We’re all at least a little guilty of assigning personality traits and cultural quirks to people based on the cars they drive, and frequently not for the better – I’m sure you could easily reply with strong beliefs if I asked you what vehicles jerks prefer. But we like to keep things much more positive here at The Autopian, so let’s flip it. What cars exclusively give you positive vibes about their owners? The gang piped in on Slack:
Mark Tucker: “Saab owners. They’re as weird as their cars are, but always good folks. Classic British and Italian sports car owners are good folks too, if a little pedantic and rivet-county.”
Replied Matt:
“Have you ever met a mean person driving a Volvo 240 Wagon? From the 1st owner to the 19th owner, nice people.”
Thomas Hundal is a very nice guy who drives a Boxster, so this tracks:
Boxster owners are also surprisingly nice. A friend was recently musing about some of the antisocial behaviour in Corvette owners groups, when I opened up a Boxster owner’s group and saw an impressive landscaping run, a celebration of a gay wedding with many well-wishes, and someone using FB’s anonymous poster function not to harass, but to wish everyone a lovely weekend with a picture of their own Boxster.
Mercedes Streeter with a (disappointing) surprise:
If this were 2008, I’d say Smart owners. But today, Smarts are sometimes owned by massive jerks. The kind of people who say they bought a Prius just so they can save money for more bullets. Smart owners in 2008 were so wholesome they voted me to be the spokesperson of Smart USA; too many Smart owners in 2026 want to ban me from bathrooms.
Your turn!
Which Cars Have The Most Wholesome Owners?
Top graphic images: Porsche; iOS
Checks unsername, I think Thomas is onto something! 😉
Haven’t meet a jerk driving a Solara ever either….
I, too, want to second Thomas’ comment, I think people that drive 986’s are just the nicest, they really should be given a medal or something. Especially if they have a base model in Arena Red.
I think we just came up with a case where Miata is NOT always the answer. Many Miata owners are wonderful people and the car has a great community generally, but unfortunately there is a significant number of stanced/smokeshow/drift douchebags in the community as well and it drags down the average.
I’ve never once met these Miata owners you speculate exist.
Which don’t exist? The nice ones, the drift crowd or just Miata owners in general?
The naughty ones you claim are a significant portion of the owners.
I’ve never met one of those, and I’ve been around the Miata crowd in multiple states since the car hit the scene in 89′.
Mini Van’s
I’m guessing you’ve never had to ref a kid’s soccer game.
Oof. True that.
Only time I’ve had death threats in my life was reffing a U6 game.
Not cool. But i’ve seen moms at those games.
That was going to be my answer too. Relatively new minivan owners, and also relatively new 15-passenger van owners. Once those vans get older, who knows who ends up driving them, but when new they’re generally owned by people who don’t care about image, do care about practicality, and like having kids, which seems like a pretty wholesome group to me
Drivers of small, older, economy cars tend to scale better on this to me.
Have an old Ford Festiva/Mazda121/Kia Pride? Yeah, I miss mine too.
I really don’t believe there is one.I’ve worked on cars all my life and have dealt with great people that own Nissan Altimas to complete jerks that own a Volvo 200 series.Most old VW owners that I deal with seem pretty level headed but for some reason middle aged women that drive BMW or Mercedes seem like they are always harried.To me the most wholesome are the farmers that bring their equipment in for repairs.They NEVER question the bill and are happy to just to get back to work,no matter what make their stuff is.
Farmer that has brought in their stuff couldn’t fix it themselves
A lot of guys are just stretched so thin they don’t have time.
I have a shop do the work on the daily. I do the work on the truck myself, until I can’t, then it goes to a shop. No shame to the farmers – they are hardcore DIYers. If a farmer shows up to the mechanic or the doctor it’s serious.
Some things no amount of bailer twine will fix 🙁
My guess are that Prius owners are the most wholesome these days.
Gonna have to give you a hard no on this one dog. At least around here they are very often the virtue signaling a-holes.
Around here, it’s used for people who just need to go places in a cost effective way… and also heavily used by taxi/Uber drivers… along with other toyota hybrids.
Is it virtue signaling, or just enthusiasm for them? When we were a Prius family, it was just a lot of enthusiasm.
Everyone I know who drives a Prius just wants to get good gas mileage.
Who is ‘virtue signaling’ about driving a Prius in this year of our Lord 2026, when a zillion other cars are also hybrids and some get nearly as good MPG as the Prius does?
