Field Interviews

8/28/05: by Ruth Zaslow

• male, 20
• Sidney, Ohio (pop 20,000; 80 miles from Columbus, pop 700,000)
• single, no children--plans to marry and have children someday
• high school
• bank teller
• annual household income $25,000
• lives with parents

• What kind of car do you own?

A 2005 Mazda 6.

• How did you decide on this car?

I liked its style. It’s a new style. And it’s mid-sized with a sports car body, which I also like.

• What kinds of driving do you do?

I drive back and forth to work everyday. On the weekends, I usually go out of town.

• Tell me about driving back and forth to work everyday—not the making-the-car-go actions--but what’s going on for you in the car.

It only takes me about 10 minutes to drive to work, so it’s not a very long time. But what’s going on: music, sometimes I’m singing along.

• What kind of music do you listen to?

Rap, soft rock, sometimes I even listen to the Moulin Rouge soundtrack.

• What other things are going on in the car?

That’s it, pretty much. I never listen to the radio. I don’t even pay that much attention to driving. I don’t have to think about it—it’s like an instinct.

• Is the music on CD’s? On files?

CD’s. I have a great CD player in the car.

• Where do you buy your CD’s?

About half online and half at the stores.

• How do you decide what to buy?

Each Tuesday new titles come out, and I decide from there.

• Where do you hear about the new titles?

Ads on TV and the internet, sometimes magazines.

• Which magazines?

Sports Illustrated, mostly.

• How many do you typically buy?

Just one. I limit myself to one a week. I’ll listen to it all week. If I like it enough, sometimes I’d don’t get another for a couple of weeks.

• Ever use an IPod?

Yeah, I have one and I use it when I work out--that's like almost every day.

• Do you download files for it?

No. I rip my CD's on the computer, then download it to the IPod.

• Ever use the IPod in the car?

No. Never.

• How come you don't?

I don't want to. I mean, I paid for the CD, so it seems like a waste if I don't use it.

• You also mentioned that you go away on the weekends. Tell me about those trips.

I have a lot of friends in Columbus, and sometimes I go shopping in Springfield. .

• Are these day trips? Overnight?

For shopping, day trips, To visit my friends, the whole weekend.

• What kinds of things do you shop for in Springfield?

In Springfield it’s usually music. The Walmart here doesn’t carry a lot of the music I like. It’s also Best Buy for TV shows, music and movies—again things Walmart doesn’t carry.

• Anything else you shop for in Springfield?

Clothes. I usually go to Express for work shirts, pants.

• How about the trips to Columbus. Tell me about those.

I have a couple of friends from high school who are in college there. So I go for the weekend, we play tennis, hang out, go out to parties.

• Do you use your car once you're in Columbus?

Yeah. Most of my friends there don’t have cars, so I’m nice and I drive.

• Tell me what goes on in the car when you’re with your friends there?

At first, we’re talking, there might not even be any music playing. But lots of times we start talking about music, so we’ll put some on—loud.

• Anyone using a cell phone?

Rarely. I can’t remember the last time one of us was on the phone. I mean, usually we’re all in the car already.

• Let’s talk about your history with cars. What memories do you have of cars from when you were little?

I remember we had vans. And my brothers and I would fight. We’d have our Gameboys and fight over those. Or fight over music. My parents would be up front talking about work, how things were going.

• What cars have you owned?

Three of them. First: a 1989 Honda Accord Hatchback. That thing was small! But it got me from point A to point B and that’s all that mattered.

• Did you buy that car?

My uncle gave it to me. He’d just bought a new car and this one wasn’t worth all that much. I think my parents might have given him some money for it, but I’m not sure.

• What was your next car?

A 2002 Mazda Protégé.

• Was that a new car?

It was a year old when I bought it. My parents paid some toward it, but I paid most. I got a good deal on it. The family just didn’t want it any more. I neer really worked out why.

• What is your general attitude toward cars?

I love them. I keep up with them, read up on them.

• Have you always felt this way?

Yeah, pretty much. I think it started because I was really close with my grandpa. He was a mechanic and had a bunch of old cars around. When we went to visit him, he’d ask me to help. I mean I was real little, so I couldn’t do much, maybe pick up a tool or something, but I really liked it.

• Tell me more about how you “keep up with” cars.

Magazines, the internet. Also the newspaper. They have articles on cars and I always read those.

• What magazines do you read?

Sports Illustrated, ESPN. Sometimes car magazines.

• Which car magazines?

I rotate on those. It depends—whatever I see at the store that I like.

• You also mentioned that you keep up with cars through the internet. What process do you go through then?

I’ll start looking for information on certain cars and go from there.

• Can you give me an example?

Like the other week. I felt like checking out muscle cars. So I did a Google search on that, and looked at a bunch of sites.

• What would be some other examples?

Maybe 70’s cars, or classic cars. I used to like those, but now I like the new technology.

• What new technology do you like?

I like all the safety features, like the safety sensors I was reading about. Also, the integrated, hands-free phone. Having the audio controls on the steering wheel is great too—so people don’t have to look over to the side. The six disk changers are nice too. I guess I like anything that cuts out the distractions.

• Let’s talk about the future. Imagine it’s 10 years from now: 2015. What would you like to see standard on cars that’s not standard now?

Airbags. Not more of them, but safer. You know some people die from airbags. I also think it would be good to have rear sensors that beep if people are too close. And Lexus, I’ve heard that they have this thing where the dashboard flashes a light and starts buzzing if you drift into another lane—like they wake you up. That’s a good idea.

• Great ideas. I notice they revolve around the idea of safety.

Well, my dad’s a cop, so I’ve heard about what can happen to people in cars.

• Other improvements you’d like based on what you’ve heard? Or what you'd like?

That’s it, really. Safety is the most important.