Car

Cars are objects introduced in the The Sims 2: Nightlife expansion pack and The Sims 3 to serve as alternatives to the taxi and the carpool. A Sim who has a car can drive to work instead of taking the carpool and can even use it to go to work late. At least in The Sims 2, if a player clicks on a car and selects a Sim as its owner, the carpool will not come for that Sim. Selecting one Sim as the owner will not affect other family members' ability to use the car. Teens can drive to school, and children can be driven to school.

Sims with cars can drive to community lots whenever they like, or they can just take a spin around the neighborhood to relax. Sims can even WooHoo in cars, complete with rocking motion.

They are found in the miscellaneous section of the Buy Mode catalog. There are five models in Nightlife, of varying price and specifications, and each one comes in several colors. In addition, FreeTime adds a junk car that can be restored.

The five Nightlife cars are drivable versions of carpool or service vehicles from the base game, but there are several carpool vehicles (other than service-themed cars like the police car or fire truck) that were not made buyable and drivable.

Cars can only be driven by Sims teenage or older. All cars can have an alarm installed. An armed car alarm will go off whenever a burglar is near, even if the car happens to be inside a garage.

A car must be placed on a driveway or driveway extension for Sims to be able to use it. In The Sims 2 the driveway is very large (taking all tiles that a Sim needs to enter the car) and must be connected to the street. In The Sims 3 the driveway is small and can be placed anywhere in the lot.

The Sims 2 models
The five different models in The Sims 2 are:

Regardless of how many seats a particular model of car would have in Real Life, a car in The Sims 2 can hold any number of Sims. For example, a family of eight can ride in a Hunka, even though it looks like a two-seat sports car.

The player can see all these cars in neighborhood view. you can also see taxis, garbage trucks, grey armored vans, and police cars. Rarely, a blue and yellow wide-bodied car can be seen as well.

Other non-drivable vehicles
Some other cars are also in the game, but were not made buyable or drivable. Some may be available as custom content.


 * Gardener's truck. It's a Smord, but is dirty, has boards along the side, and some gardening tools in the back.
 * Limo. It's the carpool for some jobs, and can also be seen when a teen sneaks out with someone, or a college student is being taken to the Secret Society.
 * Bus. Kids go to school in a yellow school bus, and some jobs in the Athletic career track use a team bus as the carpool. The sports team bus is white with a red stripe, but is otherwise the bus is yellow with a black stripe.
 * UFO. Technichally, it's a car. The design is available as Custom content.
 * Maid's van. It's a basic Landwhale, but the paint job is not available in Buy mode.
 * Repo man's truck. It's a big truck with sad faces on it.
 * Delivery truck (grocery). It's also a big truck, but is blue and yellow.
 * Pizza/Chinese food delivery car. It's a dirty Smoogo Minima with a pizza/Chinese sign on it.
 * Taxi. a yellow Landwhale with a small rooftop taxi-sign which says "143", and a rooftop sign which resembles the rooftop advertising signs seen on real-life taxis. It appears to be an advertising sign, but might say "Taxi" in Simlish.
 * Small sportscar. It's a carpool car that appears in different colors, usually bright red or bright blue, and is very small.
 * Old Sedan. Similar to the Big Lemon, and its a carpool car.
 * Police car. A Yomoshoto Evasion with a police paint job and sirens. Carpool car for some jobs in the Law Enforcement career track.
 * Fire Truck. a fire truck.
 * Ambulance. Paramedic carpool vehicle and seen on a TV show.

The Sims 3 models


Cars play a much more important role in The Sims 3, as they are used to travel around to places (otherwise the player can use a Taxi, walk/jog, or Bike). However, the Sims will not autonomously drive to work, as the carpool will still arrive for them, even if there is a vehicle assigned to the Sim. The game comes with 11 cars with costs ranging from §950 to §105,000. In addition, a Sim who reaches level 5 in the Law Enforcement career will receive a Police Cruiser as a bonus.

As with bikes, the car will go into the Sim's inventory after a Sim has driven it to another lot, unless that lot has a parking lot. It can be dragged and dropped into the inventory of other family members, or double clicked to allow the Sim to drive to a new location.

A Sim who is a kleptomaniac can steal a cars and drive and/or use them.

Other non-drivable cars
Here are some non-drivable cars in The Sims 3, but could be downloaded as custom content
 * Police car ; A 4-Door Yomoshoto Evasion with black and white paintjob (LAPD) and blue police letters on the side (NYPD) (police car is driveable if the player has a Sim in the Law Enforcement career)
 * Taxi ; A free service to move to another lot, based on 4-Door Yomoshoto Evasion and painted yellow
 * School Bus ; A regular school bus with yellow paint and black stripes
 * Limo ; Replace Sim's own vehicle at level 10 of Music, Political and Business Career
 * Tour Bus ; Replace Sim's own vehicle at level 6 - 9 of Music Career (Rock Career)
 * Maid Car ; A Sloppy Jalopy with white paint and maid badge on it
 * Pizza car ; A Sloppy Jalopy with brown paint
 * Repo Truck ; A Truck with green paint and a cross through images of furniture pictured on it
 * Fire Truck ; A red Vorn P328 with higher wheelbase and red siren on roof
 * Repair Truck ; Same like Fire Truck, but with blue paint and a rack with ladder on it

Junked car in Riverview
The junked car in Riverview is a prototype of the Sloppy Jalopy. It has no left door, a crumpled roof and body, no wheels, and is rusted and undrivable. It is found at the riverbank and back of the Broke's house.

Custom Content
Early fan-made content for The Sims allowed Sims to have a car. Normally, this would be one from the carpool that would not otherwise be accessible, and would have no use other than as a decorative object that might affect Room score.

In April 2007 a driveway and garage set was available for download at TheSims2.com allowing players with only the base game to have cars. Over the next year they released 7 download-able cars by Ford: The Ford Mustang GT, The Ford Focus, The Ford Fusion, The Ford Edge, The Ford Escape, and The Ford Escape Hybrid as well as HotRod Hauler Chop Socky Special.


 * The Fiat Punto - Formerly available at http://thesims2.co.uk
 * Modthesims2 has an extensive range of actual cars, such as a Honda Fit and Mazda3, a limousine, and a drivable version of the town car from the carpool.