How do you define a 'COOL' car?

[homeforsummer]

not every person will think the same though, cool could be respected by some, or picked on out of jealousy by others.

I'd tend to disagree. The car that popped to mind when you mentioned that was the classic Mini. Now I'm well aware that there may be many people who aren't keen on the Mini or even dislike it, but people who hate it? I'm not so sure. Certainly nobody jealous of someone driving a Mini (and if they are jealous, chances are they're a big Mini fan anyway!). Would you be driving along thinking "there goes another a-hole in a Mini" like you might with a BMW or a Ferrari or something? Probably not. When was the last time you were tailgated by someone in an old Mini? Or the last time you saw a Mini driven by an orange-faced woman dropping off her insufferable little brats at the local school for toffs?

For the record, yes I'd say that the original Mini is cool. Classlessness has something to do with it. There are expensive cars that I'd call cool (a classic Ferrari Dino, for example), but you might still be risking some little jealous scrote scratching a line down the side of it with a penknife simply because it's a symbol of wealth. You can be cool in a Mini though whether you're a penniless student or a musical superstar.

 

[Lucas]

That's a cool car in my standards.

 

[slidesquad#1]

But, homeforsummer, there would be very few examples of universally likeable cars such as the Mini. I agree with your points, but I think there's another layer to it.

For me, a cool car has nothing to do with the kind of people who drive them, or what kind of activities are associated with them. If it's a car I wouldn't mind driving/owning, it's cool. To me. Couldn't give a toss about what other people might think of it, it's not a popularity contest. Eg. the M3's and RS4's...I think they're very, very cool, despite the drivers associated with them.

My car would be a pretty good example, loud, in your face, drivers can be a bit...idiotic, but awesome at what it was designed to do. To me, it's cool. Other people might have a whole host of opinions about it (and I've heard quite a few of them), but who cares? Not me.

However, it's not that I think other people's opinions aren't valid, or that they shouldn't have any. It just doesn't influence whether I think a car is cool or not.

Things like letting people out of junctions, for me, has nothing to do with what car they are driving, I'll do it regardless if I can safely. It's about courtesy, not whether they're in an awesome or fully sikk douchebag car. Similarly, things like waving and smiles...I can think of dozens of cars that would elicit exactly the opposite reaction from the general public, but I would find "sub-zero".

So, I think it all comes down to different strokes for different folks.

 

[EA11R]

The way I define a cool car is this: A cool car has the effect of convincing bystanders that the driver thereof is cool himself (or herself). Given, this is subject to many different social norms and situations, but not any more or less than is style itself.

The other way, in my opinion, a car can be cool is via tasteful subtlety, convincing people of nothing in particular. Something handsome, something clean, something nondescript but not quite ordinary. This car won't actively make people swoon and scream of how cool the driver is, but it does quietly lend an aura of style and occasion in the instant it passes by.

Speed has nothing to do with it, unless it is presently demonstrating such speed, or lack thereof. A Bullitt (sp?) Mustang is, and always will be, way cooler than a Mustang GT500. This actually suits both my paragraphs above; the Bullitt is less likely to house a chav or an old man, and the Bullitt is more subtle and trying less hard to be cool.

 

[Stotty]

For me, a cool car has nothing to do with the kind of people who drive them, or what kind of activities are associated with them. If it's a car I wouldn't mind driving/owning, it's cool. To me. Couldn't give a toss about what other people might think of it, it's not a popularity contest. Eg. the M3's and RS4's...I think they're very, very cool, despite the drivers associated with them.

My car would be a pretty good example, loud, in your face, drivers can be a bit...idiotic, but awesome at what it was designed to do. To me, it's cool. Other people might have a whole host of opinions about it (and I've heard quite a few of them), but who cares? Not me.

However, it's not that I think other people's opinions aren't valid, or that they shouldn't have any. It just doesn't influence whether I think a car is cool or not.

I like.


