I'm a Japanese. I have two questions for you guys

1. Today's young people love cars in your country? -Young people in Japan are not interested in cars.

2. What car do relatively rich people buy today? - Relatively rich people in Japan used to buy Mercedes and BMW but they have been owing Lexus these days. Still German cars are popular but I see more Lexus now.

I'm too old to speak for young people, but it seems like more and more of them don't drive or drive something cheap. Car culture still exists, but I get the feeling it is shrinking. Nice or fun cars seem more popular with somewhat older people who have more money.

Wealthier people near me seem to buy the same things they always buy. BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Porsche are always popular. Lexus, Cadilac, not as strong. Some of them just get really big fancy SUVs or American muscle cars. And for families it's still common to see a practical choices like high-trim Honda or Toyota minivan. I see more Teslas around, too.

>Nice or fun cars seem more popular with somewhat older people who have more money

Agree. They buy cars that once they couldn't afford

There's definitely large car cultures in most major cities

Ironically, the "JDM" scene is probably the most popular, and the style of modifications to drift cars are directly copying/inspired by late 90's to early 2000s Japanese tuners.

most of the participants in these sorts of scenes are probably 18-25 years of age

Here in Colorado rich people buy Mercedes 4matic sedans and Land Cruisers
A lot of Audi/BMW/Lexus SUV's too obviously

In southern CA there are dozens of different car meets all over the state for every possible type of car culture. I think because of the internet car enthusiasts are growing in number.

this guy is pretty much right.

>Land Cruisers
wow really?

Car meets take place in Japan too but participants are getting older and older

post your waifu toshi

Yeah, I see Land Cruisers around. Slightly unusual and upscale for an SUV type vehicle, as with a Taureg or a Mercedes.

I haven't seen as many Volvos as I used to.

yeah I mean a well-optioned one is like $100,000 USD here so they're very much a luxury vehicle, you can't buy a diesel manual transmission with cloth seats like other markets

>1. Today's young people love cars in your country?

I live in Southern California. The culture here caters to every niche. You could start a Saturday morning at a Cars and Coffee and see alot of classics, Go to a Tuner convention and see the newest JDM and GDM builds, and go to an ignorant hood rat meet later that night to see some racing and drifting.
The divide is heavy with young and old. Young people car events are nice, but typically get shut down by police. Most of the older people events are far more tame.

>2. What car do relatively rich people buy today?

Rich people in Southern California go for the usual luxury brands. Rarely does a rich person build a car out.

Currently right now the hottest trend in Socal is VIP/Bippu.

I wouldn't talk to anyone here about this stuff user. Most of these guys hate their car scene because they drive shit boxes that barely work.

Canadian here.
Getting into cars is not cheap, and fewer and fewer fun cars are available at prices young people can afford. This is a shame, because young people would get the most satisfaction out of a sporty, fun car, but are forced to drive boring economy cars designed only for mobility.
>Rich People
People who have come into money suddenly tend to drive Audis and Mercedes. The Audis tend to be quite nice, but I've always been disappointed by Mercedes interiors: they just aren't any good.
People also tend to spend way too much on Pick-up Trucks. Like, $100,000+ on add-ons and upgrades. It's a hillbilly status symbol.
I personally know a few truly wealthy people. 1 self-made billionaire. He came here, penniless, from India forty years ago. He wears clothes from Wal-Mart, drives a Mazda CX-5 (one of the 8 dealerships he owns is Mazda and he prefers it over the others) and is generally a great guy. The other guy I know who is in the same league owns half of the city's retail rental spaces, and he shops for clothes at Superstore (it's like a Candian Target that sells groceries), and drives a Chevy Silverado. No upgrades or top end luxury stuff, just a comfy little truck.
There's one very successful realtor in town who has a Lamborghini Aventador and always drives 5-10 kilometres under the speed limit because he has no idea how to handle the car, but only bought it to show off. He also is notorious for being involved in local cocaine traffic, according to a number of rumours, but when I spoke with him in person a few times he didn't strike me as a dishonest person.

>Most of these guys hate their car scene because they drive shit boxes that barely work.

