To think that the car you buy is a statement of the 'tribe' you belong to.

[BusyCee]

DH wants to buy a Discovery Sport 7 seater so we can fit 3 DCs plus others.

We live in a relatively affluent area. Discovery Sports around here are driven by perfectly pleasant women, but women who tend not to work, to spend a lot of time and energy on appearance, and who definitely don't ever drive off road.

I come from a working class family. We currently are not affluent. I have worked since I could. I like working. I like to look nice, but for me style is less important than substance.

I do NOT want to drive a Discovery Sport. We have talked about this. He has just bought a friend who works for LR home with one for us to test drive. I work in marketing. I understand very clearly why people chose the brands they chose.

AIBU to insist that we do not buy the Discovery Sport on brand/looks/target market grounds only and the fact it has a fucking tiny rear window which might be why they're always parked over two bays round these parts

Sorry op I digress. Yanbu about the discovery they are a wanky vehicle. At least more functional than the evoque though which some blogs in the paper described as having been sat on by Gemma Collins.

YANB entirely U. If comics occasionally incorporate jokes about people who drive Discoveries in their routines (which they do), and if people laugh at those routines (which they do), you can safely assume there's a popular perception about the drivers of certain cars.

Having said which, once you get down to people who have to drive relatively basic cars because it's all they can afford, it no longer says anything meaningful. I don't think driving a Skoda, Volkswagen, Mazda etc. really says anything at all. It just says that's what you could afford.

I enjoyed driving a Landrover through the wood when I worked on a drilling rig. Don't understand the point of posh Landrovers.

That's interesting Lois.

My 70 year old step mother (the one who wrote me out of df's will ... another story) has just spent £19,000 on a brand new car. She reckons dh and I are too well off to need to inherit anything from my dad.

Meanwhile we drive a 12 year old Zafira currently worth about £50 and a 12 year old Citroen C4 worth about £1,000. Despite being fairly well off we won't spend more than £7,000 when replacing the Zafira.

But then she has always been about the bling.

We have driven Citroen Picassos for over ten years because DH's wonderful parents pass their 'old' (not very) cars on to us. We must be in the 'unreliable' tribe but if so thank goodness, because they are fabulous cars, really comfortable, incredibly roomy and we've never had a moment's trouble from any of them. I do SWYM as I like a fairly anonymous car myself, and the picasso fits the bill there as they are so popular. The most recent model has been beefed up a bit and I don't like it as much but i'm hardly going to moan about a free car.

I'd recommend a Mazda 5 - 7 seats, back ones fold down completely and middle row slides forward/backwards and split folds etc. Rear sliding doors makes getting children in and out of car in small parking spaces a doddle. Definitely less prestige than Disco - but if you don't care about that then the Mazda 5 is for you!

I've got a chopper style trike and a bus pass

I see your chopper trike and raise you a pair of heelies and a skateboard.

*sniffs

We live in an area where loads of people have 4x4 and don't really need them.

We have a Honda Jazz 2014. DH works at Honda, we are getting a good deal paying a certain amount every month. After 3 years ( so next year) we can pay it off and it is ours.

Before this car, we had an old skoda Fabia which I loved. Just do much kept going wrong with it and we were spending loads on it too often. Couldn't afford to buy another so the Honda Jazz it was.

Not my choice of car, even though it's only a little car, it's fairly new and I feel a bit flash in it which my mum says is ridiculous.

I live in the country and most discos around here are old, muddy with a pack of dogs in them and a tow bar for a horse box.

I really really really want an Evoque. Shallow, for sure but I do lust over one but it has to be black with a cream leather interior. I will just dream on

I've got a red focus. Focus on it being 6 years old and focus on it being a heapa
No idea which tribe I'm in but as long as I get from A to B I'm not bothered.

bibbity She sounds...erm...lovely

6 year old is a new car for me. What tribe am I in?

I kind of agree with the OP.

I work for a financial company and in the basement car park at work, all you can see is BMW, Audi, BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Mercedes... then there'll be a Ford Ka standing out like a sore thumb. So you can tell who has the basement spaces allocated on health reasons and who is part of the executive "tribe"...

We used to have a Discovery 2, now have a Defender. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the Evoke though, (we had one on loan) looks horrid but very nice to drive around in.

I have a BMW M sport hard top cabriolet. Not sure what that says about me.

I belong to the Little Old Lady Wearing a Hat tribe

I had a fiat multipla for years. I had more feeling for my fridge than that thing. It was however the most practical car I ever had. Esp with 2 teens and a toddler. My car now is a 5 year old beetle which I love. And I have no doubt at all that my tribe is 40 something women who wear doc martens

I drive a T reg Micra. That means I belong to the Skinty Skintola tribe. We have a characteristic cry: "HOW much??? Fuck that!" Seriously, it's reliable, economical and meets my needs. When it dies I'll think about what to get next. I have friends in the motor trade and will ask their advice.

I think my dds driving lessons are costing me more than my heapa is worth

We live in Surrey. There are an awful lot of very clean Discos and Evoques around here. None of which have ever seen anything resembling "off road", unless you count mounting the kerb to get out of the exit to Waitrose in Cobham.

If you don't want it, don't buy it!

Also in the Aygo tribe here... how can such a small car be so shit to park? I always end up a foot from the kerb

Before that I had a Smart Roadster (their short lived tiny turbo sports car) It was awesome... tiny engine but the turbo meant it went like a rocket and the soft top on sunny days... ah. However I had to fold my 6 ft child up to get him in..and winch my mother out... so now I have a sensible little Aygo and no one revs me at the lights any more

We tend to drive economical old heaps... guess that makes us the 'skint tribe'!

Yes, sorry, the resentment is simmering away gently because we're off to her surprise birthday party that is costing us £200.00 to attend on Sunday.

But, seriously, I don't know anyone who drives a 4 x 4 or who has bought a brand new car (apart from stepmum living on ddad's various private pensions and the money from downsizing).

I probably move in scummy circles

I'm not sure that car brands tell you much about a person because cars are chosen for numerous reasons. If you were talking about watch brands I'd agree there might be something in that because basically watches are often a fashion choice. My car choices have always been based on whether it fits all my kids in comfortably, the size of the boot and cost. I honestly don't give a shit what brand it is.

I love my xc90. But I have just driven from London to rural Ireland with three under 4 in rear facing car seats. And then did 2 more 5 hour round trips in the next 10 days. Greys for the variety of roads and actually fun to park now that I have attuned my ear to the London setting of the parking sensor (keep going til it screams at you and then go back another 2 inches). We did go to rural Dorset in November and I haven't bothered to ash it since as I quite like the splashes of mud all over haven't been keys since