Car

Cars are objects introduced in the The Sims 2: Nightlife expansion pack, and are also available in The Sims 3. They 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. Teens can drive to school, and children can be driven to school, and can go to school late.

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. Instead, he or she will autonomously head for the car. If the Sim is a teen, he or she will autonomously drive to school, though the school bus will still come, and driving to school instead of taking the bus will still trigger the minor fear of missing the school bus. Selecting one Sim as the owner will not affect other family members' ability to use the car.

Sims with cars can drive to community lots whenever they like, or they can just take a spin around the neighborhood to relax. In The Sims 2, Sims can sit in cars. Sims sitting in a car can turn on the car's lights and listen to the car's stereo. If two or more Sims are sitting in the car, they will socialize. Sims can even WooHoo in cars, complete with rocking motion and fogged-up windows to hide the view from the player.

In The Sims 2, Sims open the doors to get in or out of a car, and will even open a door to let a pet get in. Also, cars will be shown as pulling out of, or into, a driveway, if there is room for the animation to play.

In The Sims 2, cars are found in the miscellaneous section of the Buy mode catalog. In The Sims 3, they are found in the vehicles section.

Cars can only be driven by teenage Sims or older. All cars have the option to have an alarm installed. A car alarm costs §250 and takes an hour in Sim time to be installed. An armed car alarm will go off whenever a burglar is near, even if the car happens to be inside a garage.

In early neighborhood pictures before The Sims 2 was released, some houses had driveways and garage doors. That may have meant that Maxis had originally intended for ownable cars to be shipped with the base game. Something else to support this is that there is a buyable and ownable car, but it only appears if it is made to appear in a category, and it doesn't work correctly.

A car must be placed on a driveway or driveway extension for Sims to be able to use it. In The Sims 2 a driveway has a 5x8 section that a car can be placed on, a 5x2 section that connects it to the street, and a 12x3 section which is at right angles to rest of the driveway. That section is placed over the street, and is used when cars back out of, or pull into, the driveway. Except for using the driveway, a car enters and leaves the lot in the same way as the carpool or taxi. Some pre-made residential lots, as made, do not have room for a driveway. Normally, a driveway cannot be placed unless there is room for the entire street section, however, later expansions allow the player to override this by using the moveobjects on cheat. Since a driveway placed in this manner will not have room to show a car backing out into the street, or pulling into the driveway, a car placed on it will fade out when Sims drive off, and fade in when they return. This will also happen, at least to some extent, when a car enters or leaves a driveway space that is blocked by another car. In The Sims 3, the driveway is small and can be placed anywhere on the lot.

In The Sims 2, when Sims get out of a car on a residential lot, they will have a "Watch Out!" action pushed on them if they take too long to get off the driveway. This will override almost everything in a Sim's action queue, and force the Sim to get off the driveway. Actions such as bringing in a grocery basket will not be affected.

Most of the families in The Sims 3 and its expansion packs already own cars which are either on their lot or in their inventories. Pregnant Sims in The Sims 3 can still drive, unlike in The Sims 2.

The Sims 2 models


There are five models in Nightlife, of varying price and specifications, and each one comes in several colors. They are drivable versions of carpool or service vehicles from the base game. In addition, FreeTime adds a junk car that can be restored.

Sims get a boost to energy, comfort, and fun from driving or riding in a car. Generally, more expensive cars give a greater boost, but this does not always hold for custom-content cars.

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 the cars from Nightlife in the neighborhood view. Taxis, garbage trucks, grey armored vans, and police cars can also be seen. 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.
 * Limo: A stretch limousine resembling a Lincoln Town Car (1998-2003) that serves as carpool for some jobs. It also appears when a teen goes out or sneaks out with someone, or when a college student is being taken to the secret society.
 * Town Car: A sedan that resembles an older Lincoln Town Car (1990-1997) with a soft top. It's a carpool for several jobs, and in some career tracks, such as Education, is even the carpool for the top-level job.
 * Small Sports Car: It's a carpool car that appears in either bright red or bright blue, and is very small. It resembles a Maserati Coupe (2002-2007). The red car and the blue car are actually two separate cars that are almost identical, but this is only apparent if they are examined very closely.
 * Fire Truck. An average sized fire truck.
 * Ambulance. Paramedic carpool vehicle, and sometimes seen on television.
 * Large Truck: A delivery truck used by the grocery store, the Repo-man, and the exterminator. The grocery truck is blue with a yellow streak on the sides and rear. On close inspection, it can be seen that the streak is formed by a winged PlumbBob. The Repo-man's truck has sad faces on it, and has no rear doors. The exterminator's truck is yellow, has a picture of a bug and a "No" symbol on the sides, and an oversized model of a dead bug on the roof.
 * 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, while the school bus is yellow with a black stripe, but they are otherwise identical.
 * UFO: Technically, it's a car. The design is available as custom content. It has yet to be turned into something more fitting, such as a helicopter.
 * HMV: A military truck, used as the carpool for many jobs in the Military career track.

Versions of the "Smoogo"

 * Delivery car for pizza and Chinese food.

Versions of the "Smord"

 * Gardener's truck
 * Repairman's truck

Versions of the "Heavola"

 * Taxi
 * Maid's van

Other services which use a van, such as the social worker and nanny, use the same van that is used in the carpool.

Versions of the "Yomoshoto"

 * Police car

Cars without Nightlife
In April 2007, a driveway and garage set was made available for download at TheSims2.com, allowing players without Nightlife to use cars, if they had a later expansion or stuff pack. Over the next year they released a set of 5 downloadable cars by Ford: the Ford Mustang GT, the Ford Focus, the Ford Fusion, the Ford Edge, and the Ford Escape Hybrid, which were designed to use this set. This set was available in the Exchange->Objects section of TheSims2.com.

