I was just on the virtual horn with Mr. Berkowitz and we were discussing that for $47,000 the 430 horsepower Corvette is a fantastic bargain. We're also both young, dumb and childless. So Farago's pronouncement of the Corvette as a "death Car" has no effect on us. But then Justin dropped this bomb, "my girlfriend's mom, who is on her third Lexus SC430, told me she thinks the Corvette is the lowest class car a person can buy." Ouch. Take that, Vetteirati. And hey, with the Camaro still not in production, the lady makes a point. But not a great point. See my friends, next to Dodger Stadium yesterday I witnessed the scuzziest car imaginable. That's right, a Fox-bodied Mustang 5.0 with Truck Nutz. Seriously, beat that.
103 Comments on “Question of the Day: What’s the Lowest Class Car You Can Buy?...”
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Dodge Ram with Idaho Elk plates, and a BSU Bronco sticker. I refer to them as Ida-necks.
There you go, bringing class into it again…
At the risk of damning a fine ride with faint praise, the Corvette is definitely “classier” than a Viper.
TTAC needs a Top Gear-style “Class Wall”.
Here in North Georgia, we’ve always referred to the Camaro and Firebird as “Trailer Park Chariots”…high hair (with crispy bangs) required to drive. =)
If I had to choose a car that is currently on sale- probably the Chevy Cobalt. The Cavalier was easily the least-classy car on the planet, so the Cobalt carries on the legacy in all it’s mediocrity.
I vote for 10 year old civics/accords/etc with coffee can exhaust tips and Japanese stickers as their only mods.
Any lifted truck or SUV. The more flatbill-cap-wearing people inside, the better.
Justin’s girlfriend’s Mom has a point. Among people with some money who don’t care about cars, Corvette and Cadillac mean trash. My wife thinks the same and includes anything branded “Hemi.”
But I’m going with used stretch limo. And I mean used.
For new car, I’ll exclude penalty boxes because poor people need to get to work too. So I’ll vent at the clueless noveau riche and say Lexus ES/RX.
About 17-18 years ago, when I was working in Germany, one of my German co-workers asked me: “What kind of car’s a Camaro?”. My answer was: “When you read a news story about a drunk 30 year old guy getting into a wreck with 3 teenage girls in his car, he was probably driving a Camaro”. The German guy got what I meant instantly, and he also said that “Here in Germany, it’s always an Opel”.
I once saw a pink Pinto with a lift kit.
Justin – her mom told you that? I don’t know whether to say run for the hills or lock that down.
My vote goes to the donks. When your wheels are worth more than the car itself, you are the highest class of moron.
The newest, most expensive Ferrari, whatever it is at any given moment.
Lexus SC430 with your girlfriends mom in it.
Any car/truck where the wheels are the most valuable part.
sashazur, It’s somehow comforting to see how traditional GM values are echoed around the world in its various international brands.
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jpc0067, Funny you should mention limos… I think of most of the stretched ones as having quite a bit of fake class. They’re tarted up in all the wrong ways, without providing the things that a luxury vehicle SHOULD provide.
This realization came when I attended a wedding where the ample bride and her rather portly sisters were trying to squeeze through a perfectly normal-sized Lincoln rear door on what was the longest stretch limo that I had seen to date. Whatever happened to “limousine doors?” Doors that are extra-long and tall to facilitate ingress and egress. Anyway, the Best Man practically had to put his shoulder into it to shove those honeys through the doors and get the wagon rolling.
Um… hello people?
Vanilla Ice’s car with Truck Nutz?
You need to “beat that.”
I detect high snobbery coming from Justin’s GF’s mom (Sorry Justin!). There’s a lot of better-than-thou sentiment behind such a statement, coming from someone who doesn’t/can’t appreciate the world-class sportscar that the Vette is. The car is low-tech in some areas (a case of “if it ain’t broke…”), but it does what it’s supposed to do and does it VERY WELL.
What does the SC430 do well? Anything? If it’s intent is to make people who hate to drive look cool, I can’t even say it does that too well. Good handling? Nope. Good power? Nope. Good fuel economy? Nope. Good looks? If you’re after the used-bar-of-soap look, then yes, otherwise, Nope.
Does someone who buys the same safe-choice, “smart people buy Lexi”, BOOORRRINNGG car 3 times (3!) have ANY credible authority in such matters?
PS: I second the Donks.
@Juniper:
ROFL. Yup.
In New Zealand, having a mid 70s V8 branded either Falcon, Monaro or Valiant Charger and having a mullet with a large collection of ac/dc black t shirts was really bad but as those were crashed or otherwise disappeared from highways, the vehicle of choice became the japanese 2nd hand import Nissan Skyline. GTR if you could afford it but if you couldnt then there was the gt non turbo straight six 4wd below that was the sedan skyline then there was the 2.0 auto RWD sedan the poverty pack version. if you couldn’t afford a skyline at all there was a Cefiro with your name on it.
she thinks the (…) is the lowest class car a person can buy
Wow, how nouveau riche.
Pious with a “I love Hunting Accidents” sticker.
Really creepy “ped vans” are always classy.
Bonus points for fake ice-cream truck markings, or bubble windows to prevent small children from seeing out.
I’m surprised nobody’s mentioned the El Camino yet.
Any car with spinners, any 80’s Cadillac with “bling” wheels (and usually peeling/peeled paint), any car with Wal-Mart/Target/JC Whitney accessories.
All the jacked up Impalas, Caddies, Caprice and Regals I see around here with 24-30″ painted rims and the most stupid paint scheme you could ever think of. There are tons of them around here, I saw one this weekend that was painted this strange yellow and blue checkered flag all over it with bright yellow rims and was as high off the ground as an F-150. It was also barely running with the headliner falling down. Example
I second Cobalts, usually has to be painted on to the driver around here.
