Budget cars that fool people into thinking you have "wealth and taste"?

[montytom]

I know its already been said but the Rover 75 is one of the classiest looking cars for the money.

People cannot believe how much it cost me.

This one cost me £800. This is outside a Rover garage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[forddeliveryboy]

 

This one cost me £800. This is outside a Rover garage.

 

 

 

 

I like that pic alot, it years to come it will be in a museum exhibition, entitled, "the last gasp of the British motor car". The ancient Toyota behind it neatly tells the story of the loss of our motor industry - hideously ugly and soul-less, but totally reliable. And that's what we lost our industry to. Britain's an uglier place, full of vehicles designed to appeal to the Chinese.

[AnthonyG]

Dunno about impressing people but I get a lot of comments about "having a Merc" from people who then tell me they can "only afford a Honda"

 

Yeah, an 09 plate Accord that cost fourteen times my 190E.

 

WTF?

Was just going to mention the 190, as transport of the actually really wealthy, there are quite a few in Cheltenham driven by elderly but well preserved looking folk. Volvo 240 estates too, and the odd saloon. A few years ago I would have said the Merc W123 as well, the estates in particular. But I think most have died, exported or been restored by now.

[HH-R]

J reg Proton (but not an H or K)

A reg Ford Escort

Vauxhall Corsa

Austin Ambassador (Y reg)

Renault 20

Horsey Horseless Sports Tourer CDTi

[Junkman]

How about having a haunted brown Rover P6 V8 and a green Poopjoe 405 estate on the drive?

Blue W124 is decidedly nouveau riche, though.

[Uncle Jimmy]

Was just going to mention the 190, as transport of the actually really wealthy, there are quite a few in Cheltenham driven by elderly but well preserved looking folk. Volvo 240 estates too, and the odd saloon. A few years ago I would have said the Merc W123 as well, the estates in particular. But I think most have died, exported or been restored by now.

 

Cheltenham. All fur coat and no knickers. A great poverty of spirit long descended on that town.

[Ghosty]

 The ancient Toyota behind it

Those cars are as old as each other, as the Corolla is a facelift it could well even be newer.

[Timewaster]

Wealth and taste?

 

Very few have both.

 

Anyway the answer is obvious.

 

Reliant Scimitar.

 

Princess Anne............

[garethj]

Something with 3 or more matching hubcaps would have my neighbours thinking I'd won the pools.

[Station]

The only car in my opinion that looks like it's worth more than it is:

 

[oldcars]

That 75 is very nice. Like the rover badge in the headrests my facelift ones are blank.

[montytom]

And the Corolla will probably outlast the Rover.

I can honestly say I doubt it

[Walter White]

A Kia Magentis. I reckon those who can't identify cars or badges would think it cost more than it does.

[Negative Creep]

[dugong]

R75s do not look classy, Autoshite! Pensioner's transport. Sorry....

 

Well a millionaire bloke I know drives a Lada Samara and Skoda Estelle as daily drivers, his Mrs on the other hand drives a Ford Kuga

How many Y reg model cars does he own?

[ChinaTom]

A Merc CLC180 Kompressor in metallic green. A poverty spec merc coupe in green means the car was bought because it looked cute, and was just a set of wheels. But the £4k paint option means proper proper money.

[John F]

dugong, on 28 Apr 2016 - 2:59 PM, said:

R75s do not look classy, Autoshite! Pensioner's transport. Sorry....

 

^ THIS.

[djimbob]

A Kia Magentis. I reckon those who can't identify cars or badges would think it cost more than it does.

 

I can confirm this as the one Our Lass has off a forum member just after Xmas has brought many compliments, along with queries, so not bad for £300 eh??

 

I really fancy a Hyundai HG30 now, which is not far off the same car, but with the 3 litre engine, beautiful!

 

To answer the thread question sort of, folk with lot of money in the main buy very expensive cars, and some of them don't, hence the nice anecdotes we hear on here, but as we paupers very rarely mix with them (they spend a lot of money to ensure they don't have to), we don't really have the true picture. Someone is buying the Rollers, AM's etc - by definition they have to be stinking rich, as a rule they do not drive old shiters, so to try and emulate the one's that do is a bit of a waste of time, everyone knows you're not really amazingly wealthy I'm afraid!

[Junkman]

To answer the thread question sort of, folk with lot of money in the main buy very expensive cars, and some of them don't, hence the nice anecdotes we hear on here, but as we paupers very rarely mix with them (they spend a lot of money to ensure they don't have to), we don't really have the true picture. Someone is buying the Rollers, AM's etc - by definition they have to be stinking rich, as a rule they do not drive old shiters, so to try and emulate the one's that do is a bit of a waste of time, everyone knows you're not really amazingly wealthy I'm afraid!

 

There has been extensive marketing research over the past 70 odd years or so, revealing that the really rich people, i.e. the ones that always had money,

don't have to show their wealth, and indeed usually tend to drive either old beaters, or just 'cheap' new cars.

