This research investigates the lived experience of automobile consumption in contemporary Iranian society, where vehicles have transcended their utilitarian role to become symbols of culture and identity. While existing scholarship often emphasizes technical aspects, this study focuses on the affective dimensions of consumption. By exploring user narratives on social media, it identifies the characteristics of the “ideal vehicle” from the consumer’s perspective. The theoretical framework integrates material culture studies—specifically theories of automobility, distinction, and the extended self—with media representation and digital interaction theory. Addressing how car consumption is articulated through user-generated content, this research employs a qualitative, interpretative methodology. Data collection involves digital ethnography, examining a corpus of images, captions, and hashtags obtained through purposeful sampling. Methodologically, the study utilizes a unique combination of multi-modal thematic analysis and qualitative matrix analysis. This approach allows for the systematic extraction of socio-cultural patterns, thereby elucidating the symbolic meanings and representational structures of car consumption within the digital sphere