What's hot in Grand Theft Auto World

Sports Car Illustrated Feature Article

by Gary Becker
Sports Car Illustrated

Auto thieves apparently have one thing in common, they like big vehicles.

According to a study just released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety the two most popular vehicles for your local auto thief to liberate from your driveway are the Cadillac Escalade and the Ford F-250 crew cab four wheel drive pickup truck. The Escalade, or sometimes called the "Hip Hop Dream Mobile" on some street corners, is a veteran of sitting atop the stolen car list being ranked worst in overall theft losses in 6 of the past 7 Institute reports. In fact, all versions of the Escalade head the list of the worst overall losses for theft, with average yearly losses more than 7 times the average for all passenger vehicles.

If a chrome laden luxo-cruiser like the Escalade is Johnny Dirtbag's number one choice, why is a pickup truck number two? Stuff, pickups are full of stuff. Construction stuff, hunting stuff, fishing stuff, you know, guy stuff, the kind of stuff that can be sold on the same street corner where everyone is standing around talking about stealing an Escalade.

Horsepower also made the auto thieves hit list with the Dodge Charger and Chevrolet Corvette being number four and five on Johnny Dirtbag's list. Other vehicles in the top ten include the Infiniti G-37, Hummer H2, Nissan Pathfinder, Chevrolet Avalanche and Silverado and GMC Silverado. Vovlo S-80

Don't want your car stolen? Drive a Saturn or a Volvo. That's right, Johnny Dirtbag doesn't like cars driven by people who like to hug trees and worry about whales. Of course most people don't like driving these cars which is why one is out of business and the other was just pawned off on the Chinese.

Other cars too mundane to be stolen and driven to the mall on Saturday night include the Honda Pilot, Subaru Impreza, Toyota Prius, Mini Cooper, Toyota Tacoma and Toyota Sienna.

Overall, the trend is pickups are hot for the Grand Theft Auto crowd while small cars and small SUV's are not. If you want to be safe buy a Volvo or Saturn if you can find one that still runs. You can spend your time worrying about finding spare parts and not worrying about your expensive pickup ending up stripped to the frame in some alley.

Highest Losses

Cadillac Escalade
Ford F-250 crew 4WD (2008-09)
Infiniti G37 2-door (2008-09)
Dodge Charger HEMI
Chevrolet Corvette Z06
Hummer H2 4WD
Nissan Pathfinder Armada
Chevrolet Avalanche 1500
Chevrolet Silverado 1500
GMC Yukon large SUV 5.7

Lowest Losses

Volvo S80
Saturn VUE 4WD
Nissan Murano
Saturn VUE
Honda Pilot 4WD
Subaru Impreza
Toyota Prius
Mini Cooper
Toyota Tacoma
Toyota Sienna 4WD