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
The new MINI owners when I had mine in the early 2000s were amazing. We had meetups, events, lots of waving. I’m afraid that community isn’t what it used to be, it was amazing.
I’m online in various places with lots of folks that own Honda Fits of all generations, and they are delightful, helpful people.
Wow, soda jerks are really not liked these days…ha ha ha ha ha
The main one I can think of at the moment is the Miata community…they seem really nice and willing to give advice. I’ve heard so many great things about Miatas from this site. I would also say for the most part, car enthusiasts in general
ANY car or light truck that is old but remarkably well cared-for, but is not conventionally collectible and certainly not valuable. That elderly couple driving the minty light blue metallic first-gen Acura MDX (which seems barely larger than the Honda CRV is now) on the Pilgrim Bridge in LA… they were truly wholesome. And hundreds of similar encounters: just ‘regular’ cars, but obviously maintained and preserved and used. From early Priuses to Ford Rangers to mostly stock NA Miatas to ’90s Camrys… the car could be anything unfancy and if someone’s keeping it up well 20, 30, or even 40 years after it was made, regardless of financial gain or supposed status conveyed, there’s a good chance they’re at least somewhat wholesome.
I always compliment folks on their cars when I see one like this. Every single one of them seems glad that someone noticed.
Well, there’s a day ruined.
Humans suck.
Volvo and Saab were my top choices, especially if they are driving an older car. My friend used to say about cars like those, they were too ugly to pick on accident, and I think he is mostly right. We both love the styling, but show them to the unwashed masses, and mostly they would scoff at a Saab 900 or 240 wagon.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t BMW, FiST, or Boxster owners in my experience, although most of them were nice they could be pretty arrogant and sometimes toxic on forums. Hate to disagree with Thomas, but meeting the owners/sellers almost convinced me not to buy a Boxster, but once I was on the forums people were generally very nice/ helpful and supportive as long as you didn’t suggest using URO parts.
As a triple decade pedestrian in Manhattan I have no love for Volvo drivers. They came a close second to cabs in arrogance.
My top pick is Corvair owners.
Honda Fit and Geo Metro for sure.
Also most Subarus (possible exceptions for the really sporty ones.)
Really? Where I am, non-sporty Subaru’s are driven by insufferable left-lane campers.
This is super specific, but Mazda Protege5 drivers. I will admit that my interactions with other MP5 drivers came from me owning one (from 2021 – 2023), but every other driver was super chill. Every time I encountered another MP5 in the road, which was quite rare, I was given a thumbs up or shaka. When I conversed with owners – current or prior – I found them to be very genuine and down-to-earth people.
Protege5 was one of the best cheap cars I have ever owned or driven, I will sing their praises till the end of time. Mine had a nasty case of the tin worm and by the time I sold it there were softball sized holes in the floor.
My gut reaction was older Volvos too but I’ll throw the XJ Cherokee owners in the ring. They generally care enough about cars to decide on driving the tank that is an XJ but not enough to be obnoxious or over the top about it
Corvairs. It’s hard to take yourself too seriously in a car so universally misunderstood.
I agree, Swedish car owners. Lovely bunch, though at this point RWD Volvo owners are a pretty curmudgeonly bunch.
Classic Minis!!!!
They save all their bile for BMW MINIs
Ha, I own both classic and “new” MINIs….
Oh, vintage Italian owners are wholesome …on the surface… We’re also a bunch of fantastically filthy minded lunatics when you scratch the surface. Personally, I wouldn’t have it any other way! But yeah, especially on the weirder side, it’s a community that will generally bend over backwards for each other.
I’d also say every Opel GT owner I’ve met has been absolutely adorably nice!
Dodge Monaco, It had Mr. Cunningham from Happy Days hawking the thing.