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r/cars vs r/MechanicAdvice

Side-by-side using public descriptions, members, growth and rule titles from SubMouse. Missing fields show as n/a. Adult communities are excluded.

Swap sides New comparison Related to r/cars Related to r/MechanicAdvice

Car culture hub vs repair advice

r/cars is framed as a large automotive enthusiast community for discussion, industry news, reviews and projects. r/MechanicAdvice presents itself as more than a simple car repair forum and points posters at sidebar rules.

In our directory, cars is much larger (about 7.4M, #106) than MechanicAdvice (about 2.1M, #516). Our directory lists MechanicAdvice among related communities for cars.

Use cars for enthusiast conversation; use MechanicAdvice when you need diagnosis help and can follow its posting rules (symptoms, vehicle details, what you already tried).

Choose r/cars for news, reviews and enthusiast projects.
Choose r/MechanicAdvice for repair troubleshooting with complete details.
Related-directory links do not mean every cars thread belongs in MechanicAdvice.

Written comparison based on public descriptions and rule titles · updated 2026-11-06.

r/cars

r/Cars - For Car Enthusiasts

r/Cars is the largest automotive enthusiast community on the Internet. We're Reddit's central hub for vehicle-related discussion, industry news, reviews, projects, DIY guides, advice, stories, and more.

Members: 7.4M
7-day growth: +943
Posts/day: 23.7
Directory rank: #106
Created: Mar 20, 2008
Submissions: Text or links

Sample mix: text posts 61%, links 33%, videos 6%

Topics: Cars

Rule titles (short names we collected)

No Incivility or illegality
No direct image or video posts
No ads/spam/blogspam
If you make a clickbait/cryptic post, mods may choose to mock you with flair
No political discussion / Code of Conduct
No polls, surveys, petitions, requests for funding
No witch hunts/doxxing
Non-member posts
No car purchase posts

Open r/cars on SubMouse

About this community: r/cars is Reddit’s large generalist automotive hub: discussion, industry news, reviews, DIY, and ownership talk rather than a meme or crash-clip channel. SubMouse rank #106 (about 7.4 million subscribers). The rules we collected push the culture toward links and text—direct image/video posts are disallowed—so the front page reads more like a forum index than an Instagram grid.

r/MechanicAdvice

Advice from experienced mechanics from several fields.

This is more than a car repair forum! Please read and follow the posting rules listed in the right hand sidebar.

Members: 2.2M
7-day growth: +2.6K
Posts/day: 268.8
Directory rank: #516
Created: Feb 17, 2012
Submissions: Text or links

Sample mix: videos 30%, text posts 26%, galleries 17%

Topics: Advice, Car Repair

Rule titles (short names we collected)

Advice- No "How F--ked/screwed am I?" Questions
No fake, joke, meme, illegal, malicious, offensive, unsafe, or AI generated posts/comments allowed
Be Courteous and Professional
One Incident Per Thread
No Tire, audio, video, used/new car, car insurance, suing a shop posts allowed on this sub
No Spam/Improper Linking
No Body Work, frame, rust or Detailing Questions Allowed On This Sub
Year, make, model, engine required on all posts

Open r/MechanicAdvice on SubMouse

About this community: r/MechanicAdvice (#516, about 2.2 million) — This is more than a car repair forum! Please read and follow the posting rules listed in the right hand sidebar. Collected rules highlight Advice- No "How F--ked/screwed am I?" Questions; No fake, joke, meme, illegal, malicious, offensive, unsafe, or AI generated posts/comme…; Be Courteous and Professional, among 8 listed. Activity mix in sample: video:207, text:180, gall…