To those who base their opinion of cool on what they think others think....
If everyone's opinion of what's cool is different, how do you ensure that other people will think your car is cool? Surely by definition, some people are bound to think your car (and hence you) is uncool?

 

[homeforsummer]

For me, a cool car has nothing to do with the kind of people who drive them, or what kind of activities are associated with them. If it's a car I wouldn't mind driving/owning, it's cool. To me. Couldn't give a toss about what other people might think of it, it's not a popularity contest. Eg. the M3's and RS4's...I think they're very, very cool, despite the drivers associated with them.

...However, it's not that I think other people's opinions aren't valid, or that they shouldn't have any. It just doesn't influence whether I think a car is cool or not.

...So, I think it all comes down to different strokes for different folks.

Good points 👍 I can completely see where your coming from, and I don't disagree with what you've mentioned either. I'm trying to think of cars that I personally think are cool that other people probably would disagree with and those that I think are cool that probably do have a bit of a rep because of the people that drive them. It's probably fair to say I like some fairly odd cars.

The first things that popped into my head were...
- Audi A2 (it's a tall, small car, most people probably wouldn't find it cool)
- Ford Racing Puma (it's a Ford so not off to a good start, but I think it's awesome)
- Any nicely modified Honda Civic or similar (I expect many members of the public would immediately dismiss it as a chav-wagon if they heard a hint of a performance exhaust)
- Porsche 996 (Natch - I expect many regard 911s as yuppie cars, and tiresome Porsche "purists" bemoan that they lost the aircooled engines with this model)

So those are all examples of cars that I personally find cool but I expect many wouldn't - so I'm not that bothered about how people see me. But at the same time, it's nice to know that there are some cars you could drive around in that everyone notices (important for a cool car) that nobody gives you the finger in (also important), that puts a smile on people's faces or makes them point (important again), and probably most importantly, that you like and everyone you know likes.

To those who base their opinion of cool on what they think others think....
If everyone's opinion of what's cool is different, how do you ensure that other people will think your car is cool? Surely by definition, some people are bound to think your car (and hence you) is uncool?

As above you'll see I don't base my opinion of cool on what others think, but I do think that having a car that isn't universally despised for some reason is a factor in it being cool too.

I never said that everyone has to think the car is cool in order for it to be cool, more that as few people as possible think your car isn't cool. If apathy is the very worst that someone feels about your car, then chances are it has a better chance of coolness.

Interesting for this discussion, I recently bought the latest copy of Octane magazine (IMO, easily one of the best car mags available in the UK) and in that they have their very own "cool list". Without copying their definition word for word and therefore infringing numerous copyrights, their outlook on a cool car was the following (everything paraphrased):

Presentation - for classic cars, a concours, polished, chromed example isn't as cool as an example in great condition but used daily and showing the patina of age. Modern 4x4s are WAG cars, but classic ones (Jeep, Range Rover) are completely unpretentious and designed for a purpose. The term "cool" came about in the American Jazz age so "cool" can only be post-war. Pure racing cars aren't cool - they are tools to win races, properly cool cars aren't trying too hard. Cool cars suit any environment equally well, whether you're pulling up to a flash hotel or driving your favourite road. Form, function or a combo of both are important.

Bold sections are sections I particularly agree with. I'm not normally particularly superficial, but form is very important to me, more so than function. Hence anything where the looks bothers me in some way is immediately not that cool, personally (going back to the Porsche 996 example, I prefer the clean lines of the Carrera 2 to the brash details of the GT2 - so I find the base car cool, and the GT2 uncool).

Anyway, the Octane list - only 25 cars, but the first cool list I've ever seen where I don't disagree with any of the choices, even if they wouldn't be in my personal top 25. Incidentally, their overall coolest car was this:

The Jaguar XKSS - basically, the street-legal D-Type. The Mini was second

 

[slidesquad#1]

Something else I just thought of. Does age have something to do with it?

As in are most people like me, in that I tend to find older cars much cooler than more contemporary ones? Not necessarily for the fast/special/rare ones, but for more run of the mill models?

