Thelma and Louise sought top-down glory in a light blue �66 Ford Thunderbird convertible. Carol Brady settled for a Plymouth station wagon, an eminently practical choice � and about as exciting as a soft-boiled egg. The luxury vehicles with the highest percentage of women drivers today aren�t at either of these extremes. Rather, they�re some of the most well-balanced cars out there, from a shapely, sporty BMW roadster to a quartet of safe yet chic Volvos.
�The common denominator with most of the vehicles on this list is that they�re all sophisticated, refined vehicles with complex surfacing and highly-evolved design,� says Imre Molnar, dean of the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Mich., where he runs one of the world�s largest transportation design programs.
Molnar calls out the �flame surfacing� that chief BMW designer Chris Bangle employed � sometimes controversially � when creating the BMW Z4, which heads up our list of the top 10 luxury cars driven by women. The Z4's body blends convex and concave shapes inspired by a flame. When designing the car, Bangle even commissioned a group of dancers so that he could model the roadster's form in part based on their spontaneous body movements. "Women are responding to this fluid, organic, inspired form,� Molnar says.
Besides sophistication, women are also looking for subtlety. �I think women have such a good eye for detail,� says Vicki Vlachakis, designer of the Saturn Sky, which is popular with women, according to CNW Marketing Research data, but isn't on our list because it's not a luxury car. �The attention to detail is really important on the interior; on all of the key driving interfaces such as the gauges, shifter area, steering wheel and seats.�
Styling and aesthetics alone won't win women over, though. �To put it bluntly, women are more practical than men when it comes to cars,� says Art Spinella of CNW Marketing Research. �Whereas men tend to buy cars that are more testosterone-based and macho [see our men's list], women are into cars that are sophisticated and sensible.� The Lexus IS, which ranks 10th, offers strong performance from two available V6 engines, but still returns decent gas mileage at an estimated average of 27 mpg for combined city/highway driving in the IS 250. Likewise the sporty BMW Z4, which cranks out more than 200 hp but gets 30 mpg on the highway.
by Stephen Milioti
