It’s a trope that happens in most romantic comedies (and also Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift): The guy or girl in question judges their date based on what car they drive. It’s a dumb practice and can be improved.
People sometimes buy luxury cars because they want to impress their dates or just other, random strangers on the street. They go for Porsches, Ferraris or Lamborghinis.
But, according to AskMen, the car that results in the highest number of messages when you include it in your dating site profile photos is actually a Jeep:
Our friends over at Zoosk did some digging, pulling exclusive photo data which hints that the inclusion of certain cars in profile pictures – for both men and women – may help in terms of meeting new people on the app. On average, people who have a car in their photo get 165 percent more inbound messages than a vehicle-less user, but it’s showcasing a Jeep that’ll boost the number of messages you receive the most — by 243 percent, to be exact.
There was a 149 percent increase if you had a BMW in your photo, 73 percent from a Toyota, 61 percent from a van, 42 percent from a sedan and 41 percent from a truck.
A hatchback, however, resulted in a 15 percent decrease in chances of getting a message from someone. Clearly, none of these potential dates have driven a GTI.
AskMen also notes:
According to Zoosk’s research, mentioning a BMW, Nissan, Land Rover, Subaru, Prius, truck, Ford, and Mercedes all brought an increase of inbound messages, with percentages ranging from 79 to 11. As for what cars brought a decrease in women’s responses, that would be: Honda, Chevrolet, van, Toyota, Ferrari, sedan, Tesla, Lexus, Dodge, Mazda, and what appears to be the runt of the vehicle family — the poor hatchback.
The site then correctly concludes the car doesn’t ultimately make or break your chances of connecting with someone. I would take it a step further and say that evaluating any potential romantic partner by what car they drive at all is meaningless and shallow.
What is it that we think we can glean about a person from their car? That they have money? They have taste? They’re flashy? They don’t care about the same things that you do?
The bottom line is you simply have no idea. You have no idea why someone is driving a particular car. Maybe it’s a hand-me-down. Maybe it has incredible sentimental value. Maybe it’s really useful for the three side jobs they have that you don’t know about yet.
Here’s my advice. View the car as a conversation piece, nothing more.
Unless, of course, they have a custom license plate. Then you can judge until you’re both dead.