Those Rolls and AM guys admittedly aren't poor, but they still have status issues due to usually having started from humbler backgrounds.

There will be exceptions in either league, but this is the conclusion the high end automotive marketers established in general.

 

This has been extensively described in John Keats' book 'The Insolent Chariots' and Vance Packard's 'The Hidden Persuaders', both based on depth probing.

[lisbon_road]

The question is a reasonable one, but I think that anyone trying to fool anyone that they have 'wealth and taste' is probably on the wrong forum.

[xtriple]

Rich people with 'old' money do buy RR, Bentleys, Aston Martins etc. Just not so many these days since RR and B went cheap and nasty and owned by johnny foreigner and no one can ever work out who owns AM this week anyway and they have now got horrible German engines instead of lovely Ford derived ones!  The people that buy them now are knobs of the first order with neither taste nor class.

 

I am in 'the know' so it is gospel!

 

 

 

 

 

Edit: I have no clue, just made it up to make me feel better!

 

Edit no2: Tadek Marek made proper British engines for AM despite being Polish!

[Cavcraft]

Vauxhall Viva 1.0 SE.

[406V6]

The original challenge was to name cars that could “fool the general public into thinking you were a man/woman of wealth and taste?â€

 

The whole of the general public will never fit into the same category so I’ll split them into:

1) Those that have money

2) Those that try to fool others into thinking they have money but actually have a big credit line

3) Those that have no money

4) Shiters. 

 

For 1)  a large discrete car that is in reasonable condition but shows signs of use.

For 2)  badge is everything. Only a Benz, B** or Aldi less than 5 years old  will do. Possibly VW at a pinch.

For 3) a car that’s large and shiny. Any badge.

For 4) Should be a car at least 10 years old, well used and with a badge that category 2 above will p*ss all over. They will appreciate your taste and ignore anything to do with wealth. If the car is a Talbot, Lada or Yugo you will get maximum admiration.

[John F]

lisbon_road, on 28 Apr 2016 - 5:13 PM, said:lisbon_road, on 28 Apr 2016 - 5:13 PM, said:

The question is a reasonable one, but I think that anyone trying to fool anyone that they have 'wealth and taste' is probably on the wrong forum.

 

Strangely enough, a well-considered Autoshite purchase can indeed fool people into thinking you have wealth* and taste.

 

A shiny "classic" can look very distinctive, standing out from the sanitised automotive white goods of today – thus ticking the "taste" box.

 

Likewise, many tidy 1960s-1990s motoring icons can & do fetch strong money nowadays. The trick is to buy them when they cost buttons & then sit on them for 10 years or so...

[83C]

My old S124:

 

 

Much more class and grace than the W220 S-class it shared driveway space with, even if the S was by far the better car.

[Tamworthbay]

The original challenge was to name cars that could “fool the general public into thinking you were a man/woman of wealth and taste?â€

 

The whole of the general public will never fit into the same category so I’ll split them into:

1) Those that have money

2) Those that try to fool others into thinking they have money but actually have a big credit line

3) Those that have no money

4) Shiters.

 

For 1) a large discrete car that is in reasonable condition but shows signs of use.

For 2) badge is everything. Only a Benz, B** or Aldi less than 5 years old will do. Possibly VW at a pinch.

For 3) a car that’s large and shiny. Any badge.

For 4) Should be a car at least 10 years old, well used and with a badge that category 2 above will p*ss all over. They will appreciate your taste and ignore anything to do with wealth. If the car is a Talbot, Lada or Yugo you will get maximum admiration.

the weird thing is my fully loaded and cowed up low mileage, one previous owner 2001 3series touring cost about a quarter of what a rear engined skoda in ripe for shiter condition would fetch. The world is mad sometimes. I would love a RE skoda but it won't ever happen. If I did people at work would take the piss out the crap old car but think I have won the lottery because I drive a beemer that wouldn't cover six months of the payments on their corsa.

[vulgalour]

 

 

 

 

Large 90s saloons are always percieved as being expensive, especially if they were considered luxury or executive the first time around.  Mid-sized saloons (Rover 200/400, Vauxhall Belmont, etc.) are regarded as being survivors and small saloons (VW Polo, Vauxhall Nova, etc.) are seen as bangers and pensioner carts.

 

Colour matters too.  Go for whites, greys and silvers for that 'timeless' resale look and avoid any actual colours.  Interiors should likewise be uninspiring.  White is becoming unfashionable now so that's not the easy ticket into looking like you spent more than you did that it once was.

[jonathan_dyane]

I'd like a Kia Magentis. I think I'm ill...

[Tamworthbay]

White is back in round here, about two thirds of new beemers and aldis are white.

[cort1977]

Hang on, I thought white was the new silver in the UK?   Now you tell me white's out of fashion?  

 

What's next?   I just hope that early 90's red makes a comeback...