From Bimmers to Bens to Deloreans, the luxury vehicles that line the university’s roads may be yet another factor that lends credit to the “spoiled rich kids” stereotype. But the Honda Accord is really No. 1
By James Redwick
Opinions Editor
There is a certain undeniable stereotype that belongs to students of Pepperdine University.
When people think about this fine academic institution, this stereotype goes right along with the ocean view, the hills and the Phillips Theme Tower in terms of name association. With full tuition rising higher and higher above the $30,000 plateau, it’s hard not to see why Pepperdine’s students are thought of as spoiled rich kids.
But if the tuition alone doesn’t create the stereotype, the cell phones on every other ear, the designer clothing and the newest gadgets and gizmos in seemingly every dorm room fill out the reputation rather nicely.
Oh, and one more thing—the cars.
Just walking through Rho parking lot or Seaver Drive can make one feel like they’re walking the floor of the Los Angeles International Auto Show with BMWs and Mercedes in almost every other spot.
“There’s probably five bad cars in the entire parking lot,” sophomore Mike Chukwueke said. “No offense to those five people.”
Indeed, there does seem to be an unusual amount of luxury cars in the parking lots of Pepperdine — far more than what would seem to befit a group of 18 to 23-year-old students. But is this really the case?
Are there really more Mustangs and BMW 3-Series than Honda Civics, or are we all just more likely to spot a shiny new Mercedes and ignore the five Ford Escorts parked around it?
According to a Public Safety report compiled by Lead Dispatcher Brandon Lawler, the most popular car make on campus is Ford, followed closely by Toyota with only 15 fewer cars. Honda is third and Chevrolet is a distant fourth with nearly 400 fewer cars than Ford.
But perhaps not surprisingly, Mercedes-Benz and BMW are ranked no. 5 and 6 respectively on the Public Safety Vehicle Make Report. Both of these luxury automakers have more cars on Pepperdine’s campus than do Nissan and Volkswagen, two companies that both sell more cars nationwide than do BMW and Mercedes and make popular cars with young drivers. Also, there are more cars on campus made by the small luxury automaker Infiniti than Hyundai, an affordable car company that caters to the student demographic.
“There’s a lot of money around (Pepperdine), so it’s understandable,” sophomore Sergio Valderrama said. “If you have the money it’s cool. But you shouldn’t flaunt it. Especially since it’s their parents who buy it for them.”
That’s a sentiment shared by many Pepperdine students who think those who drive such luxury cars go out of their way to flaunt their $30,000 cars, trucks and SUVs. That doesn’t mean, however, students feel ashamed if their cars aren’t exactly luxury material.
“There are times when I wouldn’t mind having a better car,” said sophomore Nova Wood , who drives a 1984 Toyota Camry that, depending on where you stand, can be red or orange.
“But I feel a little more unique,” she said. “(My car) has a lot of character. In order to open the hood, I have to use a coat hanger that comes out of the grille. And (the car) is called cricket because the muffler has a hole in it, so it sounds like a cricket.
“Besides, it has power windows and locks. Definitely luxury in its day,” she continued.
According to Public Safety’s Lawler, the most popular car among Pepperdine’s 6,493 registered vehicles is the Honda Accord, followed by the Honda Civic, Toyota Camry and Ford Explorer. This is not surprising, since these have consistently been some of the best selling vehicles in the United States in the past decade.
Even though Honda was only third on the car make list, it makes sense that its Accord and Civic would be high on the list since the manufacturer makes significantly fewer models than Ford and Toyota — the two makes above Honda. In fact, of the 716 Hondas on campus, 80 percent are Accords and Civics. Compare that to the Ford Explorer and Ford Mustang (ranked 4 and 5 respectively), which only make up 37 percent of the Fords on campus.
However, Lawler also said that there were more than 1,400 models marked as “other” vehicle models that don’t register in the Public Safety database. Most BMW and Mercedes models would most likely fall into this category. Since these, and other companies such as Lexus go by alphanumeric names that change frequently, the number of a particular model are unknown. For instance, if a person owned a BMW 3-series, that person would probably write on the vehicle registration form that they own a 318i, a 328i, a 330i etc. The second two numbers generally designate the engine output of the particular model. The same goes for Mercedes and Lexus, an E500 and GS 300 representing a 5.0-liter and 3.0-liter engine respectively
Although the 3-Series could, in fact, be one of the most popular models on campus, it’s impossible to know, since every variation ever made is not entered into the Public Safety database. Despite this gap in information, however, it is unlikely that this popular BMW would surpass the Accord as most popular car on campus considering that there are only seven more BMWs in total than Accords alone.
The fact remains, however, that Pepperdine has an unusual amount of luxury cars for a college campus. There are even several rare and exotic cars aside from the 56 Porsches, two Ferraris, five Alfa Romeos, three Rolls Royce, one Bentley, one Peugeot, one Triumph and even one Delorean — although it’s unknown if it runs on garbage and features a flux capacitor.
Every car may not be a BMW or Mercedes, but there are certainly more of them on average than everywhere else across America.
Is this a bad thing?
Perhaps. Perhaps not. Some students questioned what was to be looked forward to later in life if a person has a $50,000 car before they’re even 20. But whether that BMW in the parking lot was bought because it was a superior automobile or just to show off the owner’s wealth, one’s things for sure — it sure makes going to Pepperdine a treat for car lovers.
October 24, 2002
