The Truth About Caroline

As happy as I was (and still am) with the purchase of my new-to-me Chevrolet Sonic LTZ, there was still an unpleasant task that had to be done. A couple of weeks ago, I grabbed three trash bags and a set of old, faded black plastic keys as I left my apartment and made my way outside to clean out my 2005 Mazda6 for the last time.

Let’s say you opened your e-mail one morning, and, lo and behold, you were offered an all-expenses paid trip to sunny San Diego. Airfare, luxury hotels, gourmet meals…sounds pretty fantastic, doesn’t it?

However, if you’re like most sensible adults, you’d probably assume that there was some sort of catch involved—after all, who’s going to spend around two grand to give you a vacation just because…well, just because?

Well, if you’re a mommyblogger named “Xenia,” you’d probably feel like it was Christmas morning. Or, at the very least, you’d tell the Internet that’s how you felt. How do I know this?

We last saw our heroine (that’s me) after her foiled attempts to get somebody to take her seriously in her effort to buy a new subcompact car. So, it was back to the drawing board to find my dream car.

I loved the Spark, but the lack of power bothered me more than I really wanted to admit. The problem of my limited budget still existed, too. I wanted a car that was just like the Spark, only bigger, more powerful, and still available for about $13,000.

However, there was one small, teensy little problem—no such car exists.

When our dear EIC pro-tem took a friend BRZ/FR-S shopping, a lot of readers defended the extremely poor selling skills of the salespeople by remarking that they were looking at low-volume models that the salespeople probably didn’t need to know much about—and that might be accurate. According to goodcarbadcar.net, Toyota only sells about 1200 FR-S a month on average and Subaru sells a little more than 700 per month. In comparison to the Camry, which sells over 30,000 units a month, or even the Forester, which comes in around 12-13k, those numbers are pretty insignificant to your average Toyobaru dealer.

But what about a bread and butter car, like, say…a Ford Fiesta or Focus? Or maybe a Chevrolet Sonic or Spark? You might remember my article a few months back talking about how young women aren’t that interested in the small cars currently offered by American carmakers (even if they ARE made in Mexico or Korea). Since I’m in the market for a new car, I thought that maybe I would buck the trend and visit my neighborhood Chevy and Ford stores. My budget is pretty small, so my plan was to start with the Spark and the Fiesta and go from there.

Upon my introduction on these pages several months ago, many commenters took it upon themselves to make some suppositions about my personality based on the photos that accompanied my first article. Some of them were funny, some were downright insulting, and then there was this one:

“You gotta look at the whole ensemble. Short-hair, skinny jeans, t-shirt, flip-flops = uninhibited.”

You might be surprised by this, but that commenter got it pretty close to being right.

“Things they teach you in the classroom don’t matter until you have a chance to apply them.” So says Julia Cline, an incredibly bright and impressive woman. And for the past three years, Julia has been doing quite a bit of applying.

The saying, “Men are from Mars and women are Venus”, embodies more truth than one may realize. It is no secret that men and women have had differences in matters of opinion ever since the beginning of time. We are all familiar with the story of Adam and Eve. Here we are, X versus Y, still at odds on well… EVERYTHING!

It’s no different today when we take a look at the automotive industry. When you look at men and women on the road today, you will notice a BIG difference in automotive choices. Speaking from a woman’s perspective I can honestly say, I’m not sure if I will ever understand the thought process of a man’s choice of car. However, I believe it’s fair to say that men probably have no clue what we’re thinking when we decide on a vehicle as well.

Upon hearing that I was writing for a car blog, a female friend of mine remarked that you don’t see many women of any age driving American made cars nowadays.

Video contains NSFW language

“We can do this the easy way, or the hard way.”

My mind couldn’t comprehend the precipitant, nor the severity, of the situation. Psychologists often refer to this phenomenon as jamais vu, translated as “never seen.” I had sat in my car at a million stop signs before, but the pure fear of what I was experiencing made everything seem strange and unfamiliar.

“NOW, bitch!”

A dark, monstrous hand reached through the drivers’ side window of my 2005 Mazda 6 and quickly yanked the keys out of my ignition. In the midst of all the chaos, I remember thinking in a brief moment of clarity: is this really happening to me? My brain was finally beginning to catch up to fill in the blanks — I was being car jacked.

Some time ago, I was on the rooftop of a five-star hotel for my post-hangover chow when I heard someone complaining that “They only have eight kinds of breakfast here!” Naturally, I had to make the acquaintance of someone so discerning. Caroline Ellis hails from the South, is impossibly tiny, and has been involved with car culture in one way or another for most of her life. She’ll be chiming in a few times a month in the future, so if you have any topics you’d like her to cover, let me know — JB

I’m in my mid-twenties, I’m blonde, and I’m female. In other words, I’m pretty much the antithesis of the audience for most automotive journalism outlets-Road and Track, for example, states that their readership is 94.6% percent male with a median age of 45. The only time a woman my age shows up in most automotive publications is if she’s on the cover wearing nothing but a bikini and a come-hither stare.

But, you 94.6% should realize my opinion about cars is pretty important. You see, a lot of men try to impress me and women just like me with what they drive. So, with this and future writings here at TTAC, I’m gonna break the Girl Code. We’ll look behind the door of the Ladies’ Room and let you in on the Truth About Cars according to the Women of Generation Y.