OCBob
VIPER POWERED
The Ladies' Pavilion, tucked away in New York's Central Park, is probably the most beautiful bus stop any of us will ever see. The filigreed, cast-iron Victorian structure is powder blue with a gray slate roof, and was built in 1871 to shelter women awaiting streetcars--the buses of their day--at nearby Columbus Circle.
Fast forward more than a century: Just two years ago, Ford Motor's (nyse: F - news - people ) Volvo subsidiary unveiled Your Concept Car, a prototype designed by a team of women. The car included such practical details as a wastebasket and a wide rear window. It also featured a gas cap you didn't have to unscrew--so women could insert the nozzle without breaking their fingernails--and embroidered seats.
The cross-stitch embellishments seem like a throwback, but the fact is, men and women still experience transportation in different ways. Take DaimlerChrysler's (nyse: DCX - news - people ) $86,000 Dodge Viper SRT-10 sports car. With its hot, loud cabin and 510-horsepower V-10 engine, it was not designed to appeal to women. And so far this year, 94% of American Viper registrants have been men.
See the best-selling cars among men and women.
You can deduce most of what you need to know about the differences between modern male and female car buyers from our lists of the cars that are most popular with each gender. The data, which Kelley Blue Book generated for Forbes.com, shows which new-model vehicles have the highest percentage of male versus female registrants and vice-versa.
In general, the cars that are more popular with women than with men are affordable, practical and safe, and have a dash of design flair--cars such as General Motors' (nyse: GM - news - people ) sharp new Saturn Sky roadster ( read our review). Men, on the other hand, love luxurious, high-performance cars--and stump pullers. The top five "guys' cars" include Mercedes-Benz's S65 AMG sedan, which has 604 horsepower for 2007 and epitomizes automotive luxury (think massage seats and an auto-pilot function for low speeds), and GMC's Sierra 1500 HD pickup, which can tow over 10,000 pounds of…whatever.
But don't think that only men prioritize high performance. Three of the five most-female cars are sports cars: the Sky, Audi's iconic TT and Mitsubishi's (other-otc: MSBHF.PK - news - people ) stylish Eclipse--all two-doors. But while women love sporty and good-looking cars, they keep their purchase prices closer to the $30,000 mark than the $100,000 mark, where many of the most-male vehicles reside.
Men, it turns out, are willing to buy "feminine" cars. For example, registrations for the Eclipse, the most-female car, were 39% male in the first five months of 2006, indicating that the kind of affordable sportiness the car provides cuts across gender lines. Most people like a bargain, after all.
But women don't seem to go for the testosterone-fueled sports and luxury cars with the same enthusiasm. No women registered any of the number-one guys' cars in the first five months of this year: not Chevrolet's brutish Suburban C2500 SUV, or hot-rod derivatives of Mercedes' S-Class sedan and SL-Class convertible lines.
Our rankings are based on registrations of 2006 and 2007 model-year vehicles in the first five months of 2006, for the entire U.S. We chose to base our rankings on percentages of male versus female registrants, as opposed to raw totals of male-registered and female-registered cars, because a car with 100% male registrants is clearly a guys' car, regardless of its sales volume (we required no minimum number of registrations for the cars on the list). A car with over 100,000 male registrants could sound like a guys' car--but it could be a high-volume vehicle with 100,000 female registrants too.
Of course, registration data does not necessarily tell us who is driving the cars--parents put their kids' cars in their names; husbands put their wives' cars in their names and vice-versa--but it is the closest we can come to understanding gender demographics in new-car purchasing.
Men
#1. (tie) 2006 Chevrolet Suburban C2500 SUV
Base Price: $36,990 (for 2007 Suburban range)
Male Registrants: 100%
Chevy's Suburban is one of the biggest, brawniest SUVs on the market.
1. (tie) 2006 Mercedes-Benz S55 AMG sedan
Base Price: $114,925
Male Registrants: 100%
This model and the next two in the slide show are hot-rod versions of Mercedes' flagship S-class sedan range. The S55 AMG uses a supercharged, 5.4-liter V-8 with 493 hp.
1. (tie) 2006 Mercedes-Benz S600 sedan
Base Price: $140,675 (for 2007)
Male Registrants: 100%
For 2007, Mercedes' S600 uses a 510-hp V-12 with twin turbochargers.
1. (tie) 2006 Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG sedan
Base Price: $169,775
Male Registrants: 100%
The S65 AMG uses a 604-hp, 6.0-liter V-12 with twin turbochargers.
1. (tie) 2006 Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG convertible
Base Price: $185,775
Male Registrants: 100%
This is the ultimate Mercedes convertible. The 2007 SL65 AMG (pictured here) has a V-12 engine with twin turbochargers and 604 horsepower.