I.e. I'll pay a stock Holden Kingswood way more attention than a stock base Commodore, or a Mk I GTI over a Mk IV or V.

Might link in with rarity I suppose.

 

[TheCracker]

I'd class most old cars as cool for the simple reason that the owner has thought outside-the-box a little.

Running an older (30+ years) car also takes a bit more time and effort to keep running too which sets it apart from modern cars which are often treated by their owners, including myself, in a similar way to a domestic appliance.

It doesn't mean that all classics are cool. A Morris Marina will never be cool, neither will a rubber-bumpered MGB. They had to have had something slightly special about them in the first place to make them worth while restoring or been well looked after so they haven't been trashed a long time since.

 

[Moglet]

IMO the original Mini is the coolest car ever made. The new one, on the other hand, is the complete opposite for me. Almost everyone I see driving one is bright orange and has 3 kids by different dads.

 

[Joey D]

IMO the original Mini is the coolest car ever made. The new one, on the other hand, is the complete opposite for me. Almost everyone I see driving one is bright orange and has 3 kids by different dads.

I'll have to post a picture of me driving mine then .

As far as cool cars go, if there is something interesting or unusual about the car I will probably think it's cool. The typical owner of the vehicle also has something to do with it. Since most Dodge Rams around here are driving by tool bags I don't consider the Ram to be a cool truck. Same goes for just about all Jeeps. Modifications have the some affect as well, an example being most Saab's aren't really cool but a modified Saab is cool.

Cool really varies from person to person I suppose.

 

[homeforsummer]

As in are most people like me, in that I tend to find older cars much cooler than more contemporary ones? Not necessarily for the fast/special/rare ones, but for more run of the mill models?

Very much so. Most older cars and classics are far cooler than most modern cars, including run of the mill models. I can't remember whether I mentioned it here (or in the Mondeo thread... or at all...) but the average repmobile from the 60s/70s... say a Triumph Dolomite... is infinitely cooler than any of today's repmobiles.

I'd agree with what The Cracker said, which is that if someone's running a classic, the chances are that it's because they have a passion for the model rather than it just being a tool with which to transport themselves about. And this comes back to the Octane comment I mentioned before, which is that if someone's running their classic day in, day out, that's much cooler than it being kept squirrelled away in a garage, polished all the time and only seeing the light of day three weekends every summer.

I'd also agree with what he said in that not all classics are cool. But a higher proportion are than there are cool modern cars.

 

[neanderthal]

There are so many things that go into defining what "cool" is in a car, that to try to boil it down to a few pithy sentences is just redundant. Certainly thats the way it would appear to me.

A Camry can never be cool. In fact, just about most midsize, big volume selling cars just cant pull it off.
But an old midsizer, in mint condition, *can.* And when I say old I mean vintage. Like the Triumph Dolly Sprint someone mentioned. Especially if its been tarted up a lil with some *tasty* vintage bits like period correct wheels and so on.

Unlike probably most people here, I dont think expensive= cool. Sorry, Maybach and Bugatti are awful. Some are just crass and overdone. Some are just underdone.
Im more a fan of function over form anyway.


Id go on but ill paraphrase someone else instead. We may not be able to define it, but we know it when we see it.

 

[eiriksmil]

Camry is so boring. Someone here said old cars are cooler than newer ones. It's right, cars age like fine wine. Example:

 

[YSSMAN]

A Camry can never be cool. In fact, just about most midsize, big volume selling cars just cant pull it off.

It is perhaps the only Camry I care about. Although I have to admit that I miss the old one...

 

[Jim Prower]

RE: Old Cars: I think one of the biggest exceptions to the rule of old cars being cool...(and, mind you, this is MERELY my opinion,) is a car that came to define it's generation...and has become so overcovered that you can actually build a new one from scratch if you have an engine.

Yes. The big one. The most famous of the Tri-Fives. The '57.

