{"id":42431,"date":"2006-08-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-08-01T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2006\/08\/01\/iv-car-personality\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T15:31:58","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T19:31:58","slug":"iv-car-personality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/social-trends\/2006\/08\/01\/iv-car-personality\/","title":{"rendered":"IV. Car Personality"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/legacy\/159-interior.gif\" alt=\"Figure\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.3596491228070176;width:310px;height:auto\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Just as positive feelings about driving have cooled a bit since 1991, so too has the special relationship that drivers have with their cars. The number of drivers who say they think of their car as &#8220;something special &#8212; more than just a way to get around&#8221; has fallen by nearly half, to 23% now from 43% in the 1991 Gallup survey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This drop-off occurred about equally among all major sociodemographic groups of drivers &#8212; including men and women, older and younger, more and less affluent &#8212; and in all regions of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the same time, however, about three-in-ten (31%) drivers report they at least sometimes think of their car as having a personality of its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/legacy\/160-interior.gif\" alt=\"Figure\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.2171945701357465;width:269px;height:auto\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are virtually no differences between men and women on this question, but there are some variances by age. Some 41% of 18-to-29 year olds say their car has a personality, while just 25% of those ages 65 and older agree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also, just under three-in-ten (28%) drivers say they can usually tell what a person is like from the kind of car he or she drives, a figure that is on par with drivers&#8217; assessments in the 1991 survey. Of course, cars aren&#8217;t the only inanimate window into the personality of humans. When asked to assess whether a person&#8217;s car, home or clothing tells the most about what that person is like, respondents ranked the car a distant third &#8212; at just 7%. Home was the big winner, with 54% saying it revealed the most about its owner, while 24% said that about clothing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Just as positive feelings about driving have cooled a bit since 1991, so too has the special relationship that drivers have with their cars. The number of drivers who say they think of their car as &#8220;something special &#8212; more than just a way to get around&#8221; has fallen by nearly half, to 23% now [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","relatedPosts":[],"reportMaterials":[],"multiSectionReport":[],"package_parts__enabled":false,"package_parts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[724],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0},"categories":[453,371],"tags":[],"bylines":[],"collection":[],"datasets":[1105],"level_of_effort":[],"primary_audience":[2812,2811,2813],"information_type":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[458],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[519],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-42431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leisure","category-lifestyle","datasets-workoptimismcars","primary_audience-engaged-public","primary_audience-media","primary_audience-stakeholders","formats-report","regions-countries-united-states","research-teams-social-trends"],"label":false,"post_parent":42411,"word_count":248,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/social-trends\/2006\/08\/01\/iv-car-personality\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"watchers":[{"id":724,"name":"msolorzano","email":"msolorzano-temp@pewresearch.org","slack_user_id":"","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f86893a13d28433dcc6c4512a48b171b84ea93b30b59a30560a70570b12b1dec?s=48&d=mm&r=g"}],"table_of_contents":[{"id":42411,"title":"Americans and Their Cars: Is the Romance on the Skids?","slug":"americans-and-their-cars-is-the-romance-on-the-skids","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/social-trends\/2006\/08\/01\/americans-and-their-cars-is-the-romance-on-the-skids\/","is_active":false},{"id":42418,"title":"II. 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