#2. 2006 BMW M6 coupe
Base Price: $96,100
Male Registrants: 93.7%
This is the ultimate BMW sports car, featuring a 5.0-liter, 500-horsepower V-10. See what we mean about how the cars most chosen by men are the most extreme performers?
3. 2006 Dodge Viper SRT-10 two-door
Base Price: $85,745
Male Registrants: 93.6%
The Viper is hot, loud, uncomfortable and rude--thanks largely to its 510-horsepower V-10. We have no trouble understanding why women avoid it.
#4. 2007 GMC Yukon XL K2500 SUV
Base Price: $37,990 (for 2007 Yukon XL range)
Male Registrants: 91.9%
The cousin to Chevrolet's Suburban, GMC's Yukon XL is a full-size SUV that can tow a boat, but also features a premium interior with nice leather seats.
#5. 2006 GMC Sierra 1500 HD pickup
Base Price: $30,620
Male Registrants: 91.7%
A heavy-duty work truck, GMC's Sierra can tow over 10,000 pounds and has a payload capacity of 3,100 pounds. To put that in perspective, a Toyota Corolla sedan weighs 2,500 pounds. (The GMC Sierra 2500 HD is pictured here.)
Women
#1. 2007 Mitsubishi Eclipse two-door
Base Price: $19,699
Female Registrants: 61%
Recently redesigned, Mitsubishi's Eclipse (2006 model pictured here) now has sharper styling, and still promises affordable thrills.
#2. 2006 Audi TT two-door
Base Price: $33,990
Female Registrants: 59%
The TT may be too round and cute to resonate with many men, but it is a great sports car. It offers such high-performance features as all-wheel drive and one of the quickest, most sophisticated transmissions on the market.
#3. 2006 Volkswagen New Beetle two-door
Base Price: $17,180
Female Registrants: 54.9%
Women may keep their car purchases more affordable than men, but the top three most-female cars, including the New Beetle, are not plain-Jane transportation. No Hyundai Accents or Chevrolet Aveos here; the cars have exterior designs with personality.
#4. 2006 Mitsubishi Endeavor SUV
Base Price: $26,599
Female Registrants: 54.7%
The prominence of Mitsubishi's Endeavor on this list illustrates the practicality of female car buyers. The Endeavor has lots of cargo utility, but is affordable. Consumer Reports gives it high marks for reliability, and the Department of Transportation gives it near-perfect crash-test scores.
#5. 2007 Saturn Sky convertible
Base Price: $23,690
Female Registrants: 54.6%
The most edgy of the five most-female cars, Saturn's Sky roadster is one of the hottest new American cars on the market.
Fast forward more than a century: Just two years ago, Ford Motor's (nyse: F - news - people ) Volvo subsidiary unveiled Your Concept Car, a prototype designed by a team of women. The car included such practical details as a wastebasket and a wide rear window. It also featured a gas cap you didn't have to unscrew--so women could insert the nozzle without breaking their fingernails--and embroidered seats.
The cross-stitch embellishments seem like a throwback, but the fact is, men and women still experience transportation in different ways. Take DaimlerChrysler's (nyse: DCX - news - people ) $86,000 Dodge Viper SRT-10 sports car. With its hot, loud cabin and 510-horsepower V-10 engine, it was not designed to appeal to women. And so far this year, 94% of American Viper registrants have been men.
See the best-selling cars among men and women.
You can deduce most of what you need to know about the differences between modern male and female car buyers from our lists of the cars that are most popular with each gender. The data, which Kelley Blue Book generated for Forbes.com, shows which new-model vehicles have the highest percentage of male versus female registrants and vice-versa.
In general, the cars that are more popular with women than with men are affordable, practical and safe, and have a dash of design flair--cars such as General Motors' (nyse: GM - news - people ) sharp new Saturn Sky roadster ( read our review). Men, on the other hand, love luxurious, high-performance cars--and stump pullers. The top five "guys' cars" include Mercedes-Benz's S65 AMG sedan, which has 604 horsepower for 2007 and epitomizes automotive luxury (think massage seats and an auto-pilot function for low speeds), and GMC's Sierra 1500 HD pickup, which can tow over 10,000 pounds of…whatever.
But don't think that only men prioritize high performance. Three of the five most-female cars are sports cars: the Sky, Audi's iconic TT and Mitsubishi's (other-otc: MSBHF.PK - news - people ) stylish Eclipse--all two-doors. But while women love sporty and good-looking cars, they keep their purchase prices closer to the $30,000 mark than the $100,000 mark, where many of the most-male vehicles reside.
Men, it turns out, are willing to buy "feminine" cars. For example, registrations for the Eclipse, the most-female car, were 39% male in the first five months of 2006, indicating that the kind of affordable sportiness the car provides cuts across gender lines. Most people like a bargain, after all.