No, I hate it because it's
>hottest trend in Socal is VIP/Bippu
and car meets are full of preening thotstgramming faggots.

>Young people in Japan are not interested in cars.

And it really shows.
Your cars became such me-too designs, it's fucking sad.
You used to have the coolest shit on the market for a while back in the 80s and 90s.
But now it looks like Japan has completely forgotten how to make interesting and good cars (with some exceptions by Mazda and Lexus).

>(with some exceptions by Mazda and Lexus).
>Mazda
but apart from the miata which isn't even interesting they just make cookiecutter shitboxes..

Young people here in America aren’t very interested in cars anymore. Well, some are, but as a whole, not many. I think it’s an economic issue more than anything else. “Fun” and “attainable” have become opposing forces over the decades, largely due to rising oil prices and increasing government regulation. For example, Fortune magazine did a comparison, and a 1965 Mustang would have cost roughly $2,427, which is about $18,326 in today’s dollars. A 2015 (when the article was written) base model was $23,600. Given that Mustangs are supposed to be one of the most inexpensive “fun” cars, young people opt for more bland choices like Corollas and Civics that don’t allow for as much fun. Even a Miata today starts at $24,915, and it’s considered one of the cheapest sports cars. The economy isn’t as good for young Americans as it was in 1965, so they have to think more about fuel costs as well. The added safety regulations have also made cars heavier and forced manufacturers to raise prices. Also, the 2008 recession cannibalized the used car market, and as a result used cars are more expensive and harder to find.

Cars, as a hobby, are simply too expensive for most of today’s youth in America.

Toyota had the balls to try the Toyobaru. It's no pinnacle of 90s Japbox greatness, and we all know about the usual shitfest of complaints, but it's really a decent entry into bringing back the scene in a way that is already trickling down into young people prices on the used market.

Seconding the point about cars and youth in America. Graduated high school a while before the recession, back when money was relatively good. It was easy, even flipping burgers, to afford a 90s Honda and still be able to mod it. It seems to be trending back that way, but I think the tech boom coupled with the market crumbling has turned young people more to their phones and computers and away from turning a wrench or learning some other skill.

Not many wealthy people in my area, but it seems that Range Rovers and Mercedes Benz seem to be popular in the financial district.

I've been thinking more about it and mods and wrenching on your old used cheap funbox was common back when I was in high school. The effort to keep an old used cheap funbox running so you could hotbox with your friends on a taco bell run is probably makes that experience less accessible to today's youth.

Depends on the people
Rich black people almost exclusively drive Cadillacs or GM SUVs
Older Jewish folk usually drive BMW or Mercedes and they buy their blonde bitch of a wife one as well usually a SUV
Usually see balding 40 year olds in audis.
Bald 50 year olds in miatas and Porsches.
Rich Indians usually drive Mercedes as well

Most people I’ve talked to don’t really seem to give a shit about cars, or they’re interested but don’t do any research so they think civics are fast and diesels need a carb tune. Rich people are badgewhores.

All the Jews here in SoCal where I live have Corvettes

1. If news is any indication, we don't like it as much as earlier generations, partly because we lack money for it. I assume that it's similar situation with Japan. Car is expensive, OP. It's an expensive hobby.
2. Define "relatively." Lambo is a meme car. It's likely similar as over there. The usual suspects. German cars and maybe Lexus. And some Corvettes thrown in the mix.

>Canadian here
>guy from India
Checks out. FUCKINGLEAF send pajeets back home.

>Old Jewish folks buy cars made by companies that used Jewish slaves.
The irony is delicious. Arbeit macht frei, bitches.

Man, I'm seven flavours of white and I'm doing Okay.
Immigrants who work hard and contribute to the economy are fine in my book.

Which is why we need to start deporting the Irish. Fucking potato-niggers are good for absolutely nothing.

I fucking love the LC 500
Tell your Masters to make more Lexus cars like that.

