I drive about 50,000 miles per year. I spend a lot of time in the car. I’ve never named one of my cars. In my teens, my buddy named my first car “Vomit”. This was because of the fine flat gold paint job.
Stuart-Atlanta
I never understood naming a car as if it knows or something, but it seems pretty important to a lot of people so I say keep on naming them.
And I think the listener would like the name Marki because Marki Post (hope I spelled it right) was the lawyer on the sitcom Nightcourt and she is very pretty.
I’ve named all the cars that ive driven or owned female names. (with 1 exception)
-1954 Chevrolet- “The Chevy” Parents have owned since 1968.
-1974 Dodge Dart SE “Lady Dodge”
-1986 Honda Prelude Si “Alexandra”
-1992 Dodge Spirit “Danelle”
-2000 Subaru Outback Wagon “Sarah”
I think by naming the cars it has helped me to maintain and take better care of these vehicles. I also contribute good maintence of these vehicles from the example of my Dad.
Currently I just own Sarah and my parent have The Chevy.
Of course you have to name them! You just can’t say “the car” You’ll tick the car off!! Brutus, the Ghost, Casper, Black Beauty, the Tank, Florence, Vanna White, the Mullet…just to name a few. They have souls and become part of the family.
I named my first car Tracee (Mercury Tracer). My current vehicle goes by the name Sissy (Chrysler Sebring)! I also name all of my friends cars too!! Everyone that knows me knows that my cars have names…LOL!
Yes, and I give them masculine names… my SR5 Pickup was “Fiver” after the rabbit in “Watership Down”… my new Matrix is “Keanu”… but then, I am Gay… so I could throw your statistics off unless you account for that…
Well; we are surprised your truck hasnt been hit with all the bad drivers in the 2 Teton Counties. We have never seen so many bad drivers like we have in this area of WY and ID.
The WY Hwy Patrol needs to have a stop; collect ticket for all drivers with a 22 or a 1t on their license plates.
A friend of ours had / probably still does a 81 4 Runner with over 300,000 miles on it. He loves it. Hope you fair as well with yours.
Yes, you should name your car. Why? Because it is fun. And it makes it easier when we’re reminiscing to distinguish among all the Hondas we’ve owned. I have driven Joyce, Janet, Sadie, Trudy, Coco, and Kim. The only one that never had a name was the Miata, and it never really felt mine.
I did name one of my cars! It was a female (because it was dependable lol ). It was a black Chevy Lumina Van so I anmed her VANNA BLACK
I think it depends on how much “encouragement” your car needs and how much interaction you have with it. I am an American living in New Zealand ( I listen to the show through podcasts) A year ago a bought my first car. A 1988 Honda City Jazz.I paid 500 New Zealand dollars (about $300 US) for him and I named him Thunderbat. Thunderbat is a great little car but does need encouragement especially while driving up a hill, which he can manage at a top speed of 35mph to the dismay of the line of cars behind us. It feels good to think that by cheering “Come on Thunderbat!” I may help us to break 40mph.
My dad however has a Lexus which does not need encouragement to break 40mph on a hill and while the actual car remains unnamed the navigation system which speaks to you is called Amelia. It is great back seat entertainment to hear their conversations. " Turn right in .3 miles. Shut up Amelia! Make the next left turn. That’s not the best way! I know a shortcut!!" Or my favorite, to hear Amelia chorusing " Make the next legal U-turn" as dad has plotted a course and then gone the opposite way saying " Let’s freak Amelia out"
I named my Honda Oddyssey Mary Anne after a character in the children’s book Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virgina Lee Burton. Mary Anne was the steam shovel who worked really hard. My van does the same.
For as long as I can remember my family has always named our vehicals. The ones I remember are Nancy Blue, Old Yellow(a blue car my parents discussed panting yellow, they never did), Sherman(as in Sherman tank, a big 4 door truck), Olephent, Morgaen, Horse, Maggie, Stubby(extended 2 door cab),and Blue boy.
AS you can see we are not gender restrictive. The naming of vehicales has to to do with the number of vehicals and number of children you have. If you tell your child to go out to the vehical or to get something from the vehical you want them to know which one your talking about.
In 1970, my wife and I were teaching school in Goose Bay, Labrador, for the Department of Defense. We had to store our 1963 Volkswagen sedan back in Los Angeles.
Naturally, we named the car “Stephen Foster” because it was our “Old Volks at Home.”
Most of our cars hav acquired names. In fact what may be the nadir of our family car naming came with our almost identical (except for minor color variation) '87 Subaru GL 4WD wagons:
Click and Clack.
In answer to the name your car question, I have a story to relate. When I was 16 years old I bought my first car, a 1963 Ford Galaxy 500 convertable, very used, but looked great. I had my first date with Bob, who I was totally infatuated with. The car got a flat tire in the middle of no where and he had a very hard time getting it changed and in his frustration he said this car is a real Jezabel. I don’t know why but the name stuck the entire time I owned the car and she lived up to her name, going through clutches, burning oil and many other problems and Bob never asked me out again. Oh well, I loved her anyway.
Debbie, New Mexico
I have never named a car until I inherited my dad’s '67 Mustang. When dad passed away 14 years ago, my mom asked if I wanted the car. I brought it home, drove it for one summer and then stored it away and began saving money for its restoration. It was rusty enough that it would not have passed VT inspection. It was finally completed this summer and Bernie looks as good as new. Its “my father the car” and looks just like it did the day he bought it. Now I have sweet memories of dad every time I drive the car.
Currently, I’m driving Sly my '99 Mercury Cougar. He’s been a great car/buddy and now that he’s getting a little older he gets a pat on the dash every time we pull out of the garage. I hate to say it, but the engine light is ON.
Of course you name your car! I’m also adamant that like any ailing relative you never discuss their medical conditions in front of them. For example, Sly has no idea that I’ve been thumbing through MotorTrend and Consumer Reports looking for my next great love. Shhhhh, don’t tell!
I had a 89 Dodge Dakota that I called “The Gutless Wonder”. It got that moniker for many reasons, one being that it only did about 50 going uphill on the freeway. Yes there are hills on the freeway in the Northwest. 
Another reason is that I got stuck trying to turn around on a logging road and had to have my dad pull me out with his beater farm truck.
I think if you want to name your vehicle, by all means do it. My friend named his car Betsy, another friend named hers George. I don’t think gender matters.
YES. You NEED to name your car. It makes your auto worth more than the sum of its parts. When you rely on a hunk of metal and wires, etcetera, to get you through urban and natural wastelands, you will want to have an understanding with this thing. Preferably, you’ll want to be friends, or comrades in the quest for safe transportation.
My first car was a green Saturn, which became The Green Hornet. We always drove as if I was a superhero on the way to a crisis. It was indestructible. I drove the Hornet for 120k miles on one oil change.
Eventually, I traded it in for my current bright red Jeep Wrangler. (Purchased with 60k miles on her) I immediately christened her Cherry Bomb, after the Runaways song, and we still love each other, even 7 years and 50k miles down the road.
I think its ok to name your car esp. if it is a long-term keeper with some history and maybe an adventure or two under the hood. I generally don’t keep a vehicle more than 3-4 years and they don’t rate a name, but sometimes a good cussin’