But women don't seem to go for the testosterone-fueled sports and luxury cars with the same enthusiasm. No women registered any of the number-one guys' cars in the first five months of this year: not Chevrolet's brutish Suburban C2500 SUV, or hot-rod derivatives of Mercedes' S-Class sedan and SL-Class convertible lines.
Our rankings are based on registrations of 2006 and 2007 model-year vehicles in the first five months of 2006, for the entire U.S. We chose to base our rankings on percentages of male versus female registrants, as opposed to raw totals of male-registered and female-registered cars, because a car with 100% male registrants is clearly a guys' car, regardless of its sales volume (we required no minimum number of registrations for the cars on the list). A car with over 100,000 male registrants could sound like a guys' car--but it could be a high-volume vehicle with 100,000 female registrants too.
Of course, registration data does not necessarily tell us who is driving the cars--parents put their kids' cars in their names; husbands put their wives' cars in their names and vice-versa--but it is the closest we can come to understanding gender demographics in new-car purchasing.
Men
#1. (tie) 2006 Chevrolet Suburban C2500 SUV
Base Price: $36,990 (for 2007 Suburban range)
Male Registrants: 100%
Chevy's Suburban is one of the biggest, brawniest SUVs on the market.
1. (tie) 2006 Mercedes-Benz S55 AMG sedan
Base Price: $114,925
Male Registrants: 100%
This model and the next two in the slide show are hot-rod versions of Mercedes' flagship S-class sedan range. The S55 AMG uses a supercharged, 5.4-liter V-8 with 493 hp.
1. (tie) 2006 Mercedes-Benz S600 sedan
Base Price: $140,675 (for 2007)
Male Registrants: 100%
For 2007, Mercedes' S600 uses a 510-hp V-12 with twin turbochargers.
1. (tie) 2006 Mercedes-Benz S65 AMG sedan
Base Price: $169,775
Male Registrants: 100%
The S65 AMG uses a 604-hp, 6.0-liter V-12 with twin turbochargers.
1. (tie) 2006 Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG convertible
Base Price: $185,775
Male Registrants: 100%
This is the ultimate Mercedes convertible. The 2007 SL65 AMG (pictured here) has a V-12 engine with twin turbochargers and 604 horsepower.
#2. 2006 BMW M6 coupe
Base Price: $96,100
Male Registrants: 93.7%
This is the ultimate BMW sports car, featuring a 5.0-liter, 500-horsepower V-10. See what we mean about how the cars most chosen by men are the most extreme performers?
3. 2006 Dodge Viper SRT-10 two-door
Base Price: $85,745
Male Registrants: 93.6%
The Viper is hot, loud, uncomfortable and rude--thanks largely to its 510-horsepower V-10. We have no trouble understanding why women avoid it.
#4. 2007 GMC Yukon XL K2500 SUV
Base Price: $37,990 (for 2007 Yukon XL range)
Male Registrants: 91.9%
The cousin to Chevrolet's Suburban, GMC's Yukon XL is a full-size SUV that can tow a boat, but also features a premium interior with nice leather seats.
#5. 2006 GMC Sierra 1500 HD pickup
Base Price: $30,620
Male Registrants: 91.7%
A heavy-duty work truck, GMC's Sierra can tow over 10,000 pounds and has a payload capacity of 3,100 pounds. To put that in perspective, a Toyota Corolla sedan weighs 2,500 pounds. (The GMC Sierra 2500 HD is pictured here.)
Women
#1. 2007 Mitsubishi Eclipse two-door
Base Price: $19,699
Female Registrants: 61%
Recently redesigned, Mitsubishi's Eclipse (2006 model pictured here) now has sharper styling, and still promises affordable thrills.
#2. 2006 Audi TT two-door
Base Price: $33,990
Female Registrants: 59%
The TT may be too round and cute to resonate with many men, but it is a great sports car. It offers such high-performance features as all-wheel drive and one of the quickest, most sophisticated transmissions on the market.
#3. 2006 Volkswagen New Beetle two-door
Base Price: $17,180
Female Registrants: 54.9%
Women may keep their car purchases more affordable than men, but the top three most-female cars, including the New Beetle, are not plain-Jane transportation. No Hyundai Accents or Chevrolet Aveos here; the cars have exterior designs with personality.
#4. 2006 Mitsubishi Endeavor SUV
Base Price: $26,599
Female Registrants: 54.7%
The prominence of Mitsubishi's Endeavor on this list illustrates the practicality of female car buyers. The Endeavor has lots of cargo utility, but is affordable. Consumer Reports gives it high marks for reliability, and the Department of Transportation gives it near-perfect crash-test scores.
#5. 2007 Saturn Sky convertible
Base Price: $23,690
Female Registrants: 54.6%
The most edgy of the five most-female cars, Saturn's Sky roadster is one of the hottest new American cars on the market.
