Money Matters: What Your Car Says About Your Love Life

"Women like guys in expensive cars."

No, that's not an entry on the list of the Top 100 Most Pervasive Dating Stereotypes Of All Time - that's an actual scientific finding, reported for The Globe And Mail by columnist and car aficionado Andrew Clark.

This finding is the result of four studies conducted by researchers at the University of Texas-San Antonio, the University of Minnesota, and Rice University. 1,000 men and women between the ages of 18 and 57 received "romantic priming" and then answered a series of questions, a survey that lead to the discovery of the stereotype-confirming epiphany above.

"There was little word on the fellows," writes Clark, "but it's a fair bet that gay males would be more attracted to a guy driving a 2012 Porsche 911 than a dude driving a Civic. Straight men would probably be more likely to experiment with the Porsche driver and I'd bet that 30 per cent of them would go all the way with a guy driving a Lamborghini Aventador."

The study's principal author is Dr. Jill Sundie, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Texas-San Antonio. Sundie compares women's attraction to men with expensive cars to common mating rituals found in nature: "Porsches can serve the same function for some men that large and brilliant feathers serve for peacocks," she says. She also explains that conspicuous consumption "appears to be a behaviour that is much more likely to occur if the guy is seeking short-term relationships, and he is thinking about a situation where he might be able to get one of those short-term relationships."

Clark facetiously adds his own thoughts on the matter: "Other scientific discoveries from last week include, 'When it rains you get wet' and, 'If you stop eating you'll eventually die.'" He goes on to list "Inhales oxygen. Exhales carbon dioxide" as another clear signal that a man is only looking for a short-term relationship.

Women, according to Sundie, don't show signs of the same inclination to spend money in order to attract a mate. "Obviously women spend plenty of money on expensive things," she says. "But the anticipation of romance doesn't trigger flashy spending as it does with some men."

In other words, gentlemen, a flashy car is a great lure to hook women when you're fishing for a one-night stand. And ladies, keep an eye out for that flashy car if you're looking for no-strings-attached fun, but you might want to resist the seductive allure of that Bugatti Veyron if you're looking for something serious and long-term.