feeling peer pressure driving my old banger

G6JPG

foxy-stoat wrote: »

I think you should think about your current finanical situation and buy a new car if you can afford it and want to.

[snip]
Those last three words are the important ones!!!

(Personally I'm happy with my old car [X-reg Felicia Diesel NON-turbo], but then I'm not a car person.)

G6JPG

dannyrst wrote: »

[]
Just because someone has a nice car doesn't mean they are rich, trying to pose/impress people. Similarly, because someone has a banger doesn't mean they have no money. People buy cars depending on what they want from them.
[]

Yes: I have friends who genuinely enjoy the cars they've spent money on. (Some for the performance, some for the comfort, whatever.) And I'm happy that they're happy; I'd probably spend on things they'd think extravagant. (Though having said that, can't think what: see later post.)

I do actually enjoy driving - but I enjoy it in my old car; I think it's the travelling itself, the independence, and so on. But each to his own: unlike a lot of people I know, I don't resent rich people. (Sometimes I scratch my head over the value society puts on some people and their professions, but I don't resent the people themselves.)

G6JPG

MatthewAinsworth wrote: »

Remember that flashy cars are an attempt to make up for insecurities elsewhere

Although as others have said, that's not always true, I am often reminded of what one character said to another in the film "Personal Services" (1980s? Julie Walters was in it, I think - based loosely on Cynthia Payne the society madam, though they said it wasn't):

"BCSD".

G6JPG

gzoom wrote: »

At the end of the day do what you want with your money, but I would just say one thing....Use money to enable you to enjoy the things you want to do, but don't let it dictate your life to the point where you might be missing out on experiencing life.

I also hate wasting money, which is why I shop at Aldi and Lidle when friends shop at M&S and Waitrose. Having built a comfortable amount of savings both me and my wife have now decided it's time to enjoy life a bit more. You never know what life has install for you around the corner and no one cares how big a savings account you have when your 6ft under.

I'm in the same situation. But changing the habits of a lifetime is really difficult! I can't spend money just for the sake of spending it; I am trying to both spend more on things generally, and spend less time on (for example) looking for the cheapest (e. g. hunting out the own-brand), but as I say it isn't easy!

I do actually enjoy cars, and has recently spent a stupid amount on a new car. I couldn't careless what other people think.

I'm genuinely pleased for you: you've found something you can enjoy!

Keep your current car if your happy with it, but do go and do something with your hard earned £££, its all well and good worrying about the value of possessions in life, but time waits for no one, and illness certainly doesn't care what assets in your life is appreciating or deprecating .

Good advice.

System

.Define "flashy" as applicable to cars.

What do you drive?

Anyone can buy what they like with their own money. If they overreach themselves with the spending, it's their problem.

Anything less than 10 years old

I have an 11y/o cat c lupo

And yes, it is their money, but not efficient for merely travelling

bigjl

MatthewAinsworth wrote: »

Anything less than 10 years old

I have an 11y/o cat c lupo

And yes, it is their money, but not efficient for merely travelling

Ever thought that some people want a little bit more from a car than a Cat C Lupo?

System

It does everything I expect of it for not much money

System

In olden days even the super rich had nothing like a lupo, I.e Rameses the II

jimjames

MatthewAinsworth wrote: »

Anything less than 10 years old

I have an 11y/o cat c lupo

And yes, it is their money, but not efficient for merely travelling

Mine's probably not too far different. 15 year old MK4 Golf TDI. Does everything I need. I do have another fun car but that's 30 years old and not depreciating!

Prothet_of_Doom

You need to get over to https://www.auto!!!!!.com where we the forum members will help you through your feelings of inadequacy, and show you the AS way.

That web address will fail the !!!! censorship software, so

Imagine a word that begins with SH ends in E and has an I and a T in the middle and describes what your peers opinions are.

I am actually in a similar position to you. I love cars, I love 80's and 90's classics, and yet when I needed a reliable car, I bought the best car for less than £1000 which met all my NEEDS. (which is a mk4 astra 1.6 16V which came with 33k on the clock and was local and cheap. I have paid as little as £7 for a car, with an MOT, which lasted a few months before I moved it on at a small profit.
It is clear that I'm at that stage in life where I could choose to spend alot more on transport. I could throw £50K into a car or I could spend £500 a month on a lease agreement, like some of the people I work with, but I've got to the stage where being seen to be a bit tight is actually quite amusing to me. Unlike these people, I'm not worried about whether work drys up, as I don't have costs I need to service, and I have a decent SHTF fund in the bank. Plus I can be generous, with family and friends. I can say "It's my treat, if that's okay with you"

My wife has a friend who once complained that she was jealous that my wife had chosen to be a stay at home mother.

When you added up the stuff, that she "had" to have, like the cooper S, the branded hand bags, the house in the "right" street, the designer clothes, the expensive holidays, it was clear that it was purely a matter of choice.
For me, I'm saving a decent wedge into my pension, I've funded a deposit on a buy to let which will pay for itself before i reach retirement age, and this year, before it's too late, and they flee the nest forever, we are taking our kids on a really nice holiday, which I thought "bloody hell, I could buy a decent car for that"

However I do keep looking at 20 year old S class mercs and thinking "that's a 50 grand car for 2 grand. What could possibly go wrong?"