New Canaan High School’s parking lot is many things—bustling with activity to the point where safety measures have been installed for students crossing its main access road, and configured such that vehicles often back up all the way down to Route 106 during the morning “rush.”
It offers a snapshot of car popularity and preferences among New Canaan teens:
Most Popular Cars for NCHS Students: Makes
| Make | Number |
|---|---|
| Jeep | 94 |
| Toyota | 33 |
| Ford | 31 |
| BMW | 30 |
| Chevrolet | 25 |
| Subaru | 22 |
| Honda | 19 |
| Volkswagen | 19 |
| Audi | 11 |
| Mazda | 10 |
| Mercedes | 10 |
| Nissan | 10 |
**Represents registered vehicles for the 2016-17 school year
This summer, we looked at the most popular autos in town overall, with Chevrolet distinguishing itself as the only manufacturer to earn top-5 rankings in both make (#2) and model (#4).
A Jeep Wrangler at New Canaan High School. Jeep is the No. 1 most popular make among NCHS students with cars registered with the district, and Wrangler the most popular model. Photo published with permission from its owner
NCHS administrators keep a registry of student cars (381 total this academic year) in order to ensure security and to make it easy to identify and contact the vehicles’ owners in case there’s a problem with parking or something else.
To get our arms around what cars are most popular among high school students, we put in a formal request for a list of makes and models on file with the district (not names or anything else that would serve as an identifier). As anyone who has glanced at the NCHS parking lot could guess, Jeep topped the list of most popular cars, and the manufacturer’s Wrangler and Grand Cherokee ended up 1-2 among makes:
Most Popular Cars for NCHS Students: Models
| Make | Number |
|---|---|
| Jeep Wrangler | 48 |
| Jeep Grand Cherokee | 20 |
| BMW X3 | 12 |
| Subaru Outback | 10 |
| VW Jetta | 10 |
**Represents registered vehicles for the 2016-17 school year
Officials with My Way Motor Sports and Auto Body, a body shop with locations in both Greenwich and Stamford, say they’ve seen a major year-over-year increase in the number of people—particularly young drivers—customizing their vehicles.
“The Jeep Wrangler has been by far the most popular truck we’ve done,” said My Way owner T.J. Bivona, echoing what the NCHS data is showing.