cars that don't match houses

[iremembericod]

I live in a surburban semi, pretty average.

Next door neighbours have a brand new Range Rover and a year old BMW Big massive thing.

I feel it's a bit much for this road. We are more of a Vauxhall Astra / VW Golf type of road.

AIBU?

I would love to live in a treehouse, or something similarly nice and nature-y. Not sure what kind of car would match that - probably none at all.

I cannot understand people who would prioritize a car over a house - after all, you spend all the time in a house, but only a couple of hours in a car.

But perhaps they drive to work, and drive a lot in general, and that's why?

Not a big deal, anyway.

I live in an awesome house, extremely up market area.

Our cars are 2003 and 2008.

Ones fun, the other is practical for having too many dogs. Our commutes will soon be 5 mins and 15 mins respectively so don't need comfort or long journey reliability. I'd rather have an old car and live on the beach than in a worse area with a flashy motor. Clearly some people think the other way.

Is this a thing now? weird.

I would t even notice ....to me a car is a car. Something that gets you from A to B. I glaze over at car conversations or if someone is trying to impress me with their choice of car.

Ha ha you've reminded me of my mum! If we were driving through a council estate she would sit there sucking lemons and talking about how on earth people in 'funded housing' can manage to afford 'flashy cars'.

I'm rather pleased my neighbour has such a nice car, less pleased it is always in the garage though as its presence on his drive indicates our houses may be worth a bit more than you might think. In this situation I always assume it is either a company car or there has been a nice windfall for those concerned.

I see lots of cases of: nice car, shitty area/house.. I used to wonder how but there are so many possible reasons why. I know someone personally who pays very small rent, basic food, doesn't go out spending but he pays £500 car finance for a huge shiny pickup. It makes him look minted but he just doesn't spend on anything else.

And btw - our car doesn't match our house at all. We live in a very naice period property in a very naice area. But my car is by far the oldest one on the street, and pretty knackered at that. Purely because I use a car to get from A to B and will continue to use it to do so until it refuses to move anymore...

I'm one of these - 20 year old Merc that if I get off MN will have its annual wash today. It's worth maaaaybe £500. I get a real kick out of having an anti-status symbol, particularly given the kind of lifestyles our friends have.

The thing is, car leasing is relatively cheap these days. For £150 - £200 p/m you can lease a properly smart new car such as these so a car is less of a "prestige" thing these days.

In this neighborhood you can see who has lived here a while by their cars.
The old timers drive Peugeots and the likes, and the Newbies drive BMW, Audis, and Volvos. Some of us got our houses a lot cheaper (and have smaller mortgages and also probably smaller salaries) than the other lot!

We have the smallest house on our street, pretty decent area but by far the nicest card, I'd rather spend thousands on a new car than a new kitchen, people have different priorities

I live in a fairly impoverished area; the (well-known) dealer on the corner has a Beamer. Dare me to knock on his door and ask how he can afford it? More to the point, why do you care?

We don't have a car at all though our driveway can easily accommodate eight!

An estate agent round this way used to park her BMW sports car in the drives of houses she was selling just for the sake of the photos. I guess she thought it important to display a 'nice' car for the purposes of selling.

Our neighbour has a really fancy convertable which he washes constantly.

But won't week his drive/garden or mend his gate so it looks weirdly out of place.

I did find it funny when my pal's NDN bought a Bentley GT continental (about £125,000 for the model he had) but lived in a house worth £70,000 at best. Seemed a little odd to be fair.

I would t even notice ....to me a car is a car. Something that gets you from A to B

To me, a car is a car, too, but some cars are so big and flashy you can't help but notice. (I don't know how they are called, but there are those cares that are about double as broad as a normal car, higher, etc ... taking up more space in general. I think it's very egoistic to drive such a car.)
Okay, I still have no idea what which kind of car costs, and would assume that everyone who can afford a house can also afford some car, but there's some differences one just can't help but notice.

People probaly think that about our house.

We rent yet have two 30k vehicles on the drive both 16 plates.

Next door also has a 16 plate range rover (on a lease) but yet lives in a tiny 3 bed semi which is nothing special (same as our house)

My STBXW lives rurally (as did I) we have the same wholly unsuitable cars we had when we moved there 5 years ago. She's now angling for a Discovery. Her current car certainly doesn't fit the house.

Our friend who lives in 'town' has cars worth more than £50k (individually) on the driveway of the house which he rents. Nothing against renters- just pointing out that what he pays for the cars, would more than cover a mortgage. Different strokes for different folks.

I live in a little house and I drive a little car.

Maybe you live in a street full of chavs.

There are that many variables in income, expenditure, gifts/inheritences and ways of obtaining a car, without even going into drug dealer/tax evasion territory that what type of house or car you have is utterly meaningless and I am surprised that there are still people think a big expensive car is somehow a status symbol.

Love Mumsnet. As ever, a whole load of posters missing the (light-hearted) nature of this thread.

Dh and I are wholly incompatible re: cars. I like flash/sporty things and he views them as something that gets him from A to B. He insisted on keeping his 10 year old Renault Clio way beyond its shelf life because it was the only car he'd ever driven that didn't make his back ache after 20 minutes. I refused point blank to go anywhere near it - not least because of all the rubbish rolling around the footwells. In the end I made him buy a zippy new car (different make) and he's still moaning about it a year on.

Love this sort of thread - exactly the same sort of thing I notice as well!

So I live in one of the nicest streets in the village and drive a Volvo XC90 but it's a complete pain as it's always covered in mud and dog hairs so I'm planning to downsize to a cheap Golf.

I'm looking forward to seeing the NDN's work out if I've lost all my money or what's going on.

Plus I always dress like a scruff so at the moment don't match either my car or my house. Dogs are smart though!

Ours is very mixed. Small cul-de-sac of new build 4 bed houses. There are three minis, 2 Audis, one 11 year old golf, an E class Mercedes and my new convertible Mustang. (Probably just outed myself there!) I honestly don't give two hoots what anyone else has.