Do Cars Make Men More Attractive?
June 22, 2009 by Alborz Fallah
Do Cars Make Men More Attractive?
You may read with interest today the survey in Top Gear Australia magazine that concludes that sports cars or luxury cars generally don’t add any attraction points to most men, interesting.
Unfortunately, I think something has been missing from the picture for a long while now. Society has brought it upon itself to believe that men buy expensive cars simply to impress others, what nonsense.
I’m here to make a case for all the men (and women) that buy expensive sports cars or luxury cars because they choose to. Not because they want to impress others, but because they want that car. I am also going to shamelessly fill this article with photos of me with expensive cars as an example of how gorgeous cars don’t really do that much when it comes to attraction.
In this job one of the benefits is seeing what it feels like to have a different car every week. One week you drive around in something James Bond would be happy with, the next week you’ve got a Kia Grand Carnival people mover. So not only do you see the difference in treatment but you also eventually realise how judgemental people can be. Let me give you a few examples.
Last year when the Jaguar XF first came out I had my hands on the very first one in Brisbane. Now remember, it’s just a Jag, sure it looks very modern and expensive, but it’s just a car.
I wasn’t expecting much of a reaction, but I was blown away. First day in the XF and a friend and I went to grab some lunch, we decided to head to St Lucia, near the University of Queensland campus, we parked the car directly next to a restaurant and sat down for lunch.
In the hour that we sat there eating we watched five or six people stop and examine the car, nothing out of the ordinary but still interesting, however once we paid the bill and got up to leave, two rather attractive girls approached the car – “hey guys, nice car, can you take us for a ride?” – were they serious? I mean, who does that?
It was one of those movie moments where the two guys stare at each other and wonder what they should say “Sure…” – “Don’t think so” both of us spoke at the same time. My friend was keen, I wasn’t.
“Sorry girls, we’re on a tight schedule (lie) we need to get out of here”. “Oh, come on, guys, just up the road, we live five minutes away”. Now I had a dilemma on my hands. At this point my friend was looking at me, wondering what the tight schedule was, with that “are you crazy” look on his face.
“Can’t do it, have a great day though”. We got inside the car and drove off, 30 seconds went past in silence but it finally came: “Dude, have you gone mad!” said one rather confused man.
I love cars. I really do, I love the way they look, I love the way they sound, I love everything about them. One thing I don’t love is the stereotypical attention they get.
A while ago I was in a gorgeous red Ferrari 360 convertible driving around the Gold Coast, at one stage while we were stuck at a red light two girls walked past us, stopped, one of them wrote her number on a piece of paper and threw it inside the car. “Call me!” she yelled as we looked at her in disbelief.
Would any self-respecting man really call her?
That same week in the XF, I went to the Brisbane Chocolate Festival at Portside and there were absolutely no car parks left, but as soon as the manager saw the Jag, he came out, directed me to a reserved park right at the very front, next to a Porsche. Deferential treatment? Not at all.
Now that I’ve driven most supercars worth driving, I can honestly tell you, if you’re looking at buying one to impress anyone, don’t bother. Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Aston Martins, etc, they are all cars of beauty, power and finesse, but they are all, at the end of the day, just a car.
You should only buy them because YOU love them. This already holds true for the majority of owners.
My favourite story though is with the Aston Martin DBS, in Quantum Silver (James Bond’s car) in Brisbane. Those familiar with the Brisbane night life scene have probably been to West End and Lychee Lounge in particular.
I usually have a policy of not taking supercars out at night unless they are under consistent supervision, so with that in mind I planned to park the DBS right out the front of Lychee Lounge so I could see it at all times.
You can of course hear the car coming kilometres away and as we approached the venue, I could see the first parking spot was free, literally right out the front. Perfect position, as the place was packed.
As I pulled in, I could see and even feel the glances, conversations had stopped, heads were turned. James Bond had arrived.
There is something enormously empowering about getting out of a $600,000 supercar in front of a crowd of people. Somehow you’re now someone important, simply because you drive an ultra-expensive car. For the sake of my social study experiment, I was happy to play the part.
