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Men Choose Pizzazz, Women Choose Practical

Men are not from Mars, but if there were a vehicular equivalent, it would be Planet Porsche. And women? They're not from Venus, but rather from VW Beetle-land. TrueCar.com just released a study about car-buying behavior that reveals men and women approach choosing cars from opposite ends of the emotional galaxy.

Women, it seems, buy practical cars, while men buy cars based on looks and performance. Hmmm. Not surprising at all, is it?The study was based on more than eight million retail car purchases in 2010. Jesse Toprak, TrueCar.com's vice president of industry trends and insights, said, "Women car buyers are more cost-conscious and purchased fuel-efficient vehicles, while male buyers were completely the opposite, purchasing vehicles that were either big and brawny, like a large truck, or chose a high-priced, high-performance vehicle."

Here's a list of the top 10 car choices women and men made last year, according to the survey. Take note (in bold) of the cars on the women's list that also double for family cars:

Volkswagen New Beetle – 60.6 percent of female buyers

Nissan Rogue – 56.3 percent of female buyers

Volkswagen Eos – 55.3 percent of female buyers

Volvo S40 – 54.5 percent of female buyers

Jeep Compass – 54.3 percent of female buyers

Honda CR-V – 53.8 percent of female buyers

Nissan Sentra – 53.5 percent of female buyers

Hyundai Tucson – 53.2 percent of female buyers

Toyota RAV4 – 52.7 percent of female buyers

Toyota Yaris – 52.7 percent of female buyers

What did the men buy? Big trucks and performance cars. There's a notable dearth of family-oriented vehicles.

Porsche 911 – 87.9 percent of male buyers

GMC Sierra – 87.4 percent of male buyers

Chevrolet Corvette – 86.7 percent of male buyers

Chevrolet Silverado – 86.3 percent of male buyers

Ford F-Series – 86.3 percent of male buyers

BMW M3 – 85.6 percent of male buyers

Ford Ranger – 84.4 percent of male buyers

Toyota Tundra – 84.3 percent of male buyers

Dodge Ram – 84.2 percent of male buyers

Audi S5 – 83.0 percent of male buyers

Do you and your spouse view cars differently? If you both had your druthers, would you choose different cars? Please let me know.

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