In LA anyway, the most recent new Prius drivers I’ve seen seem perfectly nice, and I think some of them just bought the car because it’s practical but now also kind of pretty. You should see how a smile breaks out on their face when I tell them ‘hey, nice car!’ every single time.
I haven’t met a mean ACVW owner. Even the ones who drove split window bus prices through the roof. How could you, anyway? Bugs be cute!
Sadly, getting fewer and fewer on the ground every year.
I need to get mine back out there.
Not exactly the question at hand, but I’ve noticed that all the BMW drivers I have met on a track day have all been nice people, as compared to BMW drivers on the road that… well, you know.
More relevantly, and not to suck up to any resident editors, but I doubt there are very many jerks driving 2CVs.
There’s a few Journalists and Editors from other websites that seem to think at least ONE 2CV owner is a jerk.
Allegedly.
They’re just jealous of all his quirky humor writing skills I bet. 😉
People driving BMWs on a track are people who bought them for different reasons than most BMW owners.
Straining here as I’m trying to remember the last time someone cut me off, robbed a bank and got away, did a street takeover, wove through traffic, sped through a school zone or rolled coal in a Citroen 2CV.
Try living closer to Torch. Every day with the bank robberies, this guy.
I hear that’s why the pens are chained down.
You just KNOW that Torch has a thing for nice pens
You gotta feed that Ranch dressing habit somehow
Whatever car I’m driving at that point, cos I’m awesome.
Wish I had your self confidence Gilbert! 🙂
Well, I’d been drinking at the time, which would preclude me driving…
Aircooled VW owners. A little quirky, but generally nice people. 🙂 (Although I’m a little biased, have a ’69 Squareback that I’m working on).
I came here to say this, I’ve had nothing but good experiences with air-cooled folks. 1972 Super Beetle owner here. You kind of have to be nice, because every time you go anywhere in a Beetle people will stop you to talk about the one they used to have. I even had a group of teenagers taking selfies with it once, because they’d never seen one before.
I’ve been having that same experience with the Volvo 240 wagon/245 I bought last year. Guys coming up in parking lots to tell me about the one their uncle had that they loved riding around in, or girls coming up to tell me their boyfriend loves them (245s) and wants one so bad.
I’ve never met an a-hole who drives an Outback, or any other non-performance Subaru.
Considering where I live (Burlington, VT) that’s a sample size of roughly half the adult population.
They may not be assholes but they ARE some of the slowest and most annoying drivers in existence. In my area (DC) 90% of the time there’s someone holding up traffic doing 5 under in the fast lane it’s a damn Subaru. They also love to slam the brakes on yellow, refuse to turn on red, et cetera.
Most are probably decent people, but holy shit. You might be okay showing up 15 minutes late in the name of safety but if I show up that late it’s going to be a problem….
I’ve noticed here in MN that the Subie drivers seem to have been taking lessons from the Prius folks – either 5mph under the limit and driving like they’re scared of everything around them, or being an absolute terror by tailgating and swerving through traffic. The latter always seems to be the wilderness trim models for some reason.
DC traffic is 90% assholes. The fact that some of them drive as Subaru is irrelevant. DC traffic just doesn’t care.
I agree with this observation. It seems like the selling point of Subarus has been the safety side of things. So the people who are inclined to buy something based largely on the notion of such a virtue will often be those who are the most cautious and, if I’m being mean, the most cowardly.
My take is that they’re typically going well under the posted speed limit, going around normal curves at a walking pace, will not accelerate to match traffic when merging onto a freeway. I doubt that the accelerator has ever been used past 10%, but the brakes are worn out every few months as they constantly ride them or use them like an emotional support animal at all times.
These are not good drivers by and large; the only tactic they have to drive safely is to go slow or sometimes, go slower.
The only exception are those who buy Crosstreks. It feels like they have something to prove. I’m not sure why you’d buy one of the slowest cars currently made and then drive it like you stole it half the time. I guess it’s better than moving at a glacial pace, but not sure how much.
Guess you have never had my wife behind you flashing her lights on her Crosstrek for you to get out of left lane so she can keep rolling…
I think Hanlon’s Razor applies, people who don’t bother to learn enough about the safety-critical, social act of driving to be aware that they’re impeding traffic are just inconsiderate, even if they’ve never had a nefarious intention.
Being the “most wholesome” requires some level of proactiveness and intentionality.
I’m a very chill guy, but anyone being inconsiderate drives me crazy.
Damn, that feels like the case out here in Denver as well. I guess it’s also a numbers game, as Subarus are just popular in general (the stereotype is true).
