10 Best-Selling Cars in America's Wealthiest ZIP Codes
Written by: Jason Notte
Tickers in this article:
TM HMC
NEW YORK (MainStreet) -- If you want a car that keeps up with the Joneses, it pays to peek into the Joneses' garage every so often.
A Bentley may look great in a hip-hop video and a Bugatti would be a great buy if the government suddenly replaced Interstate 80 with the Autobahn, but America's top spenders tend to be somewhat more pragmatic when selecting the ride appropriate to their region. They like government rebates of fuel-efficient vehicles just as much as the average driver and know how to get a prestigious German logo on their car without spending all the loot they have.
To get some idea of how America's richest really spend on their cars, analyst Shadee Malekafzali of car pricing site TrueCar went over the IRS tax table, found the nation's wealthiest ZIP codes and looked at the cars bought most often in those ZIP codes. TrueCar shared those findings with us and gave us a look at the driveways and garages of the American elite. There are Mercedes, BMW and Porsche models aplenty, but Toyotas(TM) , Hondas(HMC) and Jeeps got just as much love:
10. Ross, Calif., 94957
Average income: $497,000
Top car: Toyota Prius
MSRP: $30,565
Just outside San Francisco in notoriously eco-conscious Marin County, Ross seems like a great fit for the Toyota Prius. Until you look a little deeper into the garages and driveways, where the crunchy-munchy greenwashed wealthy are doing some serious funk faking. The Prius they show around town may get a combined 50 miles per gallon, but there's a lot more gas being guzzled by Ross' second-favorite Mercedes-Benz E Class (25 mpg), the third-place Mercedes GL Class SUV (19 mpg) or the BMW 335i (26 mpg) and X5 crossover (22) that round out the area's Top 5. There's a lot of room for skeletons when your closet goes a few cars deep.
9. Medina, Wash., 98039
Average income: $506,000
Top car: Land Rover Range Rover Sport
MSRP: $65,595
In a town Bill Gates calls home, it's tough not to go big.
A Bentley may look great in a hip-hop video and a Bugatti would be a great buy if the government suddenly replaced Interstate 80 with the Autobahn, but America's top spenders tend to be somewhat more pragmatic when selecting the ride appropriate to their region. They like government rebates of fuel-efficient vehicles just as much as the average driver and know how to get a prestigious German logo on their car without spending all the loot they have.
To get some idea of how America's richest really spend on their cars, analyst Shadee Malekafzali of car pricing site TrueCar went over the IRS tax table, found the nation's wealthiest ZIP codes and looked at the cars bought most often in those ZIP codes. TrueCar shared those findings with us and gave us a look at the driveways and garages of the American elite. There are Mercedes, BMW and Porsche models aplenty, but Toyotas(TM) , Hondas(HMC) and Jeeps got just as much love:
10. Ross, Calif., 94957
Average income: $497,000
Top car: Toyota Prius
MSRP: $30,565
Just outside San Francisco in notoriously eco-conscious Marin County, Ross seems like a great fit for the Toyota Prius. Until you look a little deeper into the garages and driveways, where the crunchy-munchy greenwashed wealthy are doing some serious funk faking. The Prius they show around town may get a combined 50 miles per gallon, but there's a lot more gas being guzzled by Ross' second-favorite Mercedes-Benz E Class (25 mpg), the third-place Mercedes GL Class SUV (19 mpg) or the BMW 335i (26 mpg) and X5 crossover (22) that round out the area's Top 5. There's a lot of room for skeletons when your closet goes a few cars deep.
9. Medina, Wash., 98039
Average income: $506,000
Top car: Land Rover Range Rover Sport
MSRP: $65,595
In a town Bill Gates calls home, it's tough not to go big.