Color matters? (Post #295) 6/16/2012

According to an iVillage post the color of your car says a lot about you. I’m not so sure about that really. I’ve read a few pages that say what the TYPE of car you drive says about you. I will acknowledge that this is at best pop-science. One of my favorite television personalities, Sheldon Cooper a character on the popular television The Big Bang Theory show often says, “the social sciences are largely hokum.”
Sorry for the video its the best one I could find.

So let us say this is all, “just for fun”.
For the record, I drive a dark silver Honda Civic. I did not “pick” it out and only bought it to help a family member, so it will not be considered in our “scientific” findings. My wife drives a gag, champagne colored Honda CRV. Similar story, helping out a family member. This will also not be considered. Neither of these vehicles actually speak to our personalities so we will throw them out when factoring the data. As you know, I have a white Range Rover. I picked it out. Therefore it is a good piece of data for our fun today.

Range Rover = Practical personality.
White =  It really depends on who you are talking to.

Suite 101 says, “According to Eiseman, white cars are associated with a fastidious nature. The UK study found that they were often preferred by status-seeking extroverts, and the New Zealand crash study found that white cars had a mid-range crash rate, similar to that of red and green.”

If you ask people about me I think they would say I could be considered some what fastidious. I had to look the word up so I’ll share the definition here,

having high and often capricious standards : difficult to please.

Nailed it.

I am an extrovert. I tested in the Myers-Briggs Personality profile as an ENTJ. So yeah, that fits too.
I do not believe I am status seeking. I am concerned about my status, but I don’t believe I go to any effort to seek any new status.
I mentioned iVillage in the opening paragraph. I will post the link to the site but it had a hellacious number of pop-ups, so be forewarned if that little demon inside you says, “Go ahead, click it.” You were warned. 
iVillage says, “White car owners are hard to please. There’s a degree of fastidiousness; says Eiseman. ‘These are people who generally like things to be very pure and pristine and clear and direct.’ There’s nothing you can hide under the color white.’ The woman who chooses a white ride is more likely to keep her car super clean. And she lives the rest of her life this way, too.”
This confirms the above from Suite101. I am very direct, perhaps even to a fault. I once thought of setting the ring tone on my phone to my wife’s voice saying, “Could you be a little less direct?” I like to be clear as well. My wife might argue that with you.

Drive Mile One says, “White is for purists who love the color for its cleansing feeling.”

Yeah, I don’t know about that. I’m pretty sure the dark recesses of my personality that will confirm this have never been explored. I will say I am a purist. Cleansing? we may never know.
Lifescript, Healthy Living for Women says,Cloud White White has long been the conservative color of purity, innocence and doctors’ offices, which may be why many families choose white cars to transport their children in, but that doesn’t mean that white can’t spell luxury. According to ForbesAutos.com, white is the second most popular car color chosen for luxury vehicles. Being sold in sparkling hues like pearl white, this color is always on the most popular list. 
The Color Answer Book says the white is the color of the fastidious, and this may be true as a white car requires the most cleaning and upkeep to maintain that fresh, new look. Most sloppy or indifferent drivers won’t choose a color like white when it comes to car care and cleanliness.

There we go again, fastidious. According to these three websites, I might be an uptight prick. (Eh, I can live with that.) The “Color Answer Book” apparently is on the cleaning kick too. I can say though, I like a little mud on the fenders. It shows others, “I’ve been somewhere you haven’t or can’t go.”

Maybe someday, if you buy me a beer, I’ll tell you a story about the color pink As this is a family website, we’ll leave any further discussion to beer and fire light.


My wife LOVES red cars. I don’t have the time to tell you why none of their analyses are correct about people and red cars. It’s all a lot of hokum.

Thanks for reading, thanks for participating in the social sciences, and Happy Rovering and Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there.