Supported differences

Aspect	r/cars	r/MechanicAdvice
Public focus (from each community’s public description)	r/Cars is the largest automotive enthusiast community on the Internet. We're Reddit's central hub for vehicle-related discussion, industry news, reviews, projects, DIY guides, advice, stories, and more.	This is more than a car repair forum! Please read and follow the posting rules listed in the right hand sidebar.
Size r/cars is larger in our directory (about 3.4×).	7.4M members	2.2M members
Posting activity (our sample)	23.7/day	268.8/day
Common post types in our sample	text posts 61%, links 33%, videos 6%	videos 30%, text posts 26%, galleries 17%
Topic tags on SubMouse	Cars	Advice, Car Repair
Selected rule titles (short names we collected)	No Incivility or illegality; No direct image or video posts; No ads/spam/blogspam; If you make a clickbait/cryptic post, mods may choose to mock you with flair; No political discussion / Code of Conduct	Advice- No "How F--ked/screwed am I?" Questions; No fake, joke, meme, illegal, malicious, offensive, unsafe, or AI generated posts/comments allowed; Be Courteous and Professional; One Incident Per Thread; No Tire, audio, video, used/new car, car insurance, suing a shop posts allowed on this sub

What they share

Our directory lists each of these communities on the other’s related list.

Intent gap

Enthusiast hub versus repair helpdesk. Mixing them—posting a vague “car makes noise” one-liner on cars, or a show-off project on MechanicAdvice—misses each room’s description.

Where this comparison comes from

Directory descriptions, ranks/members, and cars → MechanicAdvice related link. Follow live sidebars for current posting requirements.

Members and public descriptions come from SubMouse's safe-for-work directory (as of 2026-11-02 UTC); 7-day growth measured from 2026-10-26. Posts/day and post-type mixes appear when we have an activity sample. Rule lines are short titles, not the full sidebar. Directory rank is listing order — communities outside the current Top 100 open in the info tool instead of a full community page.

Comparisons we prepared

Hand-written explanations for pairs where the public descriptions and rules support a real distinction:

