Ask Lemmy

"piece of shit"

I name them based on their personalities.

59 beetle - Zippy 79 Bronco - bog 07 wrangler - Lt Dan

I just use the name they were given at the factory to avoid confusing them.

"car"

which inevitably becomes "piece of shit"

I've named all but one of my cars.

Spunky - 1986 Mazda RX-7 (Untitled) - 1997 VW Jetta The Dirty Hooker - 2001 Ford Escort ZX2 Heidi - 1998 BMW M3 Yuki - 2004 Subaru Impreza Outback

I have Heidi and Yuki currently. 🤷‍♂️

Volvo (V60CC) -> Swedish -> Viking

So it is called "Ragnar"

Only one of my cars has earned a name, otherwise its just "that shitbox"or "the daily"

My blue VW Golf project car I'm always tweaking, modifying and breaking because I'm not a mechanic, thus it often forgets how to car, and it has black and yellow accents. So it's been christened "Dory"

Meet: Blooregard "Bloo" Q. Kazoo (from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends).

I even have Bloo stickers.

James. No particular reason.

My other cars never had names, but I love this one to pieces and it goes like the clappers.

My ebike is Gusteau (Gusto), or Gus.

frog car!!

it's the green one in the back

I have had these ones: All Volvo, all station wagons.

• "De kat in de zak" (pig in a poke) - A red Volvo 240 named so because it was a pig in a poke (Name was given afterwards)
• "Het lek in de nek" (The leak in the neck) - A silver Volvo 240 that had a sunroof which could open and it leaked. Everytine I had to brake after a rainstorm, I risked a generous gulp of cold water in my neck. (Name was given in the last few months we had her)
• "De Noordkaper" (the North Caper) - A Grey Volvo 240 that had, before we bought it, taken part in a rally to the North Cape. (This one had her name from the start)
• "Je Reed Heel netjes" (You drove very neatly) - A red Volvo 940, named after the license plate. Its name originally was in present tense but on a fateful new year's eve it fell victim to arson and burned to a crisp. It was a good car and I hated to see her go.
• "De Barones" A fabulous luxurious old dark blue Volvo 960 with a purring six cylinder and flaky paint. It drove like a bat out of hell and I really loved that car. Unfortunately she started to sag in the back and the repairs got way too expensive to keep her.
• "Het Bakbeest" (The Beast) - my most recent car, a Volvo XC90 that is way too modern for my taste. It is big, heavy and chockfull of computers. It is a solid tank but I prefer the older Volvo types.

My cars are usually named after old women, because I subconsciously relate older women with comfort and kindness. Gertie, and Mathilde.

In our house we have Cedric the Civic, Minnie the Mini, and Pedro the Polo.

My wife named her first SUV - a dinky Equinox - “pebbles”, purely because it was a light stone grey.

Her next SUV - a more beefy 4Runner that can actually hold the Gunner dog crate comfortably - is “snowflake”, purely because it was a pristine snow white.

I think I’m seeing a pattern here with my wife.

Yes, currently Robert RedFord and Suby Roo.

I don't own a car, but my bicycle is named Aneth. It's French for "dill", pronounced the same as the name "Annette".

I like dill and "Aneth la bicyclette" rhymes.

xev yoyo in lime green.

I call her tinkerbell

TIL: people name their cars. Honest question, unless you have several identical cars, why?

My first car, my lovely Mazda 2. It was tiny but perfect for me. My friends called it a jellybean and that stuck until Bean just started being used. I loved that Bean so much.

But I just got a new car and a friend of mine said it looks like a shoe. So now I have Shoe! Which I think is funny

The Prius (he/him)

Any name that seems to fit the character of the car. In hindsight, based on personifying the car's flaws.

One was a Saturn SL2 that had a leaky exhaust, sometimes hesitated to start, and the automatic transmission shifted aggressively. Oscar, because it seemed grouchy all the time.

Another was a manual transmission Volkswagen Passat 2.0 with a tiny turbo and some neat safety features that still worked, including automatically holding the brakes for a hill start to prevent rolling backward. Not particularly fast, but once it got going it just kept accelerating up through the gears, as if rising to a challenge. I named it Walter, it just seemed to fit.

My current car is a 2014 Ford Focus with the "bad" transmission. It needs to either go or stop, asking it to accelerate too slowly burns up the clutches in a hurry, thus the terrible reputation for the dual clutch automatic. The harder I accelerate, the better the gas milage, up until it starts spinning the tires.

Idk what to call this one.

I didn't name all of them, but here are the ones:

My small everyday car: Titine (see other comment about that) My camper van: Léon (In french "Léon le fourgon") My '78 spitfire: Rosie

I had a murdered G37s named Stella. Was a fun time in life. Happy not to have a car at all now.

A couple years ago I had a neighbor named Patrick, and although we didn't have assigned parking at my apartment, we all tended to gravitate to the same spot regardless if others were available, and I parked next to Patrick's car nearly every everyday.

Wife starts calling our car "SpongeBob" cuz it's always next to Patrick.

To this day, as we're doing things like leaving a store forgetful of where we parked, she'll say something like "where's SpongeBob?"

10/10

Blue 2025 Subaru Forester = Beast

White 2015 Hyundai Sonata = Stormtrooper (also has a stormtrooper ornament hanging from the rear view mirror)

Normally no. However, I do own a 1968 Chrysler station wagon that I've taken to calling "the Duchess of Rustess". No, it doesn't even rhyme, but it does makes me smile.

We have a Toyota we call Plavalaguna because of the paint color, and a Volvo we call Portia because we thought it was funny.

My cousin had a 1988 Dodge minivan with plastic covered seats and no AC. She called it "Big Ralf"

I called by previous car Trolvo. My current one is Lolvo.

You will never guess the brand...

My first car was named Sora Aoi which means sky blue. Don’t mind that it’s also the name of a popular Japanese porn star.

I also had a white Kia Soul that looked like a stormtrooper helmet so I was trying to pick a good reference name, but couldn’t decide on one.

My subaru is called “Subarashii”, because it’s excellent.

I kinda wanna name my car, but nothing has inspired yet.

I name my bicycles.

Steely Fran is my touring and every day ride (she's a Salsa Vaya, a steel-frame gravel bike)

Moon Unit is my fat-tire bike for snow, dirt, and rockhopping fun.

My current car is named the Goose, I had never named one before. No particular reason, but I got goose license plate holders and a goose with a knife sticker on the side of the mirror to embellish the ensemble. Still need a good goose to put in the back

No real naming scheme, mostly just stupid names because they're funny, though a couple names have been roughly related to the car to which they belonged.

• Pobjoy
• Probably Jessie (yes, "probably" is part of the name)
• Probably Jenny
• My Boy Blue
• Winona
• Jules

The Nihilus. My gateway to anywhere.

Our newest car we got of Friday the 13th. Named it Jason. Have a mask facing backwards on one of the back seat headrests.

2004 Excursion = Beast
2004 Econoline E350 = Bus
2007 Odyssey = Burgundy

We have a big family and apparently they like B names

I'm gonna go against the grain and say no, I don't name my cars other than what they are - my "Subaru" and my "Mazda". If I got another car from the same manufacturer, then I'd switch it to the model like my " Forester" and my "323"

However, I do have a friend whose family has a designated learner car that they call "Socks" simply because the number plate ends in SOX