Hot Wheels - Pimp that Ride

Newsweek has a story about how much money college kids are spending to customize their cars.

There are still plenty of college kids who are happy to drive a junkmobile. And at city schools, students rely on bikes or even—gasp!—the subway to get to class. But on many campuses today, college kids want the wicked whips they’ve seen in popular movies like “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” and hit shows like MTV’s “Pimp My Ride.” Nearly nine out of 10 college students today own a car, according to a survey by Harris Interactive. They’ve become a $15 billion auto market and now purchase nearly one in 10 new cars, according to automotive researcher J.D. Power and Associates. And many aren’t satisfied with stock. They’re spending $4.2 billion a year customizing their cars, according to the Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association. They’re outfitting their rides with ground-shaking sound systems, nitrous-injected engines and 20-inch rims (called dubs in street parlance). “Just like their ringtones, their clothes and their dorm rooms,” says SEMA’s Peter MacGillivray, “their vehicles reflect their personalities.”

No longer do Honda Civics rule the student parking lot. As a matter of fact the article says that the Civic isn’t even in the top 10.

The top five, according to J.D. Power, are the Scion tC, Acura RSX, Mazda3, Volkswagen GTI and Hyundai Tiburon. The common characteristic: all these models are easy to modify. California Polytechnic engineering student Erick Li spent $4,000 customizing his black Scion tC by lowering it, beefing up the suspension and adding red “underglow” interior lights and high-intensity headlights for carving turns in the California hills. “A lot of cars can outpower me,” he says, “but I can outmaneuver them.”

If you do have a ‘pimped’ rig - make sure you have it insured correctly. Many policies limit or do not cover ‘aftermarket’ equipment that was not stock from the factory. Call your agent. Better safe than sorry.