My friend and I sat down, I had a coffee and we stayed for a while. I realised I’d left my wallet in the car so I got up and walked outside towards the DBS, and there she was.
Between the DBS and I stood a girl no older than 25 in a red dress, stunning in every conceivable way possible. She looked so good, that the Aston was being humbled. I could once again feel that everyone in the lounge was starring, it was law of expectations in full force “Oh, of course, that’s definitely his girlfriend, it all makes sense…”. She wasn’t.
I didn’t really know why she was there, maybe she was admiring the car, maybe she was just standing there, but she was actually physically standing between me and the door so unless I intended to push her out of the way, I had to talk to her.
“Hi there, I need to open the door…” I said. “Oh, sorry (lie). Is this your car? Wow it’s beautiful… ” she looked me up and down “and you’re so young, you must be doing something right” she said in the most intoxicating voice.
“Aw, yeah… I guess”. I love my job.
“You know I’ve never been in a car like this, can you take me for a ride?” she said as she got one step closer to me.
It was the Jag situation all over again, only this time the car was six times the price and the girl, well, she looked like she was six times the price too.
“Umm… I’m here with a friend, maybe later?”
“I’m leaving now, give me a lift to my car? We’ll talk on the way”
Argh! Men are hard-wired to respond to a situation like this with a big clear massive “Yes”. Dammit, the whole point of my experiment was to see if this would happen, it wasn’t to fall for it!
There was a five second pause, it felt like a week. “Sorry, can’t do it at the moment” I said in the manliest voice I could muster. My internal organs were at this point rejecting me, they had gone into failure mode.
She smiled and walked away. I convinced my body I had made the right choice, walked back inside and sat down. I then realised I still didn’t have my wallet!
You can say what you want and pretend it doesn’t happen, but if you want to break it down to an evolutionary psychology level, mate selection can be influenced by the male’s ability to care for his offspring. So an expensive car is going to increase the male’s sex and reproductive value, but only to a degree.
In my experience of driving the world’s most expensive and prestigious cars, female attention is increased dramatically, but it’s hardly a good thing as most self respecting males would find it hard to be proud of that.
Now, what about the not so expensive cars.
Currently in my garage is a Suzuki Swift Sport, one of my favourite little cars to drive around town. I’ve had it for a week now and knowing I was going to write this article, I’ve been trying to subtly survey female opinion.
“Cool, I’ll pick you up around 8pm” I said to a female friend of mine last weekend. “I’ll bring the Swift.” – “Oh… why? Bring your own car, it’ll be more fun.” she replied back.
I have tested the theory by going out on dates with the same girl with different cars. I distinctively remember picking my date up and going to dinner in a Kia Grand Carnival. The week before I had picked her up in a BMW and given she had no idea what I do, it made for a really interesting observation of character.
One thing I can tell you with utmost certainty is that everyday cars that blend in with the traffic do little to inspire any attention – from anyone.
Of course the point here is, when the time comes and you’re buying your first Aston Martin or Lamborghini, make sure you’re buying it for you.
More importantly though, next time you see a guy getting out of his expensive car, please take a moment to appreciate that he loves his car, he bought it because he loves it and he chose to buy it. He didn’t buy it to impress you. He is not compensating for anything.
Many females I’ve questioned have told me that attractive cars make already attractive men more attractive (consistent with the Top Gear survey results) but little to no affect on average or not-so average looking men.
As for the flip side, do expensive, sport or luxury cars make women more attractive to men, the clear consistent answer from our side of the fence is a big massive YES.
We can’t help but to fall in love with a girl driving a Porsche 911 Turbo. We can’t help but to love a girl as she screams past in her BMW M3 convertible. We are visual creatures and are pre-programmed to admire things of beauty. For most men, the pre-existing attraction to cars is a massive bonus when it comes to increasing our interest!
If you’re female, I would really like to read your opinion so please leave a comment.
As for the men reading this, by all means let me know what you think and share any experiences you’ve had with cars and their social value.
Print it: 
Can I be the first female to honestly and anonymously admit that expensive cars do have an influence.
Well standing next to the cars you look like an average joe posing for your picture with a nice car at a car show.
