[Closed] Is the Mini Cooper a girls car? So what is a blokes car?

epicyclo

There is no such thing as a car a girl can't drive. Therefore all cars are girls cars.

But are there certain types of cars that are more appealing to girls (and women) ? Is there a type of design language that women respond to more than men? Are there colour schemes and palettes which women generally favour more than men?

Is there marketing targeted specifically at one gender and not another?

To say a woman can drive any car therefore all cars are womens cars is missing the point slightly isn't it? I mean all women can take exogenous male hormones and grow beards, therefore beards are a feminine feature. Right 😕

I drive a twingo rs 133. I wanted something cheap but fun to drive after my Audi a4 sline which was boring. Some people think I am mad driving round in a tiny twingo but I love it. Get what YOU want I say.

Didn't the new beetle come with a dashboard vase? Surely to appeal to a certain gender?

Not really. That is a throwback to the 60's beetles that had the same.
So it's appealing to the flower power/hippy heritage of the car, rather than a gender.
Hth.

nealglover

Not really. That is a throwback to the 60's beetles that had the same.
So it's appealing to the flower power/hippy heritage of the car, rather than a gender.
Hth.

Didn't the Beetle start production in 1938, as a response to a request for a people's car by a certain gentleman with a fairly unique mustache and a fondness for goose steeping? Hard to imagine that flower holder was a big part of the original design brief. It's almost as if they cherry picked a feature from one part of the 60 year production run that was cute and might appeal to women (if you looked at it from a cynical pov).

I just wanted to post a pic of a SAAB 900 Carlsson. This car/gender thing is bollocks...oh..and labia(?).

Why are manly petrol heads so insecure about their gender identity that they need a macho car*?

Why are so many people so "right on" that they can't spot a light-hearted forum topic when they see one?

🙂

PS I mainly drive a Mazda estate car that says more about my age than my gender!!

I thought it was more a Clarksonesque humour whereby folk show what they really think and then pretend they are just joking.

So what features make an object that could be used by anyone appealing to a woman?
What is a woman's razor exactly? A pink one in glittery packaging that costs more? I thought we were moving away from pink it and shrink it....

I’m happy if others think of my MINI as a ‘girls car’. Saves explaining my lack of masculinity to others 😀

It’s just a fun car. Destroyed by the 17” wheels that 99% of Cooper S’s have though. Swapping mine onto smaller, lighter 16” alloys with non-runflats was the best car decision I made. I’d happily go smaller again but the front brakes on the R56 are bigger than the older supercharged ones, so not possible.

So what features make an object that could be used by anyone appealing to a woman?
What is a woman's razor exactly? A pink one in glittery packaging that costs more? I thought we were moving away from pink it and shrink it....

I suspect that is a question more for mumsnet than here with a larger number of ladies to answer. But there is no doubt that females pool their purchasing around specific models in a sector - the Mini is a good case in point.

I'm not sure it matters (unless you are in marketing) - consumer power making informed or emotional judgements and buying what they want/like. Surely sexism has moved on from uniformity being the only path to equality. If ladies pluck the pink toothbrush from the shelf (or the mini from the row of small hatchbacks) is that particularly harmful to women's rights?

@a11y smart, a friend of mine jist bought the 4wd car and it was the first piece of advice I gave him, take the run flats off asap, he wants winter grip so all-seasons are a no brainer.

Stereotypical "Men's" cars are cock compensators one way or another - powerful more than speedy (though both count, obvz), and/or costly "status" symbols (by which I include "mine's got the optional exec pack with the bigger-arsed seats") or needlessly capable in some way (see Unimog camper vans with optional axe-rack)

"Women's" cars, meh, who cares 😆

a11y - is correct.

jimjam - Member
...therefore beards are a feminine feature. Right

scaredypants - Member
Stereotypical "Men's" cars are cock compensators one way or another

This. Surely the only criteria for a car should be how many bikes you can fit in it. 🙂

Didn't the Beetle start production in 1938, as a response to a request for a people's car by a certain gentleman with a fairly unique mustache and a fondness for goose steeping? Hard to imagine that flower holder was a big part of the original design brief.

That would be why I said it was a feature borrowed from the 60's Beetles then wouldn't it 🙄

and labia(?)

Beetle Bonnet?

If ladies pluck the pink toothbrush from the shelf (or the mini from the row of small hatchbacks) is that particularly harmful to women's rights?

