I think most people here are mistaking cars as a subject for things like hotrods or racing or classic cars.
But you really can kick off a decent conversation by just commenting and asking about what they drive, usually by starting with "I see a lot of people prefer X here". And you end up learning a decent amount about them.
Assuming they have a car (which a lot of people don't), this would be on the same level as asking about what phone they use - some people carefully chose theirs and want to talk about it, but for a lot of people it's just a thing that exists and gets the job done. It might get the conversation going, just the same as many other topics, but it won't be a conversation they'll especially enjoy in most parts of the world.