Tina Fey Bought Her First Car Ever and It’s "a Karen" Subaru Forester

The comedian, actor, writer and producer was on Jimmy Fallon earlier this week, to promote the latest animation she’s worked on, Soul. On the occasion, she delivered a very interesting bit about herself, namely how she’d never owned a car until this year and how her first choice was what you could (and she does) call a “Karen car.” Or maybe it’s spelled a “Car-en”?

According to Fey herself, she is the ultimate New Yorker, using public transport at all times. Until 2020, this meant that she never had a need for a personal car, but with the first lockdown came the impossibility to travel by subway or train. As cabin fever set in, Fey decided she wanted some agency, so she started looking for what would be her first car ever.

Her husband suggested something “fun,” like a MINI Cooper or a Jeep, or maybe even a BMW. Fey, on the other hand, wanted it to be “so safe” and “a car that looks like a medical sneaker,” so she got a Subaru Forester in white. Her 15-year-old daughter was horrified, knowing it would be the car she’d have to learn to drive on, and called it “a Karen car.”

Hilariously, Fey named the Forester just that, so now she’s able to ask her family, “should we take Karen to the shops?” Karen was also the vehicle that took the family on the first outing this year, which then turned into the adventure of saving a man’s life after his kayak flipped upside down on the Hudson river. Fey tells that story too in the video below.

That said, she’s not wrong. The Forester might look like a medical sneaker and be a favorite with middle-aged moms, but it’s also safe. The IIHS and the NHTSA both say so, giving it top scores in its tests.