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Automobiles, even at their most basic original form, undeniably create a sense of freedom.

This in turn creates more individualistic personality in people.

Also, as with everything that a person has created with their own hands out of a desire to create something of quality and beauty, vehicles inevitably acquired some cues of the personality of the person or people that created them.

These were the first connections between vehicles and personality.

It’s come a long way since then.

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A major interest I have had since I can remember is anything related to vehicles. Of any type, new or old, big or small, a strong interest vehicles have always been a part of my life. Alongside dedicating so much time and energy and with so many interactions with vehicles, i’ve been led to believe there is more to vehicles than just being a way to get from point a to point b. In other words, I’m of the opinion that vehicles have a personality.

What makes me think vehicles have a personality? Let’s discuss this in more detail.

Generally, the older the vehicle, the more personality it has, although that isn’t a 100% guarantee the older a vehicle gets or the older it is. With newer vehicles it just takes a lot more to find the personality, since they are designed to separate the driver from everything outside of the interior of the vehicle, including the mechanical parts of a vehicle itself. Not to mention that newer vehicles are designed to meet standards that the average driver will never have a chance to reach or exceed.

Newer vehicles are designed to go faster, be quieter, have more technology, be safer, have better sight-line of the road ahead. That means it takes a lot more for the personality of a vehicle to be felt. For example, a Ferrari from 1980 being driven on city streets was light-years ahead in terms of personality than a Ferrari from 2020 being driven on the same streets. Put them on a race track and personality is equally evident in both, as they are able to be driven to their limits. Personality in most cases is not the appearance of the vehicle; there are very few vehicles where the appearance is the sole personality quality.

For most of automotive history, the personality has come from any or all of these qualities:

– Sound

– Feel

– Smell

– View

– Reliability

To go into detail about each of the qualities, which is an important part of this topic:

For sound, there are a few areas where this is present; sound is produced first and foremost by the engine and engine accessories such as supercharger, followed by the exhaust, and lastly varied sources of noise aside from wind noise. These include mechanical sounds from areas like the transmission, to sounds from the interior of the vehicle caused by improperly fitted, poorly engineered or loose parts.

Also, the sound created by the combination of engine components and engineering and exhaust has a large role in influencing what personality a vehicle has. It is the voice, if you will, of a vehicle.

Feel is the most varied of these qualities. Feel comes from any of the following and possibly more I haven’t included. From physical feel through your hands from the steering wheel; the vibrations caused by the various components of the vehicle; the road handling and grip and acceleration, and lastly the physical sensations from the interior of the vehicle such as texture and shape.

Smell! What else can be explained here other than oil, rubber, leather, gas, exhaust, metal, wood.

The smell of fire?! What wire caused it this time? Thankfully it’s mainly vehicles where the name Lucas appears on electrical components guarantees that’s a feature straight from the factory.

View has a major role in multiple parts of the experience you get from a vehicle. What view do you get of the road ahead? Of vehicles beside and behind you? How big is the blind spot on the rear quarters?

What do you see of the vehicle itself, both inside and outside of the vehicle?

Reliability relates to any part of the vehicle itself. This isn’t a straightforward black and white situation, though. Sometimes reliability comes into question temporarily, with the issue going away without explanation on it’s own. Many times reliability or unreliability plays a crucial role in creating a personality for the vehicle.

All of these qualities play a role in making a person feel that a vehicle has a personality, as well as to define the personality. To be clear, I have no intention to make a case that a vehicle is as advanced in personality like a living being is. Rather, the personality of a vehicle is limited to any of the following, in my experience of the past 15+ years:

– Fussy and slow to wake up and get going

– Emotional and fragile

– High spirited and energetic

– High maintenance or wears out quickly

– Strict and rigid

– Self-confident and self-sufficient

– Quiet and reserved

– Artificial

– Jack of all trades

– Unbalanced and unstable

– Unrefined and unfiltered

– Emotionless and reliable

– A wild animal that at any moment can make you feel like it is ready to tear apart the road or simply tears a hole in your bank account, sometimes both. (Fun never comes cheap, unfortunately)

Some vehicles can have multiple personalities, even.

A vehicle can be quiet and reserved + emotionless and reliable, or it could be quiet and reserved + high spirited and energetic. There is a substantial amount of possible combinations of the above.

This is a hotly debated topic, from what I’ve experienced. Many that are against this idea believe that it’s impossible or foolish to assign a personality to something that isn’t living. Also, I’ve yet to hear a middle-ground opinion, it’s always a yes or no.

Regardless, I’m certainly an adherent to this belief that a vehicle has a personality, for longer than I’ve been able to drive.

Hopefully this gives a more in-depth explanation of what makes people like me believe there is truth to this idea.