r/gardening vs r/houseplants — Outdoor plots and broad plant care versus indoor houseplant focus.
r/programming vs r/learnprogramming — Link-heavy programming news vs beginner question threads.
r/AskReddit vs r/NoStupidQuestions — Open-ended discussion prompts versus straightforward factual questions.
r/Cooking vs r/Baking — Stovetop technique discussion versus bake-share recipes and photos.
r/personalfinance vs r/Frugal — Budgeting and long-term money planning versus everyday frugality habits.
r/travel vs r/solotravel — General trip planning and photos versus solo-travel experiences and advice.
r/books vs r/suggestmeabook — In-depth book discussion versus dedicated recommendation requests.
r/suggestmeabook vs r/booksuggestions — Two recommendation rooms—similar job, different size and house rules.
r/pcmasterrace vs r/buildapc — PC culture, news and flex photos versus structured custom-build advice.
r/Art vs r/drawing — Serious art showcase with strict presentation rules versus a broader drawing practice room.
r/science vs r/askscience — Sharing new peer-reviewed research versus asking experts science questions.
r/explainlikeimfive vs r/NoStupidQuestions — Layperson explanations with strict answer rules versus a wider anonymous Q&A net.
r/personalfinance vs r/povertyfinance — Mainstream budgeting and investing help versus guidance aimed at financial hardship.
r/Games vs r/gaming — Newsy, informative games coverage versus a huge general gaming feed.
r/Coffee vs r/espresso — Wide coffee talk versus espresso-machine technique and gear.
r/photography vs r/itookapicture — Gear and technique discussion versus posting your own photos for critique.
r/dating_advice vs r/relationship_advice — Early dating situations versus advice on ongoing relationships between people.
r/hiking vs r/CampingandHiking — Day-hike photos and talk versus backpacking with overnight gear.
r/malefashionadvice vs r/femalefashionadvice — Parallel fashion-advice communities split by audience focus—not identical twins.
r/SkincareAddiction vs r/AsianBeauty — Science-leaning general skincare versus Asian beauty brands and routines.
r/Fitness vs r/bodyweightfitness — General gym-and-goals fitness discussion versus training with bodyweight progressions.
r/loseit vs r/Fitness — Sustainable weight-loss support versus general physical fitness goals and training.
r/DIY vs r/HomeImprovement — Show-your-work DIY projects versus text-only home improvement questions.
r/history vs r/AskHistorians — Casual history discussion and articles versus strictly moderated historical Q&A.
r/news vs r/worldnews — US-and-world news articles versus major world news that excludes US-internal stories.
r/Music vs r/listentothis — Broad music community posts versus discovery posts that stay under a popularity threshold.
r/writing vs r/WritingPrompts — Craft-of-writing discussion versus prompt-driven short stories and poems.
r/tipofmytongue vs r/whatisthisthing — Naming a half-remembered title or phrase versus identifying a mysterious physical object.
r/BuyItForLife vs r/Frugal — Durable long-life products versus everyday frugality and resourcefulness.
r/Parenting vs r/Mommit — All-parents child-rearing discussion versus a moms-only support room for the messier details.
r/LifeProTips vs r/YouShouldKnow — Actionable life tips versus facts framed as things you should know.
r/camping vs r/backpacking — Tent and campsite camping versus wilderness or travel backpacking with trip write-ups.
r/cscareerquestions vs r/learnprogramming — Tech career navigation versus learning to program in any language.
r/technology vs r/gadgets — Technology news and surrounding issues versus posts about a single gadget.
r/food vs r/EatCheapAndHealthy — Original food photography versus budget-friendly healthy recipes with text.
r/running vs r/AdvancedRunning — All-levels running discussion versus advanced training mindset and race tactics.
r/slowcooking vs r/Cooking — Crock-Pot style slow-cooker recipes versus general cooking discussion and recipes.
r/nba vs r/Basketball — NBA league news and discussion versus playing and watching basketball across leagues.
r/buildapc vs r/buildapcsales — Custom PC build planning advice versus PC-part deal links.
r/Breadit vs r/Baking — Homemade bread baking versus cakes, cookies, pies and general baking.
r/dogs vs r/Dogtraining — Responsible dog ownership discussion versus dedicated training and behavior help.
r/malefashionadvice vs r/frugalmalefashion — Men’s style advice and outfits versus male-fashion deals and coupons.
r/SkincareAddiction vs r/30PlusSkinCare — General science-leaning skincare versus skincare discussion aimed at people over 30.
r/OutOfTheLoop vs r/NoStupidQuestions — Catching up on a current meme or news loop versus asking any straightforward question.
r/space vs r/Astronomy — Space science and exploration news versus amateur astronomy observing and gear.
r/relationships vs r/relationship_advice — Structured interpersonal advice with question-type rules versus a high-volume room for specific situations.
r/gaming vs r/pcgaming — Broad gaming posts and memes-with-limits versus PC gaming news and discussion.
r/Europetravel vs r/travel — Europe-specific trip questions and stories versus worldwide travel discussion.
r/webdev vs r/javascript — Front- and back-end web development discussion versus JavaScript language and project talk.
r/Frugal vs r/povertyfinance — Waste-less frugal living habits versus money help for people struggling financially.
r/homestead vs r/gardening — Self-sufficiency, livestock and country life versus plant growing and care.
r/woodworking vs r/DIY — Woodworking and furniture making versus all kinds of DIY projects and repairs.
r/boardgames vs r/rpg — Modern board games news and discussion versus tabletop roleplaying games.
r/keto vs r/loseit — Ketogenic low-carb eating versus weight loss through any sustainable method.
r/changemyview vs r/unpopularopinion — Willingness-to-revise debate versus broadcasting an unpopular take.
r/Android vs r/iphone — Android platform news/tips versus iPhone enthusiast discussion.
r/cars vs r/MechanicAdvice — Enthusiast news and projects versus repair troubleshooting help.
r/Python vs r/learnpython — Python language hub versus learner Q&A helpdesk.

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