Heepsy’s recent study identifies the top ten most hyped cars on Instagram and evaluates whether they are truly worth the attention. The research analyzes two key factors: total hashtag counts on Instagram, which measure a car’s online popularity, and the number of crashes per 10K units sold, which indicates its real-world accident rate. Cars were then ranked from highest to lowest based on their composite scores, offering insights into whether their social media hype aligns with their safety and performance data.
| Car Model | Total Hashtag Count | Total Crash Data (5 years) | Composite Score |
| Fiat 500 | 1,054,174 | 18,979 | 100 |
| Ford Mustang | 11,947,872 | 1,927 | 98.3 |
| Honda Civic | 7,402,365 | 4,966 | 88.6 |
| Nissan GT-R | 7,019,123 | 10 | 75.1 |
| BMW M3 | 5,817,457 | 46 | 64.0 |
| Jeep Wrangler | 5,137,019 | 1,929 | 58.6 |
| Chevrolet Camaro | 4,686,969 | 983 | 45.2 |
| Chevrolet Corvette | 3,963,740 | 354 | 38.6 |
| BMW M4 | 3,432,052 | 19 | 23.8 |
| BMW M5 | 2,741,911 | 34 | 19.1 |
See the full research here.
The Fiat 500 leads with a score of 100 as the most hyped car on Instagram. The iconic city car generates significant social media attention with over 1 million hashtag mentions. The high crash rate of 968.6 per 10K units raises safety concerns, marking the highest accident frequency in the study.
Ford Mustang ranks 2nd with a score of 98. The legendary muscle car dominates social media with nearly 12 million hashtag mentions, the highest in the study. Its moderate crash rate of 11.1 per 10,000 units and strong sales of 1.7 million units demonstrate balanced performance.
Honda Civic ranks 3rd, scoring 89. While its 7.4 million hashtags trail the Mustang’s social presence, it achieves better safety metrics with 8.5 crashes per 10K units, outperforming both the Fiat 500 and Mustang in this aspect. The model leads the group in total sales with 5.8 million units.
Nissan GT-R ranks 4th with a score of 75. Its 7 million hashtags closely match the Civic’s social media performance, while its 7.2 crashes make it safer than the Mustang but slightly behind the Civic’s safety record.
BMW M3 ranks 5th, scoring 64. The sport sedan generates 5.8M social media mentions. While its online engagement places it behind the top four models, its safety record sets a clear benchmark for the category with just 0.3 crashes, making it 24 times safer than the GT-R and significantly ahead of all other models in the study.
Jeep Wrangler ranks 6th with a score of 59. The off-road SUV generates 5.1 million hashtags, combining #jeepwrangler (2.3M) and #wrangler (2.9M) hashtags. With 3.6 million units sold, it ranks as the second highest-volume model in the study, behind only the Honda Civic. Despite its adventurous nature and massive sales footprint, it maintains a respectable 5.4 crashes, outperforming several less-imposing vehicles in the rankings.
Chevrolet Camaro ranks 7th, scoring 45. With 4.6 million hashtags, it shows lower social media engagement than the Wrangler, while its crash rate of 10.7 is comparable to its muscle car rival, the Mustang, but double that of the Wrangler.
In 8th, the Chevrolet Corvette scores 39. Its 4 million hashtags fall short of the Camaro’s reach, though its crash rate of 6.8 per 10,000 units demonstrates better safety performance than its Chevrolet sibling and the Mustang.
BMW M4 comes in 9th, scoring 24. While generating fewer hashtags than all previous entries, its crash rate of 5 maintains BMW’s strong safety record, though not matching the M3’s exceptional performance.
BMW M5 rounds out the top 10 with a score of 19. The flagship performance sedan generates 2.7M mentions, the lowest among the group, despite its superlative specs and imposing fascia. While its crash rate of 18.3 is higher than other BMWs, it still demonstrates significantly better safety metrics than the segment-leading Fiat 500.
A spokesperson from Heepsy commented on the study: “Beyond the shiny paintwork and sleek designs that fill our social media feeds, what truly matters is how these vehicles perform on the road. A car’s worth isn’t measured in likes and shares but in its ability to protect its passengers and maintain reliability over time. While visual appeal might draw initial attention, smart consumers understand that safety features and crash statistics tell the real story of a vehicle’s value.”
