Yesterday I went shopping again. What a source of inspiration, the underground parking in a shopping centre! The first thing that struck me was the wonderful blue colour. What a blue!! Like a perfect summer’s day. Like a mountain lake. Blue in its ideal purity!
You seldom see such a blue in cars. Drivers are wary of colours that attract attention. Never attract attention – otherwise you’ll have an accident or a fine. We prefer to remain incognito. And in Switzerland that motto applies in spades – keep in line!! Looking again, I saw the huge car, all of it. Why does anyone want an open jeep in Zürich? There are certainly not more than 50 days a year, when one can drive around in the car with normal clothing? The rest of the year I would have to dress like a diver to reach my destination safely, dry and fit.
I walk closer to the car and see the loudspeakers. Whow, they can belt out the music = that’s me and that is my taste! The seats and the rear mirror! Any comments needed? Not really!
From my viewpoint, for Zürich it’s an unpractical “monster”. My well-paid girl friends buy themselves small cabriolets while they are single or attached. Large, practical and safe cars, when they have children. None of them has bought such a job. Women prefer CUTENESS.
I have a friend. He is the owner and CEO of an SME with 250 employees. He is an extremely well-groomed, almost vain person. When we meet for lunch and during the meal he soils his shirt or tie, he immediately reaches into the boot of his car and changes. For years he has driven large, elegant Mercedes. That fitted him perfectly. One day he turned up to our lunch in a „monster“ 4×4. Proud, very proud! He wanted me to give my opinion on and praise his new car. He drives in town and on motorways. He has no free time, because he works for his company around the clock. Why does he need a 4×4? I asked him and he said, just in case! Maybe an early winter???
Perhaps it’s „that“ certain age. Women have their lips injected, liposuction, botox injections and spend large amounts of money on day, night, eye and cleavage creams, which somehow “don’t” restore the desired youth.
And men buy a Harley Davidson, a 4x4s or even a Porsche and other drivable toys. One has to indulge in something!!
At about 70 the pendulum swingsback. Last year my father took over my former playroom and is now building a railway network. So far 7 train compositions can be under way in my playroom at the same time. Long live the child in the man!!! That’s where men are at their best and most cute!!!
Michaela Merz 
Dear Michaela,
I partly can confirm your observations. Small boys, small toys, big boys, big toys but I have to disagree in some points.
Let’s start with the gender issue: I agree that for a long time big, strong cars were a male domain. Women without a family usually tended to buy small or sporty cars/convertibles and changed to practical station wagons as soon as they got mums. Their car buy decision was mainly impacted by the visual appearance (color, form) and emotional factors. As mums the practical aspects come to the fore – then often form follows function. Today this old pattern changes more and more often due to the fact that in women’ interest in technical aspects like horsepower, acceleration, etc. is growing strongly. Women start to tend to buy classic boy toys – big cars with a lot of horsepower. This is a clear trend that I especially observed in the American Car Scene here in Switzerland. Young mothers more often tend to big and strong SUVs like Range Rover, Porsche Cheyenne, Audi Q7, Mercedes ML, BMW X5, Jeep etc.
The second point I like to disagree is “do men like monster cars”. Do a lot of men drive monster cars? No. Did you lately have a look in our parking garage? Are your so called monster cars (like this Jeep, my Dodge Pickup or your friends 4×4) really the toys for men in their midlife crises? No, definitely not or at least just rarely.
Here I agree, men in their midlife crises buy sports cars and Harley Davidson bikes to gain eternal youth but not a Redneck pickup truck or a Jeep. Coming back to our garage: there are a lot of Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin, Maserati and other sporty toys. What does that tell us?? 😉
Men driving cars like this blue 1976-1986 built Jeep CJ-7 or big pickup trucks are either just fans of these cult US cars or they often use these cars for their businesses or hobbies.
And most probably they love to be different 😉
Cheers,
Tim
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