Photo: Disney Channel
Disney Plus debuted early last month, and while my fiancée and I have had a blast strolling down memory lane watching all the classics, we’ve also enjoyed some of the original content on the streaming service. Specifically, we’re huge fans of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series. While there’s no adorable baby Yoda (…yet), the new show based on one of Disney’s most beloved DCOMs is the perfect mix of nostalgia and camp.
Let’s talk about Ricky’s car, already!
In the fifth episode, titled “Homecoming,” the drama students at East High are preparing for the upcoming dance while juggling the stress of show rehearsals. When Gina’s confusing plan with E.J. falls through, she asks Ricky for a ride home. Up until this point in the series, we were unaware that anyone but senior student E.J. could drive — or had cars, for that matter. (We seriously thought Ricky just rode his skateboard everywhere.)
While you’d expect a typical teenager at a high school in Salt Lake City to drive something like a used Ford Focus or an old Kia Forte, that’s not the case with Ricky, who drives a vintage Volkswagen Beetle. Not only that, but the classic Bug is bright orange, an exclusive color that disappeared from the old-school Beetles in the early 80s.
[Fun fact: There were actually two oranges that debuted in 1972: Brilliant Orange (a lighter color) and Blood Orange (the color of Ricky’s car). When the adored compact car was redesigned in the early millennium, orange became an option again for the newly constructed body.]
What do the other characters drive?
As mentioned earlier, we did see another character’s car in an earlier episode, but it was far less exciting. After taking Nini’s phone (…shady), E.J. pulls up in a gray Jeep Compass to pick up his cousin Ashlyn after rehearsal. Considering he’s a senior jock, the Jeep makes perfect sense, and it looks like it’s fairly new based on the body style and its pristine interior. (I could practically smell that “new car” aroma through my TV screen.)
Photo: RL GNZLZ
And we can’t forget that the new drama teacher, Miss Jenn, is introduced to us when she’s watching the original High School Musical film in what appears to be a mint green Kia Rio before heading into East High for the first time. The model year is likely 2012-17, but that exterior color seems to be custom or a special edition, as I couldn’t find any existence of that color being a standard offer on the Rio. (Kia historians: Fill me in on this if I’m wrong!)
The sixth episode of HSMTMTS dropped at midnight and I’m itching to get home to watch it and see if any new cars show up since I can’t find a car-related way to write about baby Yoda from The Mandalorian just yet.
Ben never thought he’d be writing about cars for a living, but here he is, knowing more about the Kia Stinger than he’d care to admit. When he’s not devoting his time to researching engine specs and other oh-so-exciting car details, he can be found enjoying time with his wife and dogs. See more articles by Ben.