Of course it isn't, if that's their choice. It's when we have marketing people dictate what they think women want that gets me. For many years, women's sports clothing, running shoes, cycling jerseys were all pink or purple. Thankfully we seem to be moving on from that, although I notice that a lot of women's mountain bikes have feminine names.

Mate of mine happily drove round in a Fiat panda sport for a few years.

He didn't care what anyone thought, 'good power to weight ratio and handles like a go cart.' Was his standard reply! He wasn't wrong it was a nippy little thing.

For many years, women's sports clothing, running shoes, cycling jerseys were all pink or purple.

Chicken and egg though isn't it. Is/was most female sports kit pink/purple because that's what marketing bods thought female runners wanted and therefore would sell or is it what a lot lot of females runners told marketing bods that that's what they wanted....even if the idea of what they wanted was planted in their heads by the previous generation of marketing bods.

Either way I'm glad you don't have to buy pink anymore and equally glad pink is still there for folks that do.

Mate of mine happily drove round in a Fiat panda sport for a few years.

Er, is that a 'thing'? (Looks at Fiat Panda in the drive)

Thing about bangernomics/being married/having general disinterest in cars is you forget that society expects you to be 'sending a message' about who you are. Likewise need to be choosing to drive something that impresses peers/and/or the opposite sex! I failed on so many counts. Even ride a stepthru bike to the shops. Feels like my transport habits to date comstitute some kind of crime against Proper British Manliness or something* 😉

*With the exception of two old and cheap/free German cars, that is.

Out of interest I just asked Mrs MR to list the cars she's owned:

Isuzu I-Mark
Mitsubishi Mirage
1985 Crown Victoria*
1999 Ford Escort estate

Funny, since she's been back in the UK she's been eyeing up Beetles, Fiats and, er, Figaros <-----True story. This could mean that the UK messes with our minds 😉

*(The thought of her slamming a slim, bare-footed tattooed leg down on the gas pedal of those hulking lumps of grief on wheels messes with [i]my[/i] mind 😈 )

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nealglover

Didn't the Beetle start production in 1938, as a response to a request for a people's car by a certain gentleman with a fairly unique mustache and a fondness for goose steeping? Hard to imagine that flower holder was a big part of the original design brief.

That would be why I said it was a feature borrowed from the 60's Beetles then wouldn't it 🙄

Yes, I noticed that. I was pointing out that the flower holder wasn't an original feature, rather something cherry picked from a 65 years of production. A feature that's almost inarguably more appealing to women than men.

If they wanted to hark back to beetles of the past they could have offered this fetching desert camo and roof rack spec, complete with decal kit.

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If they wanted to hark back to beetles of the past they could have offered this fetching desert camo and roof rack spec, complete with decal kit.

But they didn't, because they would be somthing like 0.001% of total production maybe. And never sold to the public.
So not not [i]that[/i] strange that they went with the symbol of "60's flower power" that the beetle is actually famous for.

nealglover

So not not that strange that they went with the symbol of "60's flower power" that the beetle is actually famous for.

And yet I can't recall ever seeing one in an original beetle. What years was it actually offered as a feature? There's obviously a connection between the beetle and the 60s, broadly speaking, but I don't think the little flower holder is really anything to do with it. It strikes me as a contrived attempt to offer a cutesy feature to the young women they wanted to buy the car.

Having owned M3s, AMG Mercedes, Z4M coupe, Porsche Boxters and a plethora of 3litre petrol BMWs, I can, hand or heart say that I LOVED my Cooper S Clubman.

Fast, nimble, well equipped, cheap to run, great to drive and fast around Castle Comb at the weekends...though the standard brakes were poor.

I miss mine immensely:

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And yet I can't recall ever seeing one in an original beetle. What years was it actually offered as a feature?

Porcelain "blumenvase" available on all beetles produced from 1945 to 1975, (then after that, only as an aftermarket accessory)

Originals still sell now for decent money.

It's all about marketing - subliminal or otherwise.
Marketing is an evolution from snake oil salesmen.
As for the mini - don't like it's ever increasing size but that's nothing other than a personal opinion.
Cooper or Cooper s are driver's cars; gender is irrelevant. I would happily ignore my views about size and be happy to drive one of these.
Gender focussed cars? Age focussed cars? What a load of old toot.

I just wish Mini interiors didn't look like the height of bad taste and tack and cheapness. I think BMW know their market though.

