What does Lisa Birnbach say about preppy cars?

I happen to have a copy of The Official Preppy Handbook, and it seems that preppy cars barely changed at all since the book was written in 1980. That’s 41 years ago!

Lisa Birnbach says the following car makes are preppy:

Land Rover
Toyota Land Cruiser
Jeep
International Harvester
Woody station wagons
Volkswagen
BMW
Volvo
Peugeot
Mercedes Benz
Any English car (today, that would include MINI, although MINI is owned by BMW)

I didn’t especially notice any Toyota Land Cruisers in the preppy town in New England. I think that Toyota lost its preppiness because they have become too common in the United States. Plus now, every European manufacturer sells SUVs, as does Subaru which is more preppy than Toyota.

International Harvester no longer exists, but it was the precursor to the modern SUV craze.

No one makes woody station wagons anymore.

Peugeots are no longer sold in the United States.

Lisa Birnbach says that Volkswagen is preppy because of “reverse snobbery.” There’s also a picture of a Volkswagen Rabbit. The Rabbit was renamed the Golf, and sadly 2021 is the last model year that the Golf will be sold in the United States. Americans hate hate hate hatchbacks. Vintage Rabbits in good condition sell for a lot of money!

For some reason, Lisa Birnbach fails to mention Audi as being a preppy car, but I saw plenty of Audis in the preppy town in New England, and Audi is a luxury Volkswagen, so I think that was an oversight. Unless Audis weren’t preppy in 1980 and have since become preppy, but that seems pretty unlikely.

And I guess that Subarus weren’t preppy in 1980 but they are preppy today, the most preppy Japanese car. Like Volkswagen, Subaru fulfills the role of being a reverse snobbery car. Or maybe Subaru is just popular in New England because of the all-wheel drive.

Preppy Cars

I’m in a preppy place in New England and I notice the cars are different here than in prole parts of the New York metropolitan area.

The quick summary is that European cars are preppy, American cars are not preppy (except for Jeeps which are preppy), Korean cars are not preppy, Japanese cars are neither preppy nor unpreppy, except for Subarus which are preppy.

A longer answer is that there are three types of wealthy people:

1. Those who show off their wealth with an expensive luxury car. Especially European luxury cars.

2. Those who can afford an expensive car but choose not to own one because they are gauche or nouveau riche.

3. Those who are culturally preppy but not actually that rich.

Between category 1 and 2 are people who drive Volvos. I’ve seen lots of Volvos around here.

Especially popular SUVs are Range Rovers and Jeeps.

Other popular luxury brands are the Mercedes, Audi, BMW and Porsche. You see Japanese luxury brands, but they are not as popular as the European brands.

You see a lot more MINIs around here than in prole places.

Japanese cars are like the NFL, they cut across all social classes. But one Japanese brand in particular is preppy, and that’s Subaru.

Of course you do see Toyotas and Hondas, but you see as many Volkswagens as you do Toyotas, while in the rest of America there are three to four times as many Toyotas on the road as Volkswagens.

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I forgot to mention electric cars. Teslas are not preppy. Electric cars are not preppy.

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So the bottom line is, that if you want to drive something preppy, and you can’t afford a Volvo or a Range Rover, get a Subaru or a Volkswagen.