The drive to being a babe magnet
Are flashy cars replacing girlfriends or attracting them?
Gentlemen, start your engines-that is, if you have one of course.
It would appear that this mentality has found a home among plenty of guys at Concordia. Not just the concept of having a car, but having a sleek, powerful, confidence-inducing machine with your name attached to it. Just bringing it up casually in a conversation with a group of guys can create a definite sense of excitement in the air. There is the allure of having that swag and individuality when you can click the unlock button and watch the headlights of your BMW blink at your awestruck friends.
In the end, however, is it all for personal satisfaction, or is there another goal involved? Say, attracting the opposite sex?
Matthew D’Arienzo, who is majoring in economics, is a car fanatic who also happens to have a BMW of his own. The vehicle is a result of his own hard work and decision not to spend all of his money on fast food and booze-filled evenings on St-Laurent. In his opinion, the fact that some girls are attracted to a nicer car is nothing but a bonus to having a high-end vehicle.
“A car is very personal, it’s not exactly something you’re doing for somebody else,” said D’Arienzo. “I bought a BMW for myself, not for the women.”
That may come as a bit of a disappointment to D’Arienzo’s girlfriend, currently in CÉGEP, who has had to endure countless hours of watching him work on his “other baby” or scouring the Internet for new parts to add to his car.
“I let her know when I’m working on my car, and that’s time that I need and want to myself,” D’Arienzo admitted. “I don’t want to hear my phone ringing or someone talking in my ear while I’m underneath my car. If she’s around when I’m doing research or ordering parts, she’ll sit and watch, she doesn’t have a choice. But in the end it goes both ways because when she needs help for her car, I’m there to give her a hand.”
Jordan Gentile, who is majoring in political science, admitted that he loves his car, calling it “his little baby.” While he did say that having his own car gives women an impression of independence and maturity, he noted that attracting women is just a perk, and was not the main reason for buying his own car.
So it would appear that for some guys, the car is more about individuality rather than attracting girls.
Although for these guys purchasing a flashy car was not to attract ladies, a study conducted by Rice University, the University of Texas-San Antonio (UTSA) and the university of Minnesota has concluded that men do purchase flashy objects in order to attract sexual partners.
“This research suggests that conspicuous products, such as Porsches, can serve the same function for some men that large and brilliant feathers serve for peacocks,” said the study’s lead author Jill Sundie to QMI.
Interestingly, this study also showed that women caught on easily to the intention of the guys sporting the red Ferrari or shiny Lamborghini, stating that they see these guys as dating but not marriage material. This has led study co-author Daniel Beal to state that “many men might be sending women the wrong message.”
Bianca Panarello, a psychology major, offered the Concordia women’s perspective on the issue, admitting that while it’s definitely an advantage that her boyfriend has his own car, it never in any way directly affected her attraction towards him.
She also went on to say that she doesn’t mind that he needs time to work on his car (also a BMW); in fact, she has learned a lot about cars from him. But the resonating fact that did come out was that there is definitely an emotional attachment when it comes to guys and their cars.
“It’s happened once or twice where something went wrong with his car, like an accident or some sort of damage to the car, and he was angry for the entire day,” said Panarello. “Anything I would try to do wouldn’t cheer him up. He definitely gets annoyed when something bad happens to it and isn’t in the best of moods.”
So does Bianca think her boyfriend would say he loves his car?
“I think saying he loves his car is an understatement,” she said. “He is obsessed with his car. Always talking about it, working on it, looking up information online, and always doing something new to it.”
Based on these responses, perhaps the real question isn’t whether or not guys buy and work on their cars to impress girls, but rather: why do they spend as much (and sometimes more) time with a machine than they do with the women in their lives?
A 2007 study called “The Secret Life of Cars and What They Reveal About Us,” offers insight into the relationship between vehicles and their owners. In an article in The Telegraph, author Iain MacRury of the University of East London stated that “men talk about their cars as if talking about themselves.” His co-author, Peter Marsh, added that the attachment of men to their cars often translated into annoyance or anger at the potential threat of someone damaging their vehicle. The authors also concluded that men were also likely to shows affection towards their cars in a way that one usually associates with loved ones or pets.
In the end, it would appear that men simply benefit from the fact that they might attract a lovely lady or two solely because of their ride, but ultimately, a man sees his car as another partner in his life. One that doesn’t necessarily replace his real baby.
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