they go by, have to earn mine the old fashion way. The MP4 is sick, the others, ehh they are cool, don’t see em everyday but nothing to put in the old spank bank… The whole international student auto club is a little too far, too pretentious. Why not put a big ass O on the back? Keep mashing!! Where are the Ferrari’s? Want to buy some high end watches?
the M3 with the red decal is actually a 335i with modification
and i think its actually an Aston Martin v8 vantage instead of DB9(thou there was a DB9 appear around campus for a day and gone)
in deed appreciation is something that these people need to learn
but these people were raised well-protected that they believe the world revolve around them
the phenomenon that all these rich kids (or kids with rich parents) are coming into United States and buying these expensive luxury cars is getting stronger