A car enthusiast is someone who cares about cars beyond what they are for. Most people see a car as a way to get to work. A car enthusiast sees the shape, hears the engine, knows what is under the bonnet and wants to talk about it. The dictionary word is autophile. Nobody uses it. In Britain and Australia the word is petrolhead, in the United States it is gearhead, and in Australian pubs it is revhead. They all mean the same thing: a person for whom a car is never just a car.
This is the first of a set of articles on car people, written by car people. It covers what the term actually means, the names it goes by, and the very different kinds of enthusiast that hide inside it, because "car enthusiast" is a very broad label and two people who both claim it can have almost nothing in common.
The names for a car enthusiast
- Car enthusiast. The neutral, catch-all term. If you are reading this, it fits you.
- Petrolhead. British and Australian slang for a car enthusiast, particularly one who loves the noise and the engineering. Spelled petrol head in some places.
- Gearhead. The American version, with a lean towards people who work on their own cars. Also spelled gear head. Motorhead means much the same thing and shares a name with a band.
- Revhead. Australian. Sometimes affectionate, sometimes not, depending on who is saying it and how loud your exhaust is.
- Car nut, car buff, car guy, car girl. Everyday versions. Car buff tends to be used for the classic and vintage crowd.
- Autophile. The formal word. Technically correct, never said out loud.
There is a longer list of the words car people use, from touge to sleeper, in our guide to car enthusiast terms and driving styles.
What a car enthusiast actually is
Here is our take. A real car enthusiast can see every car in its own right. They do not look at a Kia Carnival and see a boring people mover. They see the lines, the details and the reason it exists. They love experiencing different cars, they want to understand how things work, and they can talk about design and engineering in the same breath as a burnout.
That is the ideal. In practice the term covers a lot of people who are not like that at all, and that is fine. The person who only cares about their own Commodore is a car enthusiast. The person who only cares about Fords is a car enthusiast. The person who has never opened a bonnet but drives the Adelaide Hills every Sunday morning is a car enthusiast. They are just different types, and knowing which type you are talking to saves everyone a lot of confusion at a car meet.
The different types of car enthusiast
We break it into six. Each one gets a proper write-up in the different types of car enthusiasts, but in short:
- The one-car devotee. Fixated on their own car. Their pride and joy. Everything else is traffic.
- The brand loyalist. Fords only, or Holdens only, or BMWs only. Usually traced back to something they watched or someone they grew up with.
- The car lover. The one described above. Sees every car for what it is. The broadest and, we would argue, the truest version.
- The driver. Racers, drifters, rally people, track day regulars. Many of them are less interested in the car than in what it feels like at speed.
- The show pony. Owns the car for what it says about them. Wants to be the one people are photographing.
- The spotter and the clout chaser. Cameras up, at every meet for a few months, then gone. Often the first step towards one of the other five.
Most people are a mix, and most people move between types over a lifetime. The teenager filming supercars becomes the adult with the project car becomes the retiree with the concours classic.
How to tell if you are one
Some reliable signs:
- You can identify a car at night from its tail lights.
- You have opinions about a car you have never driven and will never own.
- You have changed a route to include a better road, or driven somewhere with no reason to be there.
- You have washed a car that was already clean.
- You slow down to look at what is parked in a driveway.
- Someone has said "it is just a car" to you, and it hurt.
Two or more and you are in. Welcome.
Where car enthusiasts are
Car enthusiasts find each other in three places: at meets, in clubs, and online. Cars and Coffee mornings, car meets and car shows are where the conversations happen, and there is one somewhere near you most weekends. Car clubs turn that into a calendar. Online, the problem has always been that general social media buries car posts under everything else. Drivesome is a social network built only for car enthusiasts: a timeline that is all cars, a garage for your own, a page for every make and model, and virtual car shows you can enter from your driveway. It is free, and it is where the rest of these articles come from.
More on car people
Questions people ask
What is a car enthusiast?
A person with a genuine interest in cars beyond transport: how they look, how they work, how they drive and the culture around them. The term covers everyone from classic car restorers to track day drivers to people who simply love looking at cars.
What is another word for car enthusiast?
Petrolhead (UK and Australia), gearhead or motorhead (US), revhead (Australia), car nut, car buff, and the formal word autophile.
What is the difference between a petrolhead and a gearhead?
Mostly geography. Petrolhead is the British and Australian word, gearhead the American one. Gearhead carries a slightly stronger sense of someone who works on cars themselves.
Do you need to own a special car to be a car enthusiast?
No. Plenty of the most knowledgeable car people drive ordinary cars or none at all. It is about interest, not ownership.
Where do car enthusiasts meet?
At Cars and Coffee mornings, car meets, car shows, track days and club runs, and online on car-specific communities such as Drivesome.
