This morning I was watching a soccer game with my roommate when a commercial came on for the new VW Jetta. I commented that it was a good looking car, and he said "tell me about it, and it's got the same engine as my Audi. I found that out after I bought it. It would have probably saved me a substantial amount of money, but then again, everyone's driving a VW these days."
I have another friend who maintains that any guy who drives a VW is gay. This came up the other day while I was riding with him and we pulled up next to two guys in a VW Cabrio at a stoplight. While I don't necessarily agree with him on that (although a case could be made for guys who drive VW Bugs, Mazda Miatas and Mini Coopers), I have held to the notion that the Jetta is a 'hot chick car' for a long time. If you see one on the road and look at who is driving it, more often that not it'll be a good looking girl (note: this is based strictly on anecdotal evidence). When I told all this to my roommate, he agreed and was reassured in his choice of vehicle (ok, so I don't know about the reassurance part, but he did agree with me on the 'hot chick' part).
I wonder if this stereotype seems to be more prevalent than just within my circle of friends. I do know a few straight men who drive VWs. They have all been accused of being gay at some point, sometimes by people who don't even know what they drive. One of my old neighbors was one such example. He was in law school while I was working on my bachelor's degree. He drove a black Jetta, knew a lot about food and decorating, and even had a rather effeminite voice. People were always joking with him about that, asking "Are you sure you're not gay?" any time he commented about something in those areas. For the record, he wasn't.
(as an aside, his wife drove a Kia Sportage. It was a good car for a college student, especially one with a family (they had two kids). There were enough seatbelts, it was easy to load kids into, plus it had four wheel drive for driving in winter. However, just the fact that a vehicle like that has four wheel drive does not make it anything more than a Kia. Every time they were getting ready to go somewhere, she would call out "boys, go get in the Jeep." I never actually corrected her on this, but every time she did it I'd cringe, and a little part of me would die.)
4 comments:
Me and Eleanor have talked about this quite a bit, too. I saw a Top 10 list of "cars favored by gays" and at least 3 of them were Volkswagens. So that probably accounts for assumptions about "gayness" based on the brand of car.
Eleanor thinks that young girls like cars that project ideas of "young, fun, and cute" and these seem to be civics, minis, jettas and the like. She says most gay people probably look for the same thing. Her conclusion: likes in cars for gays = likes in cars for young, fun, cute girls.
I like jettas. I'll go blog about it as it's been a topic I've been putting off.
I know I would like to drive a BMW 625 when I have enough cash to do it.
As for VW's, Aaron used to drive a VW Beetle in high school. LIME GREEN, no less. I always thought that was funny, because he's really tall and I guess he fit well in it without getting squished. Now he drives a Passat. So they're nice cars, so what? Doesn't mean guys who drive them are gay.
Sounds like some "macho" guys are just too afraid to admit they have a thing for VW's. :P
For the record, I'm not a 'macho' guy. I happen to like VWs. I probably wouldn't drive a bug, I would buy a Jetta, Passat or Tourag if I had the money, but I don't.
I agree with the hot female driver thing...Brandon "the Crow" was always pointing that out to me back in college. Maybe because only rich college girls can afford Jettas, and their rich fathers attract good-looking women as spouses?
I went to a gay-lesbian training yesterday (see my blog) and the lady made mention that a lot of companies target homosexuals because they usually make good money and have a lot of expendable income (less kids involved in the relationships...although that is changing). She said that Subaru will give you $500 off a new car if you are gay/lesbian. So put on your best gay look when you go shopping for a new Subaru and you could get $500 off...
Post a Comment