I've got a facelift 55 plate Cooper S which has had quite a few mods, handles like a go kart, the supercharger noise is so addictive and this one has the best ECU map that BMW did and it pops and bangs like a rally car on overrun. My mates all love it but wife isn't too keen, not one person has ever said to me about it being a womans car, not that I would care anyway.

We had similar. Cooper S Super charger, noisy stainless exhaust, popping and crackling on over run, great handling and a decent ride once we'd ditched the run flats and put some smaller wheels on it.

The wife loved it, she's a girl. I liked it, I'm not. Eventually just couldn't justify the barely 20mpg if you drove it how it should be, the quite heavy VED and the quite frankly tiring drive if you took it too far. Brilliant car mind!

Irrespective of gender and whether you can walk upright, I've been looking at these since this thread started (as I'm scouting around for a new smaller car than the XC60 I have ATM) 2.0D or 1.6D versions, and manual and does it ride like a shopping trolley on ball bearings or can you sit comfortably enough to hear the radio? I've done the "will the bikes fit in" and yes they will with wheels off, boards on the roof too..
Opinions ?

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So the evidence is overwhelming. MINI is not a girls car because they made a version of it which was loud, fast and uncomfortable 😆

Comfort in a Mini? I thought so in mine.
It's a very good chassis with a decent suspension set up. So a good start.
Go for the rubber band tyres and you kill that so the answer is no, but a decent height sidewall doesn't affect the handling noticeably and the grip probably increases with the more supple tyre.

PS - the VW Golf is aimed at middle class grannies.

a decent height sidewall doesn't affect the handling noticeably and the grip probably increases with the more supple tyre.

Indeed. Run little 15" wheels and it's even acceptable on the potholed roads of [s]the south[/s] just about everywhere.

I've also done a 2.5 hour stint across the M4 without stopping and had no issues with comfort.

Like I wrote earlier - it's a reasonably practical car with a versatile engine. 150,000 on mine and I can get to Wales from Wycombe area on just under £20 of petrol.

PS - the VW Golf is aimed at middle class grannies.

Oi! My mum drives a golf...... Ah OK. Fair enough.

STW brings me something else I've never seen in the real world - men driving Minis!

STW [i]is[/i] the real world.

Yep, that's right - I really did type that with my actual fingers and you really did read it with your real eyes.

🙂

teasel - Member

STW is the real world

Can you feel the damage my can't-believe-you-said-that-rays are doing to you right now? 😉

😥

😆

Comfort in a Mini? I thought so in mine.
It's a very good chassis with a decent suspension set up. So a good start.
Go for the rubber band tyres and you kill that so the answer is no, but a decent height sidewall doesn't affect the handling noticeably and the grip probably increases with the more supple tyre.

16" tyres cheaper than my MTB tyres too, not sure if I should 😆 or 🙁 at that...

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STW is the real world.

[cant believe I'm typing this - so sorry]

Anyone lived with an automatic Mini in a Cooper s or jcw flavour? Next car will be auto for hip injury reasons. We hired a new Cooper diesel auto on holiday in northern Tenerife and was not 100% won over. It didn't handle switchback mountain roads very well and was always changing the wrong way at inconvenient times. But that's pretty extreme driving. I think the quicker ones get flappy paddles which might help. The lure or a VAG group DSG might be calling otherwise.

[/cant believe I'm typing this - so sorry]

I love them - we're on our fourth now.

I don't think they'll better the R50/2/3 lookswise - they were really well proportioned cars to my eyes. I had a Cooper S which was great fun and the supercharger whine was really addictive. It was deceptively quick across country. One of my friends was always calling it a girls car despite his Alfa Spider not seeing which way it went.

I never really got the R56 - the interior was a bit better but it lost some of magic of the previous versions. The turbo charged Cooper S engine didn't do it for me either.

We've now got an F56 Cooper which replaced the 330 and I think it's great. The ride is good on 17's (non-run flats), its comfortable and has surprisingly goof NVH levels. The three pot is a cracking little engine too. I like the interior too which is laods nicer (in my view) compared to other small cars.

16" tyres cheaper than my MTB tyres too, not sure if I should or at that...

It is indeed a strange world

@bikebouy get a clubman type version, my sister (oops ... 😉 ) has one and it works well with her road bikes.

What @daffy says, fun to drive and pretty fast in real world driving