Course they do, you are lying to yourself and everyone around you if you say otherwise. Chic’s will light up when they see a guy get out of a expensive car. I’ve had someone write their number on a piece of cardboard and hang it out the window at me in traffic. I was in the Evo :)
I dont think it really works for girls..Yes you will get more initial attention and show up on girls radar more but I’m not really interested in keeping a fish i caught with that bait,if you know what i mean..
In my previous life as a car dealer I got to Have some tasty machines for the night or weekend,whilst not as top end as your stuff A.F. still ’status cars’and other than a girl who jumped in the R8 (Audi) at a service station the reaction was either disapointing or i didn’t notice…
Seriously the biggest reaction I EVER got was when the current shape Hilux came out in 2005. My employer at the time Blinged up an extra cab Sr5 4×4 in black with 18″ ‘ninja star’ chrome wheels and a chrome nudge bar and did the exhaust up, stuff like that. No car i have ever driven in my life has got more popular attention. I recall driving through Brisbane with my then girlfriend when we stopped at a pedestrian crossing in the CBD. “What the hell is everyone staring at?” she worryingly asked.. “the ‘lux,honey..not us, the lux”.
We where just basking in the reflected glory of a car.. no more,no less..
There’s a strong correlation between success and driving a nice car.
When you then rephrase the question to “does success make men more attractive” then the popular attitude is pretty self explanatory in my opinion.
Agree with Vince.
If someone buys Ferrari or lambo or aston martin or wotever, and he claims how he hates show off and he doesn’t want to impress others…. =/ Sure.
In reality, the car you drive do makes huge difference. Those super cars will impress girls, you know it, she knows it, and she knows you know it.
Yes definitely. Although she always swore otherwise, I credit the last girlfriend I had in high-school to the fact that I drove a black DB7 Volante back then. It wasn’t mine, but I had access to it everyday so it might as well have been.
It depends on which car though. Aston Martins like I had, yes, but Lamborghinis, Ferraris and anything with a bodykit will make you look sleazy. Jaguar XKR? Great. V8 Vantage? Perfect. Porsche 911? If she’s a nerd and knows about cars. Lotus? Yes, it shows that you don’t need a massive engine to enjoy driving and doesn’t bring up the whole p*nis extension thing. But she might find it hard to get in. So no.
Maseratis? DEFINITELY! The engine note has been proven to arouse women. Nice.
The most important thing? Make sure you look like you don’t care. NEVER put the roof down in front of anybody as it will look showy and make you look like an attention seeker. And do try not to wash it too often.
I think roflmatic hit the nail on the head. Most drivers of expensive cars are financially successful and thats what grabs women’s attention. I highly doubt it’ll be the V12 engine or the sub 8 minute Nurburgring times achievable by the car that actually appeals to them.
Better stick with facial hair on Alborz.
When you shave it off as in the photo in the convertible, you dead set look about 12 years old
Maybe it might draw attention at first specially if the girl knows how to appreciate really great cars. Although, there are some girls who really find guys attractive with nice looking cars. But at the end of the day, the car is not that important, it’s what between his eyes.
No they dont ,then Im a car enthusiast that will bowl the guy over standing in front of it for a look or drive .
Looking at all those pics I saw the car first then Alborz,now if that was a chic, guys would be commenting on the Chic not the car.
Chances are its going to be leased anyway!
Sorry, but I find the article narcissistic and a gross self-aggrandizement.
Lets turn the question around a bit. Would seeing a girl in a nice Porsche or Enzo get a blokes attention. The answer is well yeah! But then if she was dead set ugly? Probably because we want to drive the car. Is it the same with woman? Since I have never had access to such a car, I am not qualified to say. But like Reckless 1, I find the whole subject a bit stupid and demeaning to woman.
I am a girl who growing up was not that into cars and a bloke chewing my ear off about what he had done to hot up his latest buy was nothing but a turn off. Now years later I am engaged to a shameless and pure car enthusiast. In order to truly understand the passion we flew to the Melbourne Motor Show this year and I can testify that seeing my fiance slide himself into an Audi A8 and sit behind the wheel with a look of boyish love and excitement on his face made my pulse quicken.