So when I read a review of an Outback or Forrester or something, I’m always surprised to hear that the acceleration is decent. Someone should tell the owners.
Oh I promise you acceleration isn’t decent. That cvt takes 2 business days to make up its mind. While the hamster spins up. And I’ve been trying to blow one up whenever I drive it to have a solid reason to get rid of the stupid thing. Still slow as can be no matter what you do. They can get moving if you are already on it. Absolutely terrible cars. But you drive one of a while you understand why they do what they do. Because they are such terruble cars. The only time I’ve found Subaru driving useful is when you get a Subaru convoy. They are all terrible in the same way so it works. You can match each other.
Amazing. Kinda reminds me of earlier Priuses, where you could try your hardest to just go faster, but no. The car refused. Everyone in Denver believes you NEED AWD to survive, and Subaru has nailed the “outdoorsy vibe” marketing, so it tracks. I guess we all look for different features in a car, but I couldn’t drive something that recalcitrant to getting up to speed.
There are lots of “I need 4 wheel brakes” people around Denver. Tires really make a difference. The amount of people along the front range bragging about and evangelising KO2s for general purpose is disturbing. They are terrible at everything. It used to be people would have a set of snow tires. They still do in the mountains or some people that ski a lot but others I doubt even know they exist. They just know when they come from the west coast they have to ditch their whatever for a taco, 4 runner , or Subaru. I think full size trucks might be in there too. It used to be full size trucks around Denver were fine. Now they seem more often then not like someone who has only driven a civic or corrolla on the west coast.
Went to the USA (Denver-Moab only) for the first time this year. Disappointed in the few number of Trucks that I saw. Kept loosing the Outback we hired in carparks. Easy not to hold everyone up in them though -They have enough acceleration when called upon even merging onto the i-70 was OK. But then again I drive a VW Westfalia back in Australia so it’s all contextual.
I figure it’s just the owners who are probably more cautious than most other brands of cars.
Normally tons but the 4 runners have become very popular though there. Plus almost everything is cuv or suv now. You can blend in easy in a Subaru in mountain town too. It’s like anything what you are used to. I can jump in a 20 year old hybrid with 250k miles that needs shocks and probably some others things and feel like wow a vehicle that works properly and can accelerate. New or newer Subaru pales in comparison. That cvt is a killer. Always waiting for the hamster to spin up. I’ve driven dump trucks that handle better. I’m sure there are worse vehicles like an Altima or a rouge. Once you get them going they will go but it’s hell getting them going.
Sorry man. That was me. Took a 16hour flight from Australia to Denver to see the inlaws at christmas and had to jump straight onto the I-70 jetlagged and on the wrong side of the road/car for me promising Hertz not to use the transit toll lanes. and it was icy and kind of sketch – when asked what car I went straight for the Outback. Way faster than my cars back home though. Didn’t feel like I was holding up traffic. Acceleration ws fine! Made it to Moab and back for a nuggets game! Good times. What a country! Kept losing the Outback in the Trader joes carpark though.
Rental cars have a red FLT plate so I don’t blame y’all at all! Doesn’t sound like your accelerator was broken haha.
I normally drive a VW T3 Westfalia so kept my hire in the boxer club. The Outback felt like a supercar.
To be honest. I did drive it like a hire car so as I feel like most people complain about a cars power don’t really use the full rev range.
DC area suburu drivers are a special bunch. I’ve never known one even attempt speed. Some younger people in Crosstrek or the sporty ones maybe? In their essence most are basically cheapskate Volvo people? Very calm, in their own worlds. Old church ladies and librarians.
“I’ve never known one even attempt speed.”
Then we haven’t met.
I’m roaming between 270/Montrose -> 495/95/Rt. 50 and I’m going to be moving fast in the left lane. I will not be holding anyone up, that’s for sure.
And pity the fool who tailgates me on our f’d up roads in MoCo… because I call that kind of driving “urban offroading”. A few weeks back, a guy in a Nissan Altima was tailgating me on Wayne Ave. in Silver Spring (which looks like it’s been shelled by Iran) and as I rolled over the first two sink holes like it was the back country. He seemed to pop a tire or something and had to pull over. I’m guessing I drove that stretch faster than 95% of all the other drivers.
Anyways… the point is… I probably drive my Subaru too fast most times.
