quintessential upper middle class vehicles

[Anonymous]

This area is not like the rest of the country. You have UMC families who can afford nice cars but instead drive reliable Subarus, Toyotas, or base model Lexuses into the ground. In this town, a car is to get from Point A to Point B. Also, lots of people with a modest "daily driver" and maybe a nicer car for the weekends.

If they lived in California, NYC suburbs, or the South, these same families would enjoy nice BMWs, Mercedes, Teslas, Cadillacs, etc. I grew up in Southern California and any family making over $150K usually has a leased luxury car. That's just the culture.

The DC region UMC has a very frugal, disciplined, and long-term oriented mindset.

[Anonymous]

Totally depends where you live.

Upper MoCo Potomac area: Maserati SUV, Porsche SUV, Mercedes station wagons and SUVs, Teslas

Lower MoCo CC area: Audi SUV (in white - seriously, a billion of these), Volvo SUV, Suburban, BMW SUV

Arlington: high end minivan, Volvo SUV, BMW SUV, Buick SUV

[Anonymous]

Toyota Landcruiser

[Anonymous]

Geo Tracker

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This area is not like the rest of the country. You have UMC families who can afford nice cars but instead drive reliable Subarus, Toyotas, or base model Lexuses into the ground. In this town, a car is to get from Point A to Point B. Also, lots of people with a modest "daily driver" and maybe a nicer car for the weekends.

If they lived in California, NYC suburbs, or the South, these same families would enjoy nice BMWs, Mercedes, Teslas, Cadillacs, etc. I grew up in Southern California and any family making over $150K usually has a leased luxury car. That's just the culture.

The DC region UMC has a very frugal, disciplined, and long-term oriented mindset.

Disagree, at least for close-in Montgomery County. All I see are BMW, Tesla, Lexus, Audi, etc.

[Anonymous]

Growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, Volvos were the ultimate UMC car because only the UMCs bought them. The very rich didn't drive them, but neither did the car devotees from lower incomes yearn for Volvos. The private school carpool lane was dominated by Volvo station wagons. If you drove a Volvo in the 1980s and 1990s it was probably the car that most accurately told people you were definitely upper middle class rather rather than an aspirational person with a lease. The other contender would be the Saabs.

Today people have different relationships with cars so it's not what it was like in the past.

[Anonymous]

I'm a sahm that drives a Mercedes suv. I'm spending an average of 2-3 hours a day shuttling the kids around and wanted comfort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This area is not like the rest of the country. You have UMC families who can afford nice cars but instead drive reliable Subarus, Toyotas, or base model Lexuses into the ground. In this town, a car is to get from Point A to Point B. Also, lots of people with a modest "daily driver" and maybe a nicer car for the weekends.

If they lived in California, NYC suburbs, or the South, these same families would enjoy nice BMWs, Mercedes, Teslas, Cadillacs, etc. I grew up in Southern California and any family making over $150K usually has a leased luxury car. That's just the culture.

The DC region UMC has a very frugal, disciplined, and long-term oriented mindset.

Disagree, at least for close-in Montgomery County. All I see are BMW, Tesla, Lexus, Audi, etc.

I live in Arlington (22207) and agree with the first poster. Lots of like 10 year old Lexus RX’s alongside Hondas, Subarus, etc. Definitely some Teslas. Every once in awhile I see a super flashy/expensive car and it looks out of place. DH’s car is 10 years old, mine is almost 15 years old. They get the job done. If you told people the price of our home they probably would assume we drove more expensive (or at least newer) cars

[Anonymous]

Looking around at my neighbors in their 1-1.5m houses- Honda Odyssey. We all live in the suburbs and could afford 3 kids unlike a lot of middle class people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, Volvos were the ultimate UMC car because only the UMCs bought them. The very rich didn't drive them, but neither did the car devotees from lower incomes yearn for Volvos. The private school carpool lane was dominated by Volvo station wagons. If you drove a Volvo in the 1980s and 1990s it was probably the car that most accurately told people you were definitely upper middle class rather rather than an aspirational person with a lease. The other contender would be the Saabs.

Today people have different relationships with cars so it's not what it was like in the past.

This is so spot-on! The Saab statement.

[Anonymous]

Lax Dads named Chad with strong hair flow absolutely LOVE a Landcruiser or GX. If it gets more than 15 mph, they are not interested!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This area is not like the rest of the country. You have UMC families who can afford nice cars but instead drive reliable Subarus, Toyotas, or base model Lexuses into the ground. In this town, a car is to get from Point A to Point B. Also, lots of people with a modest "daily driver" and maybe a nicer car for the weekends.

If they lived in California, NYC suburbs, or the South, these same families would enjoy nice BMWs, Mercedes, Teslas, Cadillacs, etc. I grew up in Southern California and any family making over $150K usually has a leased luxury car. That's just the culture.

The DC region UMC has a very frugal, disciplined, and long-term oriented mindset.

Disagree, at least for close-in Montgomery County. All I see are BMW, Tesla, Lexus, Audi, etc.

+1. I think most close in neighborhoods have more $100k+ cars in their driveways than Camrys or Accords

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, Volvos were the ultimate UMC car because only the UMCs bought them. The very rich didn't drive them, but neither did the car devotees from lower incomes yearn for Volvos. The private school carpool lane was dominated by Volvo station wagons. If you drove a Volvo in the 1980s and 1990s it was probably the car that most accurately told people you were definitely upper middle class rather rather than an aspirational person with a lease. The other contender would be the Saabs.

Today people have different relationships with cars so it's not what it was like in the past.

This is so spot-on! The Saab statement.

That's right! My wealthy and cool older cousin who went to Dartmouth drove an old Saab. What happened to Saabs? I assume out of business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This area is not like the rest of the country. You have UMC families who can afford nice cars but instead drive reliable Subarus, Toyotas, or base model Lexuses into the ground. In this town, a car is to get from Point A to Point B. Also, lots of people with a modest "daily driver" and maybe a nicer car for the weekends.

If they lived in California, NYC suburbs, or the South, these same families would enjoy nice BMWs, Mercedes, Teslas, Cadillacs, etc. I grew up in Southern California and any family making over $150K usually has a leased luxury car. That's just the culture.

The DC region UMC has a very frugal, disciplined, and long-term oriented mindset.

You may or may not be correct about the mindset overall, but there are a ton of Teslas, Mercedeses, BMWs, Land Rovers, Porsches, high-end Audis, etc., in all the upper-middle-class neighborhoods around here.

[Anonymous]

We have a 2007 Prius and a 2020 Rav 4 Hybrid.

Hoping the next car will be all electric, but have a hard time supporting Tesla. So, we are still looking.