1. yes, for the most part, but the "car culture" here is pretty fucking stupid
the WRX seems like the modern dream shitbox of choice

2. depends on how rich you're talking, entry-level "rich" people still buy Audi and BMW, but genuinely wealthy people seem to go more for Lexus, Mercedes and Cadillac
in terms of sports cars plenty will go for stuff like Corvettes or Shelbys, I've only seen one Aston in my life and Jaguars are pretty rare
only young rich seem to go for modern Italian stuff, you still see the occasional old guy driving a classic Lamborghini though (although it could be only the guy in my neighborhood that owns a '70s Miura)

>I'm a Japanese
Send cheques to Mazda. If you've got 500 yen, even that much helps. They're the only auto maker that is trying to save "Driving as a hobby".
Young people don't think of driving as fun because fun cars aren't really available to them.
Rich people who earn less than a million dollars per year buy expensive status symbols to show off. Mercedes and Lexus are on top, followed by Audi. Truly rich people buy or lease inexpensive, economical, cheap little cars like the Corolla. They do this because they got where they are by being conscious of value and being shrewd with purchases is habitual for them.

>.They're the only auto maker that is trying to save "Driving as a hobby".
Well mazda definitely found their marketing strategy.

The future looks bleak, too. The Detroit Auto Show was pretty grim this year if you don't care about ugly cars, autonomous vehicle promises, IoT integration and entertainment crammed in everything, and some electric scooters that Euros are trying to hype up for urbanites.

Here in Australia we have "hoon culture" Which means everyone races and does burnouts in shitty $500 dollar Holdens all the way to Lambroghinis. Alot of young males here are intrested in cars.

Most rich people in Aus buy mercedes and masserati

That thing looks 10x better in that dark metallic blue than it does in the stock standard red everyone posts.

Here in sweden, everybody and his dog seems to own one of these

in Spain people only buy SUVs and small engine german cars to show off (ie. BMW 116d or Mercedes A180, shit like that). There is very little or no car culture at all, except for some enthusiasts that meet from time to time.
The last crisis killed all of the tuning culture, which mostly lacked taste because it was a cheap copy of NFS Underground style.

But still, sometimes you can spot a Mustang or a Ferrari or a Lambo at night in Madrid cruising through the center avenues and maybe more classics on a twisty road on sunny sunday on their way to have a delicious lunch in some godforgotten town.

That's just the concept car user.

Am russian.
1. Yup, cars are kinda necessary with cold winters and long distances, so there is some culture.
A lot of russians like tinkering with stuff, and there are fucktons of cheap soviet (and not soviet) crap that is easy to tinker with laying around. Most of the projects are for off-road, but there are still a lot of normal modified cars in every flavour possible. Old germans and swedes and RHD JDM stuff are both fairly common, USDM and other euros not so much. Modded slav cars are usually made ironically, unless it's one of the offroaders like UAZ or Niva.
2. Land Cruiser, G-Wagen, Land/Range Rover, X5/6, Cayenne, XC90, all the big black luxury SUVs. Americans are rare because they don't sell big cars in Russia (Chevy doesn't sell anything at all, Ford only sells euro models).

1. I live in central Los Angeles, with the market fucking shit up in 2008, cost of schooling, and cost of living increases here I see less and less of the young kids into cars. The people under 30 who I work with I don't think I've ever heard talk about cars other than maybe Tesla.

2. Teslas... Fucking everywhere. If it's not that then rich people drive BMW i8's or Porsches.

Person from flyover land:

Once in a while you'll see a shitty car with cosmetic mods like fake hood scoops and car meets. No one I know with a luxury car is actually rich, they are just trying to "keep up impressions" with a BMW. There are a ton of crossovers and a few pick up trucks.

The only rich person I know used to have a jaguar type f but loved his miata more, had to sell them both when he became unable to drive manual due to some mishap I don't know.

Once in a blue moon I'll see a brz, a miata, a wrx, or a mustang.

My old coworkers love trucks, my younger coworkers drive old and slow jap cars because they are trying to pay off all sorts of loans. Most of my old friends don't give a damn about cars. Honestly, I don't blame them. There just isn't enough money going around for this shit. There's going to be some wild changes to what the new standard of living will look like in the next 20 years, mark my words.

There is some autocross near by but I can't see myself doing it until a few years later.