Who knew I would be so much more attracted to my man when I saw him amongst expensive and beautiful cars. I think that it is the love of something so mechanical (something I do not understand) and the admiration of something beautiful (something I do understand) that makes a car enthusiast with a spectacular vehicle so much more attractive. It’s only natural.
A/F your spoiling the photos of the cars! :-)
Man, your living the dream!
Photos of the girls you took for a drive, or it didnt happen!
Finally my friend owns a 360-Modena, i asked about this chick thing and he said they “are to scared” to approach him?Go figure?
Like you said i buy the car for ME!
Cheers
F-0
I know Lebanese who deal drugs and own lamborghinis and ferrari’s like Sydneys Tony Ibrahim who was shot last week in his lambo. Now they have non Lebanese attractive model girlfriends….Thats enough proof.
To answer the author’s own question; the cars certainly don’t make him (the author, that is) look anymore attractive. The saying “beauty and the beast” does have substance after all…
Anyone who is interested in you only because of your car simply isn’t worth knowing.
Tried my own test today. Stood next to the bosses M5. The girls at work didn’t even give me a second look so it can’t be true.
Told them what I had done and we nearly had to close the office with the tears of laughter! Damn damn damn!!!!
If I was a woman, it would be natural for me to be looking for security in a man. If my body was designed to carry a baby and give birth, I’d want to know someone could look after me and provide everything I need.
A flash car usually means $$$.
Money in the mind of many women = stability and security.
Obviously it helps if there the guy is good looking and has a little persona and intellect.
You may remember the famous quote by Batman – “It’s the car isn’t it? Chicks dig the car….”.
Flash car to get women = woman likes you for the car not who you really are, you don’t want that.
Flash car for sake of flash car = happy driving.
The truth for most people probably lies in the middle. We love performance, but we do care what people think when they look at our drive – even if we don’t appeal to the opinions of the masses.
Hey great article!
As a bloke, I agree with much of the sentiment that any real man buys a car because he loves it. Not to pick up.
If a bloke loves his Swift then he should have no issues buying it because he is buying it for himself. And if a man has the money to buy that stunning DBS then he should buy it beacuse of the car.
I find it funny though that many blokes I know buy their hotted up family cars and go cruising for the girls. Self respect… I dont think so.
Again very interesting read, thanks for the article thats a little different!
So, don’t buy a Ferrari to get chicks, because it works fabulously? :)
Different cars attract different girls..
hotted up rice burner = 14 yr old gurls that want to be seen cool
something with muscle = chick that wants to do the nasty in the pasty maybe in the tray if u had a ute
exotic = obvious.. add the chicks interested in muscle, stepping up to “this guy’d paid.. maybe he’ll buy me one as well.. maybe a house, and a maid too look after the kids i have with him”
i really dont wanna be biased because i appreciate women as much as i appreciate cars.. but so far with my experience.. and yet i’m only young (22) my first car was a mirage.. girlfriend actually loved me for who i was. second car is a done up lancer showcar, females only wanted to hang out wit me and go for a drive and nothing more.. now i drive a peugeot and no-one really cares, but i have met some cute girls, that are actually pretty decent.. but then wish they could own one haha.. (i come from cairns.. not too many exotic cars around)
in saying that.. i do admit.. i see a woman driving a beamer, i think “she must be hot and successfull with a lot of self confidence”, last night a saw a girl pop out of a beetle convertible with P plates, thought either she’s saved up a bit of money, or mummy or daddy are loaded (but she still got attention when she hopped out)
truth is.. a majority of men base their financial decisions on logic (what it does, how it goes, what it has etc etc). Women although base their’s on emotions and how it makes them feel (how it looks, colour, cuteness, gruntiness) and working in telecommunications for a few years and a bit in car sales, that’s just how it comes across..
I had a R34 Non turbo sedan and even though it was nothing special it started a lot of conversations and some phone numbers. Mind you I was 18 when I had it, so at 18 when all my mates where driving wrecks it was like a Ferrari ahhahah. Its not about the car its about the fact that you look like you got money.