"Numenor" at ModTheSims also made a set of packages based on this set, which were modified to allow players without Nightlife, but with a later expansion or stuff pack, to use custom-content cars as long as they did not have the "requires Nightlife" flag set.

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. In addition, a Sim who reaches level 5 in the Law Enforcement career will receive a Police Cruiser based on the Yomoshoto Evasion as a bonus. In Ambitions, a player who reaches level 10 in the Firefighter profession will receive a Woo Woo 4000 Fire Truck.

Car prices are more realistic and reflect real-life prices more than those in The Sims 2. They range from §950 to §105,000.

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.

Unlike in The Sims 2, there are no animations which show a Sim getting in a car or backing it out of a driveway. Also unlike The Sims 2, Sims cannot WooHoo in cars, and they cannot sit in a car if it is parked on a driveway. Cars in The Sims 3 are also not equipped with stereos. (Except for backing out, these features were added to the Classically Cool Fixer-upper Car, which is premium content in The Sims 3 Store.)

A Sim who is a kleptomaniac can steal parked cars and drive and/or use them. Sims cannot die as a result of a car crash or being run over by a car. If a car or a Sim is blocking the road the car will simply pass through like a ghost. This also means that traffic jams are not possible.

When buying the Collector´s Edition of the game, the owner can unlock two new cars with a special code: The Montalcino Fandango SE, a luxury sports car that seems to resemble a Ferrari 360, and the Vorn Stallion, an American muscle car that resembles a tuned Plymouth Barracuda.

Also, as of April 2010, TheSims3.com has been offering a free download of a Renault car for Europe, which is aimed to promote environmental awareness. A Toyota Prius and Ford Focus are offered for free download for the United States.

List of ownable cars
Main article

Other non-drivable cars
Here are some non-drivable cars in The Sims 3. Some may be available as custom content.
 * Police car: A 4-Door Yomoshoto Evasion with black and white paint job (LAPD) and blue police letters on the side (NYPD) (police car is drivable 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. Also in The Sims 3: Late Night: if a celebrity has a star power of four or five, the celebrity will be escorted around in a limousine that replaces the taxi, though that Sim can still use his or her own car.
 * 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. In The Sims 3: Ambitions, the firetruck is the same one as in The Sims 2. (The fire truck is drivable if the player has a Sim reach level 10 in the firefighter profession.)
 * Repair Truck: A blue Vorn P238 with a rack on it.

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 family's house. It is available as a decoration in The Sims 3: Ambitions. Another junker may be found under one of the bridges leading to the main island. In Twinbrook, there the same car on the neighborhood, one in a mudslide.
 * Junked car in Riverview

In Appaloosa Plains which come with [[The Sims 3: Pets, there is a brown, rusted Heartbreak Hotrod next to a house.
 * Junked Heartbreak Hotrod

At the Bayless Memorial Junkyard in Twinbrook, there is a large scrap pile with a yellowish-green front half of a Big Lemon. It appears that the Roof and dashboard have been ripped off, and the car has grungy textures.
 * Scrap Big Lemon

Fast Lane Stuff Pack
In June 2010, EA announced, a new stuff pack for The Sims 3, Fast Lane Stuff, that would be centered around cars. It includes 12 new cars, and new fashion and decor styles that center around them. Pictures have gone out showing a Formula 1 ride, a Lamborghini-like sports car, and several classic models from the 50s.

When the game was released in Fall 2010, new cars included a Formula 1 racecar, a retro 1950s IndyCar, three hot rods, several sports cars, sports bike, and a vintage scooter.

Into the Future
The Sims 3: Into the Future features several new hover cars that Sims can buy whether they are in the present day or in the future. Similar to regular cars, hover cars need a parking space to be placed in.

The Sims 4
Cars appear in The Sims 4 as an ambient decoration only. Occasionally, cars will drive by on the street, but Sims are unable to own or drive cars. In fact, there are no means of transportation in The Sims 4, as Sims are capable of walking to any area, transitioned by loading screens.

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 made available for download at TheSims2.com, allowing players without Nightlife to use cars, if they had a later expansion or stuff pack. In addition to the Ford cars designed to use this set, they released the Montgomery Hawker from the EA game Burnout Paradise, as well as the HotRod Hauler Chop Socky Special. These cars were available in the Exchange->Objects section of TheSims2.com.

Over the years, many custom-content vehicles have been made for The Sims 2 and The Sims 3. While many of these are based on real-world models, some creators and sites have specialized in Simlish models. In addition, many creators have made recolors of EA-made vehicles. Many sites have either carried sizable numbers of vehicles and recolors or have specialized in vehicles. The list below is only a small sample of what is available.
 * The Fiat Punto - Formerly available at http://thesims2.co.uk, now available from the Sims2 Graveyard.
 * A recolorable version is available at ModTheSims.
 * ModTheSims has a range of cars and recolors for The Sims 2 and The Sims 3.
 * This includes a limousine from The Sims 2; and drivable versions of the town car and both the blue and red versions of the small sports car from the carpool in The Sims 2, as well as ownable versions of most non-ownable cars for The Sims 3.
 * The Sims Resource has vehicles and recolors for The Sims 2 and The Sims 3
 * Fresh-Prince Creations has real-world cars for The Sims 2 and The Sims 3.
 * Vovillia Corp. is a forum-based site specializing in cars for The Sims 2.