Since last Friday (THUNK, no more transmission) my wife and I find ourselves in the market for a new car.
For the moment we’re limiting our search to Toyotas and Hondas, partly because we think they’re good cars (12 very good years with my Celica) and partly because I don’t want to give up my mechanic, who services those makes only.
My wife’s first choice is the Honda Civic. I see the attraction but can’t avoid the feeling “eeww, chick car!” So I’ve been actively seeking out alternatives.
On my walk to work I check out all the cars passing me on the road and parked on the sidewalk, and I have a new favorite…the 2005 (or maybe, I guess, 2006) Toyota RAV4. It seems like just what I’m looking for: sturdy but not huge, reliable but not clumsy; like a Corolla but taller. I found a good explanation here:
I like all of these things but don’t want to buy a hypertrophic SUV to get them.
But of course on first Googling I discover the RAV4 is considered…a chick car! So much for my pretensions to masculinity.
So, in your humble opinion: **is the RAV4 a chick car? If so, why? In general, what makes a car a chick car? **If I knew the features of a chick car, I could keep an eye out.
For the record, if I’m expected to revert to the insecure provincial machismo of the little town I grew up in, I’ll just take the chick car and not look back. But I’m honestly curious. All perspectives welcome.
Also for the record: I know there’s also such a thing as insecure urban machismo. But the provincial kind is the kind I know best. Please don’t pit me for this.
Eh, I think a RAV4 is way more chick-ish than a Civic. The RAV4 is like a giant toy car, so blatantly faux-rugged that it boomerangs all the way back to effeminate. I can only picture a girl driving it or a teenager.
The Civic however isn’t “manly”, but at least it’s practical. You won’t be wowing the Joneses, but everyone seems to accept that the Civic is a quality car, a bit of a modern utility vehicle. Clearly it’s not showy, but then again thats sort of the point. There’s something respectable and un-girly about something that’s totally practical without need for cosmetics. The RAV4 screams cosmetic to me.
I’ve always found Toyota’s to be really ugly cars, it’s like they take blandness to a level which I’ve never seen duplicated. The Mormons must love them.
Within your requirements I’d personally go with the Accord Coupe. I’ve always thought it was a pretty attractive car without any girlyness to it.
IMHO the current RAV4 isn’t all that much of a chick car. Its reputation was stained by the original rav4 which looked like a toy and was a complete poser in the being an actual SUV department.
If you want carrying capacity try a toyota matrix, subaru outback or mazda 3 5 door.
The CRV is on my short list and my wife likes it too. A friend of mine has one and she describes it as “like a Civic, only taller.” Any CRV owners care to weigh in?
Thanks for the comments so far; I’ll check out the suggestions. Please keep ‘em comin’…
For what it’s worth, although I don’t encounter much “treacherous off-road terrain,” I would like a car that can handle an unpaved forest road on the way to a trailhead (I live in Washington state). Hence my desire for something not too low to the ground.
But I’ve hijacked my own thread; the OP (hey, that’s me!) was about chick cars. I’m still curious: what are the criteria?
I had no idea the RAV4 was considered a “chick car”, whatever that is.
My father bought two RAV4, and he’s a hulking, muscular, hairy man who won’t eat maraschino cherries because he thinks they are “too girly”. He also owns a '73 Corvette (that just got a brand new shiny black paint job).
My husband wanted to buy something more practical than the little 300ZX we had, and we seriously considered the RAV4. He didn’t seem to think it was a “chick car”, and he is also a hulking, muscular, hairy man, but he’s secure enough in his sexuality that he’ll eat those maraschino cherries, too, so who knows? The other vehicle my husband drives is a Monte Carlo.
I have never heard of the RAV4 as a chick car. My 6’2" alpha-male Marine husband drives one, and he likes it just fine and it doesn’t seem to diminish his masculinity at all. Just recalling off the top of my head, I’ve seen more men than women driving them. In fact, I tend to see a lot of women driving those gigantor SUVs like the Expedition, which I find patently ridiculous.
"The auto manufacturers have been pumping more and more of these new-millennium “family” haulers into this segment of the market, and it seems we just can’t get enough of them.
The most popular utes are not emasculating cute utes, like the Honda CR-V or Toyota RAV4, nor are they the high-profile, high-rolling luxe utes so popular with sports figures and rap stars. The heart of the market belongs to the midsized, like the Ford Explorer and Jeep Grand Cherokee."
The other vehicle my husband drives is a Monte Carlo. 
I have never heard of the RAV4 as a chick car. My 6’2" alpha-male Marine husband drives one, and he likes it just fine and it doesn’t seem to diminish his masculinity at all. Just recalling off the top of my head, I’ve seen more men than women driving them. In fact, I tend to see a lot of women driving those gigantor SUVs like the Expedition, which I find patently ridiculous.