(February 4, 2015) RICHMOND, Va. — For many, the words “midlife crisis car” immediately bring to mind “flashy, red and sporty.” CarMax has published a survey on midlife crisis car trends, and the results may be surprising: sedans and SUVs are gaining in popularity.

While one in five potential buyers (20 percent) would still go for a sports car first, 17 percent would purchase an SUV and 15 percent would pick a sedan. When asked about a specific make and model, the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Corvette were the favorites.

This survey comes at a time when the concept of “midlife” and middle age are evolving in America. Increasingly, this life stage represents an exciting new chapter of possibility and freedom. According to the recent CarMax survey, one in four American adults (25 percent) consider it likely they would buy a car associated with a midlife crisis.

“It’s wonderful that people envision marking this new stage of their lives by buying the type of vehicle they’ve always wanted,” said Cliff Wood, CarMax executive vice president of stores. “No matter your dream car, CarMax is the perfect place to start your car buying experience. We offer a wide range of makes and models to match the next adventure anyone has in mind.”

No matter what 80s movies told us, today’s midlife crisis car doesn’t have to be red. The most popular color for respondents’ hypothetical midlife crisis car was black (20 percent), with silver/gray (19 percent), blue (17 percent) and, yes, red (17 percent) close behind. Yellow came in at the very bottom of the list with just 2 percent.

Thirty percent of men said that they would be very or somewhat likely to buy a car associated with a midlife crisis, while 21 percent of women said the same. But the type of car each gender would buy could not be more different. For men, sports cars still reign supreme, and black is the color of choice, both coming in at 24 percent. Women went with SUVs (19 percent), and red won out as the preferred color (21 percent).

According to the survey, residents of the South are most likely to purchase a midlife crisis car, with more than 30 percent of respondents indicating that they were very or somewhat likely to buy one. Midwesterners were the least likely to spring for a midlife crisis car overall, with almost 80 percent of respondents saying that they were not very likely or not at all likely to buy one. Of the 18 percent of Midwesterners who would purchase a midlife crisis car, the most popular make was an SUV — the only region where the sports car did not come out on top.

The Ipsos survey was conducted on behalf of CarMax from Oct. 20 to Oct. 21, 2014.