Baby You Can Drive My Car: Wheels of Importance

Both Stephenie and EL James wrote about cars like they were women who knew nothing about cars. Only a mother would write a bachelor owning 3 Audi SUVs. One maybe, but he would be driven about in a sedan, likely a town car-type, not in the back of an SUV. Also a man with that much money would be driving a Lamborghini, not an R8 (Audi and Lamborghini are both owned by VW and the R8 has a Lambo engine, but people buy the R8 because they can't afford the Lambo. He can and he would.) When Stephenie writes cars, she clearly writes about the 3 cars she knows and dreamt of owning, whether they make sense for her characters or not. She claims to have gotten her car info from her "expert" brother, but I doubt that very much. Am I the only one that thought the Ferarri for Bella was lame? It seemed so obvious to me that Edward would have had her truck rebuilt with a new ultra-fast engine, new paint, new interior, and she would have loved it. But even with a Ferarri, again we see the difference between Ana and Bella. Ana was intimidated by the R8 at first, but drove it and ended up loving it. Bella just ignored the car altogether, once again being a rude, selfish bitch. And don't get the wrong idea, I am not a fan of Ferarri, not my dream car, but clearly is a dream car for Meyer. And that's where you have to separate yourself from your characters when you write. She forced that Ferarri on Bella for no reason. It makes Edward seem like a man who has no clue what his wife likes and I don't think that's true. I think Edward wants to give Bella what she wants and she wanted her truck--I think she would have accepted a rebuilt, custom version of her old truck. After going online and seeing the range of Audis to see what James was picturing, the A3 seemed lame to me. For someone with that much money, why is he buying the little compact that looks like a Honda or a Mazda? I saw the Audi TT and thought "that's what his subs would be driving." Edward driving the Volvo sedan was a little odd to me. I get that it's a solid and practical car and that fits his personality, but the point was trying to fit in. How is cramming 5 rich teenagers into a sedan practical? How is a Volvo at all reasonable? Volvo? Really? What family of 7 doesn't own a car that all of them can ride in--that's a tip off right there that they aren't a real family. I'm sorry but there would have been a mini-van somewhere. Esme not owning a car was off too. Ok maybe she didn't want one or need one, but for a family that made such a big deal about "keeping up appearances" to the point that Carlisle did the grocery shopping regularly? Yeah the wife of the rich doctor would have her own car. The movie got the car right when they had Edward in the XC90 wagon--that made much more sense. All five of them would fit in that--but in the movie he never gave his siblings a ride to school. It was also a car a teenager would drive--even a rich one--because it's a rich family car and we all knew kids in high school that drove their mom's wagon to school. Meyer was trying to make a point that they were being low key by not driving really expensive cars to school, but a Volvo sedan is not the right choice. It looks like a car driven by a middle aged man in middle management. While it is very non-descript, putting it in a high school parking lot is odd. And she writes about it like it's a really big deal "oooh a shiny silver Volvo" ummm, no. It's like an expensive, safer, Toyota Camry. Blah. She clearly has no knowledge of cars. On the other hand we have James who clearly went to the Audi website and picked their whole range for her writing. The sportscar, the large crossover (NOT an SUV--get your terms right!), and the smaller crossover, and then of course the little hatchback. Either she covets the Audi crossover when she does the school run in London or she just has no imagination. One point I do agree with, I can see Christian having only one brand of cars as a personality trait. He is very meticulous. But again, he would be driving a Lamborghini, not the R8. Men that rich don't drive R8s. The Saab was a poor choice as well, but unfortunate since they've gone out of business. After reading the books and getting to know the characters, like Edward i think Christian got it wrong. The perfect car (after the Audi was destroyed) for Ana was a Mini Cooper. She has a love of all things British and that's an iconic British car, however Mini is now owned by BMW which also makes it German and well engineered and safe. Also the same size category as an A3. I think what the car aspect really boils down to is lack of basic car knowledge. Clearly both women wrote about cars they knew and/or liked and/or want themselves whether they truly fit the character or not. Why is this a big deal? Because they made it a big deal. If you are going to make cars important to the story, and be so specific with brands and models and link them somehow to the story and personality of the character, you had better get them right. Christian was very successful in his gift-giving for Ana, he chose the right presents and they were always spot on. Therefore the car needed to be as well, because he just doesn't make those mistakes. The Saab was just a British thing, clearly. Saab was much more popular in Europe and frankly a bomb here in the states. They did get a few right: Carlisle, Emmet, and Rose all drive cars that seem to fit them. I can even go along with Alice in a Porsche. I can see Edward in the Aston, although it seems a little old for a 17 yr old. Yes I get that he's mature and 110, but still--traditionally an old man's car. She also wrote him as a car enthusiast. That's why they didn't have enough cars. Sorry but owning two cars doesn't make you an enthusiast. Yes we can assume that since they own homes all over, they have garages all over with cars stashed in them. But we shouldn't have to assume. If the garage in Forks is described as so cavernous and large, six cars isn't that big a deal. Sorry, a family so intent on looking normal would have a mini-van or something similar whether anyone drove it often or not. They have a dining table, there'd be a minivan. The Volvo is the one that really bugs me. Wrong, just wrong. I also don't understand why there are 3 Audi SUVs in the parking bay at Christian's. One or two, ok. Mrs. Jones needs one to do the grocery shopping. But once more I will argue that day to day being driven around and riding in the backseat, not going to happen in an Audi "SUV" and to be clear, it's a crossover, not an SUV. The Audi's she is writing about are just enlarged station wagons. He'd be in the back of a sedan. James lives in London, she knows all about car services and car hires. I see him in the back of a Jag before I see him in the back of an Audi crossover. One painful difference in the writing is that it is obvious that Meyer did real research, whilst James clearly did all hers on Google. What really bothers me is that James lives in England, home of the most-watched TV show in the world: Top Gear. C'mon, know something about cars! Seriously!