Ask Lemmy

Lol no

I might be curious about the car itself, just to figure out how it may or may not differ from my own, based on the year it was made, but I don't give two shits about the driver. I generally don't like other people, and car brand ownership makes no difference in this equation.

Used to drive a ~~Tank~~ 1995 Volvo 940, and more than a few times did someone approach me to talk to a fellow "vintage Volvo enthusiast".

Now that I drive a 2019 Volvo XC90 T8, people assume that I am a Volvo enthusiast based on the fact that I've had two Volvos in a row. The truth is that I really liked the durable tank that was my old car, and I really like the comfort of my new car. They are not similar in any shape or form. They just happen to both be Volvos.

Definitely! I have an MX5 (miata), and the camaraderie between strangers is great. Majority of people will wave to each other as they drive past and I often get stopped for a chat in petrol stations etc. It's one of the reasons I would really hate to get rid of the car because it's just an extra dose of fun compared to everything else I have owned.

I had an old BMW. I park in the back of retail parking lots because I don't see the point in circling lots to find a space that is 40ft closer and you can pull through the spaces. Lots of times I would come out of the store and another BMW would be parked next to mine, like there was some automotive kinship or something. There would be five open spaces, some guy and my car. It was always weird.

I will salute and recognize any other man driving a minivan particularly a Honda Odyssey. They know real practicality, and value. Chance are also good that they care less about their image than the do about being useful.

Nah, most brands have customers that treat their car like an appliance. They aren't interested in a shared culture around their car. Jeep specifically cultivated that culture through "its a jeep thing" advertising, and it's since taken on life of its own. Some other ones I've seen though

VW owners will throw up peace signs to other owners. Especially popular with Beetle drivers.

Mini cooper owners act like golden retrievers and start flashing their lights and wiggling the car when they see each other.

Subaru WRX/STI owners leave each other little bottles of vape juice

When I drove a pickup? Lol no pickup drivers are 99% assholes and pieces of shit.

Now that I'm driving an older model car? Also no, I see a parts bin I can pillage when my car dies.

Prius Club member local 619 checking in

I have a default grey Camry. I lose it in the parking lot all the time and feel kinship whenever I run across someone else also looking for their generic, vanilla car.

Only because they don't make them anymore. I always give a 👋🏼 —or a 🤘🏼 if their stickers are funny. 😋

Sort of, if they drive a Subaru Outback (as I do) or a Forester (as I considered) because these two drivers are Subaru people. Doesn't apply to other models because those are less designed for outdoor functionality.

But there are a lot of us in the Pacific Northwest.

Somehow a little bit, yeah

I feel more of a kinship with people driving the same speed as me on the motorway.

I still remember when the audi a4 I had been behind for 200km took an offramp about 50km before me...

yes

(i don't have a car)

Kinda, I used to drive a fairly rare variant of 4Runner so when I saw an identical one I got a bit excited. Then I accidentally won an auction from a university in town for a surplus police car (it's a much longer story) so now I get amused when I see another idiot like me driving a similar model surplus police car

Some people make the things they buy and own a big part of their personality.

I don't know why. To me, a car is a box with wheels that I use to get from point A to point B. My main criteria for judging a car is miles per dollar.

The way lemmings see their cars is the way normies see their computing devices.

When I was more involved with cars? Sure. Not anymore - but I also don’t drive anything special and just want the thing to start and move.

When you’re young/poor and interested in cars you’ll work with what you got - and if you got a Kia - you’re probably on a Kia motorsports forum/subtikytok.

Not really, but Subaru owners are (especially the Outback, Crosstrek or any of the wilderness models) are a bit of a cult.

A little, we have something in common

We recently bought a Rivian and I've noticed all of the other Rivian drivers wave. So we wave too.

When I had my Kia Soul I would joke about sharing the "Hamy nod" (referencing the dope hamster commercial Kia used years ago), which was unbridled poppycock. Not even the drivers of the two other identical vehicles in town would even look my way, let alone nod, wave, or acknowledge we drove the same vehicle.

Hyundai Kona? LOL, I may as well be invisible.

Unless you're in a Miata, Jeep, Harley, or some other extremely rare vehicle, it's just not a thing so far as I can see.

Always. I don't make a big deal out of it but i do notice and feel connected.

I currently have a common car but it's fun when you have an uncommon car and so have your own exclusive club!

But either way, I think it's normal (for people who care at all about cars). Us humans are wired for connection, after all.

I drive a Jeep and don't feel a kinship with Jeepers. I used to. Mine is a 2001 and in those days I could drive across town and see 1-2 other Jeeps. We'd wave, and if we stopped at a red light next to each other, there's a good chance we'd talk and possibly invite each other to go offroad or even just stop and have a beer or something. Most Jeepers knew their Jeep inside and out and had built, modified, installed and worked on every inch of them.

Nowadays, it's weird. There's 3-4 Jeeps at every red light, so why wave? A lot of Jeeps are superhero or cartoon themed which is the dumbest most childish shit to me. There's orange Nero jeeps and blue Dory jeeps, green Shrek jeeps, and they're all covered in so many damn LED lights they could signal Jupiter. I've never got into the duck thing either.

That's enough of an old man rant. I won't get into how I've seen Jeep events cancelled due to light sprinkles, how Jeep "offroad shops" mostly just sell LED lights and Jeep branded clothes now, or that time a trail leader interrupted me giving excellent advice to a Jeep experiencing brake fade coming down a mountain, to recommend taking the Jeep to the dealer.

The only car "club" things I'm ever curious about have more to do with what you do with your car, rather than what make and model you drive. Autocross, track days, Gambler 500, things like that.

Otherwise, make and model don't matter to me, I'm just delighted whenever I see anyone else driving with a manual transmission.

No

If anything I compare my car's condition to theirs.

A 2008 Silver Toyota Yaris Sedan. I sure do. It's amazing the things still run so we'll.

My current car is fairly common and boring grey so no.

My previous car was and old Renault Kangoo which is even more common but was red which is not that common. I saw this exact same model and color from time to time but it's mostly used by farmers or construction workers so not much kinship there. One time we were driving on a mountain road and exact same red Kangoo was driving the other way with a couple similar age as we inside. We all noticed started laughing.

No, and it's weird. Okay, the duck thing is kinda sweet, but it's expanding beyond Jeeps. I've seen other makes/models with ducks. I feel like having one duck gets you into the duck club quicker than having a Jeep with no ducks, though a Jeep with no ducks invites ducks more than any other car without ducks. Nobody's out there putting the ducks on random cars. But I see more places selling ducks themed after things adjacent to what they sell.

Even though motorcycle "subculture" is no where near as popular as it once was, there is still this weird thing where two people passing each other on their bikes will often wave at one another. It doesn't seem to matter what model you're riding. I've never really understood it but then I don't see riding a motorcycle as part of my personal identity. It's just a mode of transportation that's cheaper and a bit more more fun than a car.

No more than someone using the same toaster. Why are people weird about their cars?