That before 5am 495 from Springfield to Rockville I have seen some Nist people in Subaru Foresters and Outbacks drive very unlike their normal self. Sometimes around the same time GW parkway from Arlington to Langley. But that’s mainly Crosstreks.
Left-lane-camping is selfish, entitled asshole behaviour- the opposite of wholesome.
Oh man, I love that area. I’ve been a few times (friends of mine have family there). If the border ever becomes non-hostile to Canadians again I need to go back.
Have you ever driven in Pennsylvania?It seems like every angry 25 year old that couldn’t get a loan for $100k diesel buys one,puts a rack on the roof and drives around like a complete idiot.
Mini drivers tend to be decent people. When my wife bought hers she got sucked into the culture almost immediately. She is not naturally a car person. We’ve been to several Mini rallies since and the folks who show up are generally pleasant. I like to say it’s an odd cult but a very friendly one.
Maybe that’s where the mg people went.
All the mini driver I know are members of the tire of the month club.
Probably a bell curve fit. I’ve met owners of both high end and low end cars who range from those who i can’t get away from fast enough to my wife has to drag me away. I’m quite easy going and someone has to be a high function scumbag to really offend me.
On that note most owners of older Volvo, Saab, domestic restored and not so restored products are fine as are all Mazda and Toyota owners.
Being a multiple Volvo owner, it’s hard to drive like a jerk when you’re scared that it’s going to break again and end up sitting for a few weeks while you wait for a part or try to figure out what the hell went wrong this time.
It’s a good thing I have three of them, that way, I always have one car I can drive if needed.
My 740 turbo wagon loved quick 1000 mile trips at 90mph, and also was fine with the stop sign and a cop at the end of the expressway on-ramp with 60mph traffic coming around a blind corner.
Anytime I got pinged by radar it was the guy I just passed in a Mustang or BMW that got pulled over.
Gray haired old man in a 20 year old Volvo? Totally invisible.
My 914/6 I get stopped by Porsche owning cops that want to check out the gasburners. Always the center of attention.
My Volvo S40 had many failure modes , all electrical, and all anti-theft or transmission starter interlock related. I finally bypassed the dumb starter shifter interlock
That car eventually was totaled by a combination of squirrels, and the stupid Volvo anti theft crap.
At this point my only interest in Volvos is to swap an 850 engine into something else. Because 5 cylinders.
Kind of a vague answer, but crappy cars with enthusiastic owners. Over the years I’ve been involved with the Malaise Daze car show, the Concours d’Lemons car show, and the 24 Hours of Lemons race series and I had a great time at all of them mainly because most of the participants realize their cars are junk or unloved and as such don’t take themselves too seriously, so the atmosphere is very fun and lighthearted.
A corollary has to be people who have preserved and kept up everyday cars for decades. Anyone with the money can buy some vintage sportscar and tell everyone they’re a connoisseur, but to be driving around in a worn but preserved with care sedan says something money can’t buy.
Yep, agreed, and there are always examples of those at the shows I mentioned.
My local cars n’ caffeination has gotten very popular since #ThePandemic and has drawn more and more very high end cars. And that’s awesome, and most of those people seem to be very nice folks who don’t mind kids poking their heads in the window and offer to let them sit inside and such. BUT, I’ve noticed that the more that supercars have shown up, the bigger the crowds have gotten around the nice condition “crappy” cars. 80s Crown Vics, mint Camry Wagons, pristine Berettas. People love em.
Can confirm, I took my ’85 Ford LTD LX to a hoity toity cars and coffee event here in San Diego last weekend where my car was parked just feet from a Ferrari F40 and Porsche 959 and my car still got plenty of attention.
The most wholesome, unpretentious vehicle owners are the ones who drive little compact 2-door pickup trucks. They’ll stop to help anybody.
They don’t have to buy huge lifted trucks to prove that they are somebody. They’re not trying to be something they’re not. They always carry jumper cables and a tow strap.
And they’ll even give you a ride to a service station, even if it means anybody with you has to either wait with the broken-down car or ride in the bed of the truck.
In my area, all of that is true. Unless you’re a POC.
Then the compact 2-door truck owners get REAL unwholesome REAL fast.
I had to google what POC was. I’m not that hip when it comes to Internet abbreviations.
Skin-tone makes no difference to me. I used to own a compact 2-door truck but it collapsed due to rust. Now I drive a rusty 2-door mid-sized truck.
-with a set of jumper cables under the seat. 🙂
I’ll verify by mentioning that more than a couple times, I’ve become that guy in the Progressive commercials and struck up a conversation with small pickup owners in parking lots. All very kind, and happy to confirm that why yes, they DO sometimes receive offers for their 2002 Ranger, and no, it is not for sale!