Money Money Moneeee, MOneeeeeeeeeeeeeee lol
Of course a “nice” and “expensive” looking car will make a guy more attractive to females.
For some thats actually the purpose.
Personally, I would stay away from women who are only attracted to me for my “financial” status.
Some men just prioritize “getting lucky” with women too highly in their life.
If I had the money?
Sure I would buy cars that I like because I think I’m a car enthusiast at heart. Attracting women is just bonus, but I could care less if they find me more attractive. Because I dont ever want to be with women who simply use me for my money :-)
Generally I don’t meet females near my car so the driver of the day has nothing to do with it. Nor have I ever used the “how’d you like to come for a ride in my ……….” as a pick up line.
I have found the women I date less likely to be impressed by such shallowness.
2 b totally honest, i couldnt GIVE A RATS BUTTHOLE if i woman liked me for a particular car or not…i buy MY cars for MYSELF, and MY ENJOYMENT & MY APPRECIATION of them. End of story…
HAHA i just realised… in the picture where alborz looks 10 years younger shaven.. i’ve got that exact same shirt you’re wearing! NIGGATA 8!! Good old cotton on! Really no point in saying that, but i just think it’s funny! :D
Actually, in saying that, I do agree with UrbanGTB. Wearing the average joe clothes really doesn’t suit the exotic cars.
I maybe wrong in saying this, but clothes not suiting taste in cars does have some sort of inproper balance.. maybe with every photo he were to wear some sort of designer clothing, armani or a suit, and i cant really see the branding of sunnies, but same deal, some sort of “rich brand” ownership of these vehicles would look more truthfull.
Yes, it does look like you’re either at a car show, or randomly walked pass and got someone to take a pic.. not trying to degrade your sense in fashion at all. just somehow i dont see it being fit with the image, unless we knew it was a lazy sunday drive..
my opinion, that’s all
I was incredibly lucky to win a red Alfa Spider back in 2000. Only had it a short time, but on the day I got it, me and a mate drove down to the CBD of Bendigo. It was a weekday around midday, and you can imagine how much it stood out in the traffic of a country city. with the top down the attention we got was pretty amazing, including a couple of girls who stood still and smiled as we drove past. were they impressed or not? Don’t know, but it certainly got their attention!
Nice car = cash = gold digger, they know what the car is and they know you have the cash, if you pull up in a 120Y they scoff, you pull up in a benz or a porsche they know they don’t have to work again and they can sit in the coffee shops on chapel looking like the gold digging tart’s they are!
Whats funny is if you saw an ugly girl in a nice car….Shes still ugly.
BTW when we say nice cars here we are talking about Axis cars (I,D& J cars) and not GTO’s and GT ’s and Ford turbo Buphoons.
Elitist – Whats funny is if you saw your head in a nice car on your way for a visit to the hairdresser,it would probobly be UGLY(Your Head Not The Car).
Expensive cars attract expensive Women even if the driver only just qualifies as a Homo Sapien.
Alecks, Funny that saying TopGear Aus on their segment rated the R33 GTR as the #1 chick picking up car over the other 3 which included the Porche
Alborz, you are kidding yourself…If i have a rust-bucket as a car, i think even some of my male friends would be embarrased to take a lift from me, not to mention the lack of safety in such a car.
On the other hand, if i have a car that most people cant afford, then its a different story…er, as long as the car actually belongs to me!!!
yeah right! and alborz probably believes that women put make up on and go tanning for “themselves” too. Would u still buy a Lambo if no one cared? Or would it make u feel like u paid 200k for a daily beater that blends in with traffic? Whatever best of intentions u have when getting that exotic, the reactions are gonna be the same. That’s why u don’t see the “really” rich guys in their Bugattis, but a lot of younger guys in their evo’s and m3’s fishin
I’ve personally found hotties love M3s and M6s.
Imagine the quality of women that a driver of a Ferrari or Lamborghini or Aston Martin could pull…
Alborz, you’re right.
Flash cars don’t make men more attractive, you’re still an ugly basturd no matter which car you are next to. LOL