Yes, it is the one car that everyone thinks about when they think about the '50s. (save for, perhaps, the '32 Roadster.) In reality, it was one of the cheapest cars you could buy at that time, and it caught on for one simple reason. The SBC. It was like the Honda Civic of those days. And it still is, very much, that same sort of car.

There are enough of these left that you can go to almost any, and I mean ANY, old car meet and see one, even internationally. More often than not, they're clones of a Bel-Air with Torq-thrust or Cragar wheels and a late model Small Block under the hood. The only way I could think to actually get attention with one from serious enthusiasts at a car meet would be to take a 210 with the straight six, give it fuel injection, throw a turbo or two on it, and put it on Volks. (or, just swap a Japanese six in, but then you'd be in yet another crowd to fade into.) oh, and primer black everything. even the chrome.

Now, perhaps, because I am an enthusiast and know quite a few more cars than the average joe, I can be kind of snobbish with regards to the Bel-Air. But, to this point, I'll quote something from a thread about Britian's "Flying Scotsman."

Flying Scotsman is the most popular engine with the public, therefore the enthusiasts say she's overrated and start talking about what are, to Mr. Joseph Public Esq., obscure classes. Can any of us really imagine a non-enthusiast dancing with unbridled excitement upon hearing that a "West Country Class" will be passing through their local station?

Replace "Flying Scotsman" with "Bel Air" and "Hearing that a "West Country Class" will be passing through their local station?" with "having just purchased a Studebaker Commander?" It works perfectly.

Still, we are entitled to our opinions, and I still think the '57 is lame. Am I wrong? Not in my mind. But I do know that Joe Public still thinks they're cool, and acknowledge that.

 

[slidesquad#1]

I think they're cool as hell. And I like to think I'm not quite Joe Public when it comes to cars. But then again, maybe I just haven't had the exposure to that many? Again, rarity perhaps?

 

[nobuffalo]

A Camry can never be cool.

What about when your drifting it up in 6 inches of snow with an all-trac? I think I may be able to change your mind about that statement.

 

[Jim Prower]

I think they're cool as hell. And I like to think I'm not quite Joe Public when it comes to cars. But then again, maybe I just haven't had the exposure to that many? Again, rarity perhaps?

Well, you're also in NZ, so I'd think they'd be rarer where you are.

I guess my viewpoint is from that of a '50s car enthusiast in the US. I mean, you can literally build a (slightly modified) '57 from mail-order parts and a drivetrain that comes from a crate. It's ridiculous.

I think a lot of guys in the old car scene get tired of seeing them. I think a lot of people feel they're overrated when you could do so much better in that year for performance and the like, at least, as new, and there's so many of them around. It's a bit of the snobbery thing, I guess, since we know about so many of the cars of that era ('57 was Packard's last year as an independent make, did you know?) and when we see another '57 pull into the car show, some of the serious guys groan and roll their eyes..."There's another one..."

and maybe, just maybe, there's a hint of GM resentment in there, too.

 

[Joey D]

I'm going to do some grave digging thread archaeology here and bring this thread back. With the GTP Cool Wall in full swing I think this is a great thread for us to move discussion on what makes a car cool.

I know a lot of the voting threads have had some debate on what makes a cool car instead of why X car is cool or not. This seems like a better place to hammer out those details.

My opinion is still the same, the coolness of a car typically has a lot to do with its uniqueness, its culture, and its owners. Also to me most small, sporty hatchbacks will instantly be cool while most big, heavy muscle cars won't be just because of my own personal preferences.

 

[Lucas]

Looks, performance, and culture surrounding the car, along with appearances in popular culture. Fanbase is also important, but I do keep in mind where do the cars come from when I think about this.

 

[EA11R]

I think a cool car has a combination of two properties: personal opinion that it is cool, and public opinion regarding your expression of opinion

The first part is pretty simple: You see the car and think it is either cool or uncool, and react accordingly. The second part is this: How did you express your reaction in a cool way? A car that prompts uncool situations is, unfortunately, uncool.

