Michael Martineck has a great article over at The Truth About Cars. The Cambridge Strategy Center published a study that help defines people like me and their obsession with cars. When I read this article I felt like they had me and my feelings toward cars totally pegged. Apparently I am categorized as an “expressive”.
Expressives perceive their vehicles as [yet another] expression of their personalities. They are what they drive.
Expressives want a car that shows they are smart, rich, hip, practical and/or environmentally conscious. Conversely, in a different form of expression, they might not give two puffs what you think.
Expressives like to drive. All driving is a form of competition, whether it’s racing the wannabe in the Honda Civic or owning the world’s most fuel efficient vehicle. The believe an automobile should do one thing and one thing well. Expressives want the best rock climber or dragster or delivery van.
I think that is why I tend to want a new car every day and cars like the Evo appeal to me. It is an amazing performer and is purpose built to do be a high performance vehicle and the Evo does it very well.
You can read more at http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/the-truth-about-you/.
3 responses so far ↓
1 dclawyer // Jun 1, 2008 at 5:49 am
I think I am an expressive. I am weak enough to fall within the “you are what you drive” camp. I love cars but find driving boring. I drive in the city where you have to be brain dead to deal with the traffic. And I find car trips on the interstate even more boring. I like the kind of driving you see in BMW ads. But that’s just not part of my life. All I really need is a Personal Transportation Appliance (a “Camcord”) but would drive one only as a last resort. But this makes me feel shallow.
2 garythepowers // Jun 3, 2008 at 8:33 pm
You aren’t weak or shallow, you are an enthusiast and you think driving should be fun, not boring. A car shouldn’t be an appliance!
3 A Sad RB // Jun 13, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Good article. I guess my diatribe about finding the 500 HP vehicle that can move 7 people really frustrated you! I, in fact, am an expressive 80% of time, but eventually fall back into reality regarding my own personal situation and become an instrumentalist. In fact, there is some perverse joy that I derive from continually searching for that perfect combination of both.
You now have a car that can seriously deal with anything on the road (in a straight line), and with $5K will perform very close to a C6 Z06…or maybe better.
Have fun!