I can attest that SMART cars are owned by massive jerks.
Considering that Peter Theil bought one for his PA to run errands in….
Volvos used to be owned by nice people – Then they started selling SUVs, and those owners are jerks.
Studebakers – Those are owned by nice people.
So are Minis.
Studebakers – Those are owned by nice people.
And bears. Can’t forget them; it’s their natural habitat. Wocka wocka!
Original or modern Mini?
Yes
Taurus SHO owners
I heard they’re all a bunch of SHO-offs.
Mercury Sable. Of all of Mercury’s concurrent models, the most likely to have attracted the good neighbor crowd throughout its life. No hipsters ironically driving a land yacht/enthusiasts imagining it’s some sort of under the table muscle car, no sports car pretenders, no luxury dreamers, just a solid, inoffensive daily driver to do what’s needed in most cases with no fuss and runs good on regular gas.
Saab is a good answer, maybe Volvo, but I know some Volvo owners which are not “perfect” so who knows.
Skoda?
The Saab thing could very well be true today, but I found the opposite to be true in the ’80s. It seemed that every self-righteous prick that came into our garage was driving either a 900 or a 900 turbo. These were people (OK, mostly guys in their late 20’s/early 30’s) who had an air of “I clearly know something you don’t know” about them at all times.
Interesting. I guess that, after Saab’s demise, they moved to German Premium cars?
You got it. Saabs all the way until this self-rightous prick moved to BMW!
My time in the Mercedes w126 community taught me that they are the least judgmental group out there.
It’s regular to see concours-grade owners from say, Long Island, happily giving judgement-free advice to some guy in the Balkans or South Africa just trying to cobble together a running car.
Completely wholesome and absolutely worldwide. I can honestly say I never had a bad experience in the 4 years I owned the car.
I’m new to Classic Mini ownership, but my local(ish) group has been active since 1975 and are insanely helpful. One person just sent me CV boots from the club’s emergency stockpile so I can get the car on the road.
I noticed during my time as the owner of a Triumph Spitfire that it was impossible to do anything around it other than smile. That went for the owner too, even when stuff was broken. I don’t know if the owner is already wholesome or the Spitfire makes them wholesome, but there is something wholesome about driving a car that looks like a happy frog.
Had a friend in high school who had one, and for me, it was always the height of effortless, good-natured cool. The right amount of dashing and class, but not pretentious, edgy, or dangerous-seeming, esp to girls. And it seemed to make him even more that sort of guy; I was quite envious.
Excellent description, also fits the guy I knew who drove one in HS.
My knee jerk reaction was Volvo and I’m sticking to it. There’s something about the Swedish style of luxury that soothes drivers. It helps that modern Volvos usually have enough power to keep up with any traffic without having so much power that they reward aggressive driving. And obviously older Volvos were slow and today are driven by enthusiasts who love their quirky old cars too much to hoon them.
From my experience, definitely Volvos as well. Typically more reserved, helpful, nice people. No kids trashing and hooning them. Usually people who like interesting cars, unique boxy styling, safety, and old turbos.
There have been quite a few fast Volvos. The thing is, they look like the slow ones, so you’d never know. Not like you find a lot of people hot rodding around in them, even if they are more than capable of it. Going fast is fun, even better when nobody blinks at you in a tan station wagon.
CyberTrucks. It’s extremely considerate of them to clearly advertise they have no taste, no moral compass, and still clearly support an immoral fascist centibillionaire well, having only been released since the decline into hard-right politics and quiet-part-out-loud racism. Were only most other people so thoughtful as to advertise themselves as insufferable right from the jump.
Ram owners: “how quickly you’ve forgotten me now that there’s an even bigger gluebag.”
If CT owners can figure out an accessory to roll coal with, the circle will be complete.
I’m sprinting to the patent office now
You mean Sprintering? I refuse to accept that VanGuy would walk someplace.
The van is to carry pallets of cash from licensing deals.
Look, he’s not going out on some kind of Safari. He just needs the paperwork handled Express.
Don’t Acty the fool and just Carry it yourself.
Maybe it’s because the sample size is small, but I have never encountered a Mini (any model) being driven dickishly (probably because of the inherent risk of doing so), and every person I’ve known to own one has been an absolute delight to talk to. I figured you’d get a few annoying knobs committed to the brand but not in my experience. Just happy people.