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

What tribe am I in? I drive a new Zafira and an old Skoda estate... like the Skoda better than the Zafira if I'm honest.

Vroom vroom.

That's what matters. That feeling of raw power when you put your foot to the metal and.......

My friend woke up on Christmas morning to this with a red bow round it.

"took your water"

what does that mean?

It's got a fridge and 'mood lighting'

God, what is that Jeremy?

In the posher parts of the borough I live in, the houses always have a 4x4 and then a mini or similar. I guess the latter is for a quick nip around and the former for when they drive into the country side at weekends.

Range Rover autograph, her dh also got a private plate for it using a private detective. I think they are part of some sort of local mafia. It's so high that I fell over trying to climb in.

My boss has one of those Range Rovers. She works very hard for her money, certainly not a gangsters wife.

There are certainly cat trends though and I notice when I go back to the town where I'm from (Sw Wales) that VW Caravelles/ converted transporters are everywhere. A few years ago it was Nissan Jukes, followed by Kia sportages.

"She works very hard for her money..."

Lol at 'I bought a Q7 to avoid being one of those women'.

If you like it OP and can afford it, get one. Otherwise get something else.

Yeah, it was just a joke simon ...

Porsche Cayenne driver here no tribe membership, liked the leather inside and comfort. About to trade it in as had 3 yrs and don't need a big car anymore, but dh insisting on similar size so he can stick his bloody bikes on! Go for the car that's practical and comfortable and dont worry about anything else!

I drive an old Land rover freelander. Bought it because I work as a freelance groom, tow horses and have a child and 2 dogs who come everywhere with me. It is filthy, covered in hay, tack, dog leads and mud. I like it because it is ultra reliable, does 55 mpg and doesn't have a hissy fit if I have to pull over on a steep verge or drive down a green lane. What 'tribe' am I in?!

Interestingly I live in a very rural, island community. Someone I know who breeds rare breed sheep drives a battered Ford Focus estate, she definitely uses it for all her farming stuff up off road tracks etc food bales stuffed in the back along with her 2 working dogs

The people with the fancy 4x4s park them where they shouldn't in the school car park & have never driven up a farm track in their lives & work in the finance industry.

Most people who would really need a fancy 4x4 for work can't afford them. Oh the irony.

When was the last time you met a farmer that has £100k spare for the latest Landrover? They are a status symbol, nothing else.

Sorry, bibbity.

You know when you're at a junction in the right hand lane (because, say, there are cars parked on the left up ahead) and this 'number' sneaks up on your left hand side and vrooms to get ahead of you and into the right hand lane before you/they meet the row of parked cars?

That's 'taking your water'. (It's a boating term, though.)

Completely understand. Pick on the word Tribe as much as you like, but cars - if you can afford to shop around - are about image as much as anything else. I drive a Golf because I want to be seen as boring and middle-aged. I think it works!

DH wants to get a Discovery Sport, he has just flounced off to bed in a huff saying "well we will just never get a new car then" after I read out bits of this thread.

Horsey, we crossed posts. I think there is a huge difference between the old workhorses that Land Rover used to do & the new fancy 4x4s.

For some reason, I hear:

I work damn hard and earn good money, more than my DH. I drive a nice car for the same reason I like living in a nice house, go on nice holidays, wear nice clothes. Because I work my ass off and I spend it on things that impact on my life.

being said in increasingly strident tones with nice pronounced naice.

I drive a Discovery 3 (not a discovery sport) as I need the 7 seats and the legroom and space that it offers. I don´t like the Discovery Sport or the Evoque at all, just don´t like the way they look - all squished. My car is filthy, full of mud and rubbish and covered in scratches and nicks. I shall drive it till it dies as I can´t afford to replace it. It is black, with lacked out windows and black leather interior so I get loads of comments about being a drug dealer or a WAG hollow laugh as I am a fat 40-something woman

When the kids all fuck off leave home I shall be buying myself a Karman Ghia or a Mark II Escort to bomb around in as they will hopefully make me feel 20 again

I get what you're saying, op.

Range/land rovers are definitely perceived to be prestige cars and usually targeted by thieves, sadly.

Luckily when I was looking to buy a second hand 4x4 and did lots of research, the top three brands did not include them at all so I bought a boring reliable make instead.

Land rover/range rover is a heart buy not a head buy imo. They are very popular, ten a penny round here. My make is not popular (I know all the rep's of the regular ones round our way there are so few of us.

Yes too to winter tyres being more important than 4x4. I have them to cope with terrain/snow round here, but also managed with standard car in the past.

Do some test drives of different makes OP, check out visibility and ease of reverse parking. Your DH surely could not argue about a car with poor rear visibility?

The number of people I've met who think that having a Landrover just means you're higher up and you can drive in snow!

Show them a muddy incline and they'd likely faint.

Merc A1 for me and Audi A3 for DH. Both 2 years old.
Happily sitting on the "cliched middle class climbers" bench (with quinoa salad).
We both work and like nice things. Plus A1 is great size for carting DS and all his stuff.