Millennials -- even successful ones -- don't drive nice cars because they're being raped by student loans and rent. But once they do make decent money, they try to buy a Jeep, Audi or Tesla, generally

But this makes me wonder. Where did all the money go?

No money went anywhere. When the market value changes, that's just what you think you can sell for at any given moment. And if you do sell, then you're getting that money from whoever buys what you just sold.

If somebody tells you they have $10k in buttcoin or $10k in IBM shares, there is no actual $10k somewhere. They market just agrees that at that point in time those buttcoins or those shares are worth $10k if you were to try to sell them.

Cost of living is rising faster than average income, and has been for a long time.

this
and that money is going into real estate, which is accumulating a shitload of money

Realtors, ironically, are making more money than ever. You want to get rich quick, get into Real-estate. It's easier than financial services work and a few good deals can put you above 6-figures in no time.

1. Germany, young people sorta do but less so than in the past. American cultural imperialism had us unconditionally idolizing cars since the war, aided by our strong car industry and its political influence, but lately there's been a growing consciousness of its impact on infrastructure, ecology, urban life quality and health.

2. Obviously German brands still reign supreme in the premium market, though other European upscale brands, such as Volvo and Jaguar, do have had a small but steady presence. The only thing even more obscure than a Lexus is a Cadillac because both have a really thin dealer network and neither ever really tried to aggressively push onto the German market.

Speaking for myself, it's just hard to own, let alone work on cars, in our senior highschool years, especially if planning to go to uni.

nz here with lots of 1990s cars a few 80s
many from Japan and a few from au and America

young people here drive mostly ordinary FF hatchbacks and sedans
the ones into RWD or sporty cars are from wealthy familys or work full time jobs and have have kind of chav Chad ambition

old dudes have the classics and expensive imported cars
but rich high roller people here are mostly boring with luxury cars

normies just drive post year 2000 suvs pick-up trucks and minivans
more people in the city are taking trains and buses or getting motor cycles
in some places having a car does not make things much better

>Land Cruisers

Yeah they are expensive here.

pic related was imported here from Japan

sexy

this pretty much.

Wealthier people and retirees are the only people who can really afford to be a car enthusiast.

And those few younger people who do like cars, generally lean towards 90s and older cars because modern cars are largely garbage.

there's a bit of a nostalgia for 80's and 90's cars right now, particularly sporty coupes and full sized sedans

1. Just asked my 14 year old brother, yes, he is actually interested in cars. He has a friend with which he often talks to about cars, he likes japanese and german (BMW and Mercedes) cars, preferably from the 80s/90s. I might have influenced him a little bit. He wants a Honda Civic as his first car since they're pretty cheap and he wants to learn on it to then get himself an MR2 AW11. He's actually pretty nice.
2. Lexus is insanely reliable, it's actually the most reliable brand in the world and the cars are pretty nice as well, they look and feel luxurious. The top-of-the-line german cars (Mercedes S-class as an example) look nice but I don't know much more about the newer ones because I'm not a big fan.

That will basically be me when I turn 50 or something. Finally can afford a Lambo or someshit, too bad can't enjoy it when young...

I'm 21 and in the us military. The car scene for my age is pretty bright, I don't know about you guys. I was in Arizona and that place has a pretty nice car scene. I know a lot of dudes who have built their own engines and shit. All ranging from drag racers who have twin turbo 5.0 coyotes to drift missile 240sx's with big garrett turbos.

oh yeah if you are russian then im george michael.

Pic related is selling like hotcakes right now.

Pole from Puławy here.

1. There is a fair number of gearheads,,and they all seem to be driving E36s, E46s, E39s or Maluchs.

2. Japanese crossovers. Outlander, NX, Forester... that sort of stuff. Plus some German cars (1-Series, Passat).

I’m not disagreeing with you but what solid evidence is there that Mazda actually wants to make fun cars?

Just because my grammars aren't mangled doesn't mean I'm not russian, Mr George Michael.
Miata still exists. If it is a marketing strategy, it is a damn expensive one.

Michigan here. Everyone here needs a car for the most part, but it's 50/50 ish if people have passion for driving and stuff.