How to win friends and influence people with .... your car

Plenty of people buy cars as status symbols to keep up with the neighbors or impress that girl across the street, but what if your car could actually make you friends? According to a new study, the ride you choose can have a big effect on your potential to find new buds.

According to Carcraft, an auto-superstore chain similar to Carmax in the U.S., a growing number of drivers are joining Facebook groups based around what model car they drive. Members share driving experiences, swap tips about repair costs, and share a kinship for their favorite whips. The site has even added an application called "Garage", enabling users to post info on the car they drive in their profiles.

So which car gets you the most friends? Carcraft has ranked the ten models with the largest number of Facebook fans, and the winner is (of course) the Mini Cooper, boasting 310 fan groups with over 23,000 members. Several cars on the list aren't sold here, but of the ones you can buy in the U.S. the Honda Civic ranks second with 187 fan groups, the VW Rabbit comes in fifth with 70, and the Toyota Yaris and Audi A3 round out the list with 30 and 23 groups, respectively. Given how the company tries to make its owners feel special, the Mini's ranking is no surprise, but how the Yaris gets more fans than the A3 is a puzzler.

In a sense, using your car to make friends on Facebook isn't altogether different from crusing the Sunset Strip on Saturday night. Except now you don't have to waste your money on a car wash or fixing those dents in the bumper.

Source: PR Newswire