Any pick-up with a picture of Calvin peeing on another trucks logo. Or any Cadillac with gold trim & a fake convertible roof (bonus points if over 5 years old).
Easy, anything made by Dodge, Pontiac, or Chevy.
C4 Corvette.
Any vehicle with excessive ground clearance that isn’t used. It represents a disrespect for the crash safety and visibility needs of others. This would apply to SUVs and pickups that aren’t used in significant offroad exercises and, of course, any on-road car that is jacked up.
Skaro
“Any car/truck where the wheels are the most valuable part.”
So true. Its always amusing to see $2k+ rims on an old 80s Chevy beater that optimistically books for $1k. I even coined a term for it: Bli.
The are attempting to be bling bling but they only made it a quarter of the way.
TomAnderson:
“Any lifted truck or SUV. The more flatbill-cap-wearing people inside, the better.”
Bonus points a gun rack & right wing bumper stickers. for Where I used to live in Sacramento the official car of white trash was a old K5 Blazer in primer gray with 4-6” of lift and mud tires.
My girlfriend and I play a game where we rate lifted vehicles with numbers; the more overdone the lift the smaller the rating. The rating refers to the size of a certain part of the owners anatomy.
The only exception to this is if they appear to be serious off-roaders with a wench, rock rails, skidplates, recovery gear etc. A XJ, TJ or JK only needs 2-4” of lift and somewhat larger tires to be competent off road.
How about a stretch limo pickup truck?
It sounds like the punchline to a Jeff Foxworthy joke but they do exist. I had a good laugh the 1st time I saw one in Apex NC.
No hate for the Fiero? I grew up in Pontiac where these flaming pieces of garbage were built…and boy, were they low class…both the drivers and the cars.
Chrysler 300C and now the Charger with big chrome wheels.
My current fave is bling wheels. But I’ll definitely go with what Sunnyvale CA says several posts above.
In ‘74, when I was a student at Tufts, where my parents both taught, one day I was driving around the campus in my father’s ‘68 Ford Falcon wagon (which he’d bought used). I ran into a friend. “Is this the DaveMobile?” he asked me, with an implied “cool!” in his voice. “No,” I said, this is my father’s.
“You mean the head of the economics department drives around in this THING!” he said, the tone of voice now implying POS.
Of course, there’s a reverse snobbery thing that can go on, too (one that my father was not guilty of). One guy I knew in childhood, who now teaches at a prestigious university thinks everyone should drive around in a Toyota Echo as he does, in noble sacrifice to the planet (I may or may not have disabused him of this notion last summer). His take: it gets you wher you are going so you don’t need anything more. Of course, he has a great job, which affords research trips to other continents, and he waxes eloquent about the attractiveness of his wife–in other words, everything in his life is so good that if he doesn’t have the pleasure of enjoying driving, his pleasure quotient is probably still 98.6/100.
I think Jonny L’s girlfriend’s Mom is underrating the ‘Vette. It’s not my cup of espresso, but if GM did everything that well, TTAC woudln’t be having to run a death watch
How ’bout Excalibur.
The car trailer trash would drive if only they could afford one.
Sticking to new cars..
My list, in no particular order:
Lexus ES350
BMW 1-series
BMW 6-series convertible
Ford Mustang
Dodge Nitro
Smart Fortwo
Toyota Corolla
Then, you of course have add-ons like big chrome wheels, huge wings, and unpainted body kits, which will successfully de-class any car.
But seriously, her THIRD SC430!? What would possess her to buy that exact same car 3 times? I think any opinion from an exclusive Lexus owner shouldn’t be taken seriously.
90’s civic with chrome Dubs and rust all over the body. I’ve seen more than a few.
yournamehere:
Forgetting about he C3, are we?
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/400-miles-in-a-1981-corvette-part-1/
“Hey hey mama!”
I would have to say that any car that is purchased in pursuit of “class” or to pretend to a class is the lowest class of vehicle.
It’s hard to beat a Trashams or Camaros driven by mullet headed high school burnouts who roam the roads still listening to heavy metal. Think of the used car that would be bought by Beavis or Butthead. This type actually look up to Corvette owners.
Anything excessively noisy that doesn’t deserve to be.
Qwerty- not many of them left so they’re more of a throwback. Replaced by the mentioned fartcan exhaust Civics.
We have a limo driving around locally with a pseudo-Nascar paint job. That might work
For what I’m thinking is low class cars – I’d pick the Monte Carlo or really anything someone sticks a number on their car (ya know the Nascar #s). Silly to me.
Toyota Prius with bumper stickers: Save the Whales, Save the Trees and Obama ‘08.
I’m Pretty sure the lowest class car you can own is a 1984 Pontiac Parisienne with a potpourri crown in the back window
Fender Skirts in the 80’s FTW!
Harley.
Oh, wait – that’s not a car. But close.
ANY non-Buick with the fake venti-ports on the front fenders…
Nothing says molester with a moustache like a rusted out Ford Econoline.
“my girlfriend’s mom, who is on her third Lexus SC430, told me she thinks the Corvette is the lowest class car a person can buy.”
Young women often grow up to be very much like their mothers, not always, but something to think about :).
I try very hard not to care how much “class” my car says I do or don’t have. My faded old ‘89 F150 certainly isn’t stylish while I suppose by ‘06 TSX might be slightly so.
In the end, I could care less.
As mentioned, driving an SC430 could say a lot about a person too. None of it good.