Why are people judged by their cars/value of cars?

baser999

Had a friend bought a Mercedes estate many years ago now, at a reduced price given it was bright red and been with the dealership a while. He was impressed with the fact he owned a new Merc, as were his clients. However, over time he had a few issues with it and was told by the dealerships very own workshop that the basic models (which this was) were no better than other cheaper marques and you needed to spend out on a much higher spec to get a ‘true Merc’.
Similarly I worked alongside younger staff who were happy to spend a lot on PCP deals so they could drive a brand new ‘status symbol’ which they could upgrade every two years. Without such deals they’d be driving an ordinary car

Flight3287462

Buy what you want.  Do all the sums and then have an extra column for; "how much more am I willing to pay for the badge".

uknick

tifo said:

Because you drive a nice car people think you're successful. Same with a house.

Even if inside it's all on debt.

Used to be the case 20 or so years ago, until PCP, leasing etc. came in.  18 year old girl on my road bought a brand new A class.  I was impressed she'd saved enough to own one until I saw you could get the base model for under £200 per month at the time she got hers, with only a couple of months payment as a deposit.

baser999

 . . . . . . . . and she’ll never own it 😏

Herzlos

baser999 said:

 . . . . . . . . and she’ll never own it 😏

Does she need to? Will the lack of ownership prevent her transporting people and goods from A to B?

Nebulous2

I knew someone with one of the original A class cars. Her husband used to tell her she didn't have a Mercedes, she had half a Mercedes. 

That game only works if people buy into it. I started a new job where one of my colleagues was concerned about the people on the sites we were visiting judging her by her car. She had a fairly decent Audi. I tried to do as many of my visits as possible by bike. That took me outside the framework / hierarchy completely..... 

motorguy

PunkRoquefort said:

I have always bought new Hondas/Toyotas and although they have served me very well and never let me down, considering buying an entry level/maybe next model up Audi or BMW? 

Someone has just mentioned that Series 1 BMWs are for BMW drivers who can't really afford one.

It says a lot more about the person saying that, than the person driving one.

1 series is a great car.  Son had a 120d M Sport for 3 years and loved it, and we've just sold a M140i that we had for nearly 4 years and loved it.

motorguy

Herzlos said:

PunkRoquefort said:
Someone has just mentioned that Series 1 BMWs are for BMW drivers who can't really afford one.

It used to be claimed that anyone buying a BMW with a 1 in the name was just buying the badge. The reason behind that is that that BMW's are great driving machines, but if you took the base model (316/318) you were buying one without any power.
The same kind of applies to the 1 series, the hatchback was pretty poor all round but cost far more than the equivalent Golf.

Of course, the M1 and stuff like the 135 are much better but you'd still expect most enthusiasts to be buying an M3 or M5 instead.

On the judging; people love to judge and it's generally a pretty clear indication of how much someone has spent. It's completely confused by stuff like company cars, PCP, mot-ability, etc. where people aren't necessarily paying full market rate for them.

Of course, a lot of 'old money' people don't go into the flashy image thing and will drive cheap cars because they work just the same.

Personally, whilst some of the premium branded stuff is nice, I just couldn't justify the money to buy the fancy badged one over the uncool one. For instance, an Audi A3 is basically a VW Golf, which is basically a Skoda Octavia. I'd rather drive the Skoda and put the rest of the money into a holiday or something. 

We'd an M140i as we needed a 5 door car.   We'd definitely consider ourselves car enthusiasts and the M140i suited our needs perfectly.  You cant get a small / medium sized 5 door M car.

Not too many people need or want the power of a full M car BMW, so the "lesser" models work for them also.

RE: your VAG thoughts, when i bought a year old Passat a number of years back the equivalent Superb at a year old actually cost more.  Reason being at the time there were far more Passats about and thus prices were lower.

Never been a particular fan of Audis, but i'd more likely land with a VW Passat or Golf than a Skoda.  

Car_54

tifo said:.

Herzlos said:

Personally, whilst some of the premium branded stuff is nice, I just couldn't justify the money to buy the fancy badged one over the uncool one.

They are nice but expensive to repair when things go wrong and they regularly do, esp electronics on german cars. Mechanically they're very good, solid cars and very driveable but need to get them over 2.0 litres otherwise they're underpowered. I'm talking from experience.

So you’d consider my recent Audi A3, with 203 bhp from a 1.4 engine, was underpowered?

[Deleted User]

Certain makes seem to attract certain personalities. BMW and Audi are associated with people who like to change lane without indicating, for example.

Certain types of car are associated with certain personalities too. Oversized SUVs suggest a certain sense of self importance and lack of consideration.

Whether these perceptions bother you is a question only you can answer. Just remember to indicate.