Does your car show your status?!

[Dibbydoos]

I was a BMW X3 for 7 years - a prowling beast of a thing, fast like heckers! I loved that car! But it's now retired and I didn't want another big SUV, so I bought from the same stable, a Mini Countryman and everyone is giving me stick! I keep getting with your money you could afford better etc etc.

It's jarring.

I blinking love this Mini. It drives like my BMW even the general controls - cruise, nav, wipers are the same.

Why are people so fixated on spending more money than you need?

Am I being unreasonable to not waste money on a flash car?

DH is in London fairly regularly for work, we've had to replace his car because otherwise he'd have to pay the ULEZ fine. We've been called boring as it's just a VW with none of the added frills, but it's got a great safety score and the price was sensible and the best deal we could get when looking. My car is 15 years old and starting to struggle so I'll have his old one as it's still going strong. If anything I'm more interested in what colour cars are than whether they are a fancy or not brand!

I find it quite liberating to have my little car when surrounded by massive, boasty Range Rovers. I don't understand the need to upgrade or buy the biggest/best. I mean. I like my money where I can see it, in my house.

I can't drive (because of peripheral vision issues before anyone has a go) so ignore car = status, then I guess mine is zero?

I guess I just don't pay attention but, my God, agonising over car model? Having your kids chime in on what you "should" be driving? Cars not "matching up" to houses? I'm glad I'm no part of this extra life stress!

Nothing wrong with the mini its a classic. Plus many chaves have SUVs these days. So for some a big car will be the only thing that they have, along with the tracksuit.

Mine did until recently. It showed me to be a middleaged middle class countrywoman with dogs and horses. I'm like a Jilly Cooper parody! I drove a very old, very dirty dark green Subaru Forrester with a tow bar.

I’ve never bought into the flash car / status symbol thing. For me a car needs to get me from A-B and I don’t care what it is. Most of the people driving expensive cars have them on hire and pay ridiculous amounts. Friend of mine’s DH pays £700 a month, for a car. I find that unbelievable when he won’t ever own it either. It’s purley a ‘look at me’ - keeping up with the Jones thing. As I say, don’t buy into it and I really couldn’t care less what people think about the car I drive based on my salary

In my part of the country it is a badge of honour for the wealthy to drive beaten up old cars. Flash new cars are looked down upon.
Needless to say it is not the Home Counties!

I don't know about showing my "status" but my Qashqai which I bloody love definitely says "Mum with 2 kids doing Uni drop offs". I love it - I can get everything in it, it's great for picnics, camping gear, a run to the recyling centre, any shopping. So YANBU.

This 100%. But then I would say that as I own an old car. It gets me from A to B, is comfortable to drive and be a passenger in and I own it outright. I'm not spending lots of money in interest on a car loan or paying a fortune to a leasing company each month. I really don't care what other people think, too old for that rubbish.

Well I've had a bloke laugh at me for my husbands choice of car last week and then someone else take the p out of my make of car by someone else. But we're ok financially. Better off than the one who laughed at my husbands car. So the answer is probably no!

I thought minis were status cars these days!

No I have a 6 year old car, dp a 20 year old car, could easily afford 2 brand new German but I don't waste money on status symbols, if it goes it goes. Right now only interest is saving to retire!

You should see all the Rolls Royces near me. The shock is, I live in what some would call a ‘third world’ country!

Well said.
My car is 10 years old and DH's is 8 years old. Both have been very reliable. I have just spent a four figure sum on my car to replace something that needed replacing before it failed and would have caused a much more expensive repair job had I not done so. So I am keeping mine for another year.

DD's ex's parents replace their much more expensive cars every two years and couldn't understand why we drive such old cars.

I don't understand why a car needs to be replaced so often. I don't view cars as status symbols. I just want something that is reliable, can get me from A to B without any hassle and can cope with our hills in the snow. In my case a 4WD is a necessity not something to brag about.

I find car brands odd. But I have no interest in cars other than a practical purpose and looking at reliability reviews. So I’ve mainly had Fords. Oddly enough I now drive a Vauxhall which isn’t great on reliability reviews but for me has been fine. When I wanted a diesel, automatic estate with AppleCar then my options were limited.

I could afford a bmw or an Audi but I just don’t see the point. I’m a member at an upmarket gym and the car park is full of range rovers, teslas, bmw and Audi and I rock up in my Astra lowering the tone. 😁

Well, my car definitely says ‘teacher with two small children, no money and no time to clean the car’.

So yes, I suppose it is indicative of my status.

I genuinely thought this was going to be about a feature on a new car that linked in with Facebook to show your status somewhere on the vehicle.

Bit disappointed now.

I bought my boring car 10 years ago, when it was already 8 years old. I drive boringly, and it's still in very good nick. I cannot tell you the smug joy it brings me knowing that other people in a car park have spent tens of thousands of pounds on a vehicle that gets them from the same point A to the same point B as mine does.

I love my car, it’s honestly the best car in the world and I feel bad for all those people driving around in what they think are their high status cars. They don’t know what they’re missing…..

my 10 year old i10 is everything you could want in a car. Cheap to run, reliable, easy to park, weirdly spacious.

imagine thinking you need to try and squeeze an enormous Range Rover into parking spaces to look good, when really you’d look so much better in a beaten up old i10.

I'm 'retired' aged 37, have £100k in savings and live in a property worth 1mil, and own another property. I'm very lucky and doing well.

I drive a 66 plate Fiesta. I don't own any brand clothing, I use a cheap android phone, I'm not in the least bit motivated to buy things that make me look a certain way...I like the fact I just blend in and would hate people to think 'she's got money'.

Where I'm from a Mini would be a status car. Mini's are expensive and can be expensive to repair as they are a BMW.
Thought you were going to say you'd bought a Vauxhall Mokka

I'm bewildered by the amount of thought people give to cars! I drive a very unfashionable car with zero status. I chose it because it will be reliable and was the biggest option for my 3 children. I can also pack it up with bikes etc when necessary. We bought it cash which I realise is quite privileged. We will run it into the ground so it will hopefully take us to the end of the childhood years.

My car confers zero status to me. I have found people are often politely surprised when they see my house. Me and my husband just don't look like people with the means for fancy things and our cars compound that first impression.
What I find very strange is that at my child's private school quite a few of the parents drive fancy cars but are actually struggling to pay the fees and have to forgo holidays and live in more modest homes. I have no idea how they afford/justify the monthly payments.
Each to their own I guess. We all have different ways that we like to spend our money and values that we attach to things.

Agree. I literally boggle at paying any sum of money a month on a flash car.

I have a 6 year old Fiesta but I could afford a much more expensive car but it would be a bit of a waste

Actually it's 7 years old not 6, but it should be good for a few more years hopefully

I went from a larger fancier car to a new small cheaper car, tbh I bought the most common car in the most common colour. Everyone assumes it is a work car. Suits me, if I cut someone off accidentally they wouldn’t remember me. Haha