So, an Astra VXR (fast version of dull car) is cool to the -mainly- men who know about cars. But, what most people see is that men are winking at you and giving you the thumbs-up. Uncool.

Or a Smart ForTwo is -hypothetically- cool, in its purest form. But, it turns people into idiots, either yelling 'CU+TE' (know your regular expressions? ) or decieving themselves into thinking it's fast, or droning on and on about technical aspects (me). It's funky, modern, stylish, and uncool.

Finally, a Saab 9-5. A tasty sedan or wagon, but quite bland, in theory rather uncool. But, when a crowd confronts one, they react to the taste and restraint with perhaps an appreciative nod or a small smile. It's pedestrian, not too fast, and quite cool.

I can't tell; was that hard to understand?

 

[Irons]

I would say a Cool car is a car worthy of a nod, but not worthy of a standing ovation like the Sub Zero cars. If the car looks like it's uptight or like it's trying too hard to fit in, then it's Uncool. If it bears an iconic value like the Mini Cooper or '57 Chevy Bel Air then I would deem it Sub Zero if I believe it fits as an icon.

Everyone's got their own opinion, and some may seem totally irrational. But it's what they think of the car, everyone's got their own reasons for liking one car over another.

 

[Sertsa]

Interesting discussion. It's hard to describe, but for me a car's coolness is mainly on how well it is what it is. That's hard to describe, but there's a certain genius to build a car that combines a lot of inanimate parts and somehow seems to have a soul. The best of those never have a pretense to be anything other than what they are (and a lot of cars fail in that respect, especially in current car design).

The cars I also find cool don't seem to have been created organically, or in a flash of inspiration, like a dream, rather than from CAD programs and market research. (I'm not saying that at least some cool cars weren't created that way, but rather that they appear natural).

Because of all of this, the cars I find cool are uniquely beautiful, purposeful and call out to be driven.

I don't think rarity makes a car cool, either. For instance, it's not difficult to find a '65-'69 Mustang, but a lot of people over the last 40 years have considered them very cool.

 

[Radracing]

A Camry can never be cool. In fact, just about most midsize, big volume selling cars just cant pull it off.

I think "Cool" is an art form. You can take anything ordinary and turn it into "Cool" it's all in the attitude. You can be "Badass" or just a fun and carefree dude and who ever is around you just clicks and says hey that's cool.

Case and point. Toyota Camry "BADASS"

or just fun and carefree, in example the "Scooter"
Hey! is that the guy from the TV show "House"?

"BADASS"

or "CAREFREE" you choose.

 

[Omnis]

A cool car will turn heads. That's it.

 

[Keef]

A cool car will turn heads. That's it.

I don't think that's the traditional Top Gear definition. They have plenty of head turners in seriously uncool, because "cocks" and "chavs" drive them regularly.

I think they're talking about the stereotypical people that drive the car moreso than the car itself. They would put an old Aston Martin in cool because James Bond drove it, but a new one in seriously uncool because some snobby brat drives it. Same goes for a lot of exotics. It's all about the driver, not the car.

 

[Famine]

Cool
Small car
Beautiful
Older supercar
Roadster

Uncool
Supercar
Aggressively styled
4x4
Convertible based on existing car
Diesel
Car made to be fashionable
BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Ferrari, Vauxhall
Korean
Anything I would buy if I had the money*


However... Potentially Uncool cars can be redeemed with Cool properties, and Potentially Cool cars can be ruined by Uncool aspects. At this point, my fridge would be useful...

Simples!

Edit: Though I'm not sure how the Hummer got to where it is... Probably moved by the same zeeb who put the Enzo in Sub Zero

*Not cars I do buy when I have the money. Cars I would buy if I had the money.

 

[TheCracker]

Someone's been messing with your coolwall, they've put the Hummer in the cool almost subzero section, those tricky tricksters

 

[Thatman]

I think "cool" is defined by if a lot of people think that that particular vehicle is special in some way that sets it apart from others.

 

[Giancarlo]

Is it a Saab?