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My wife is trying to make me buy a more modern modern


fraser.innes.3

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I get laughed at at work for my choice of bangers. Do I give a shit? No.

this :D

 

no idea what would happen if showed up in a 240 or 360 (guess where i work :D )

 

if she wants to to spend 15k ffs ask her where shes left her wallet

 

WBAC the beemer thatll teach her

 

oh and what supernaut said :D

 

post-4817-0-29605400-1476723824_thumb.jpg

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Perhaps she just wants you to tidy your car up a bit as it resemble a dustbin? Maybe give it a wash too? Mine is the same I might add. I haven't seen the carpets for a while under the layers of sweet wrappers, banana skins and empty pop cans. I also haven't given it a proper clean since acquiring it a year ago just the odd £2 asda car wash. I am no better than a zafira/picasso (delete as applicable) gumtree lurker.

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I think many blokes experience the same issue with the woman in their life. Bit a lot of blokes are the same.

 

Imagine that every day is like attending a school reunion, where Success is measured, and being "On top" seems to matter. 

 

Outward displays of wealth and success matter to these people.  Like a hiring manager (my age) I once had, who only wore Armani shirts, and told me that his biggest shopping nightmare would be buying clothes in Primark.  Like my wife's school friend who has over £5 K of handbags with 'designer' names, and who has just bought a PaceMan on credit -not sure of the details but I offered her £400 for her 54 plate Cooper S because it was shagged.

 

The problem for people like this is that they interact with people like our wife's and girlfriends, and carefully construct conversations in a way that leaves their 'friends' feeling slightly inadequate.

 

Since I bought the Omega MV6 the other week, my wife has pointed out (more than once) that it is embarrassing to have a dented door and what will people think. As I pointed out People we don't know will think someone dented it in Tesco car park and the insurance are yet to deal with it, and people we do know, will know that I am a bit "strange" when it comes to cars, and still ask my advice on problems and on what car they should buy.  My stock answer for anyone that has an engineering degree and is under 30 is "Buy a 1.6 16V Mk4 Astra - quite reliable, easy to fix, and same price as 3 monthly payments on a new polo - and do the servicing yourself and save the money for a house deposit"  

My advice for anyone who has a house, and is not mechanically minded is "Buy the newest low mileage fiesta you can afford and check the oil and water and tyre pressures weekly, and once it's outside of it's warranty, get a back street place to service it, but make sure they use decent oil"

Wifey, did point out that she didn't want my 'consultancy' career to be blighted by turning up for interview in a shit car.  I have pointed out that it hasn't been yet.

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I suppose turning up at a place to sell wares to a corporate clone buyer it would be sensible to be in a clones car, fits in.

 

However when dealing with real people, and yes despite our eccentric ways in this place we are some of the most real people around, none of us would notice a bloody modern eurobox let alone have the foggiest idea what badge the effin thing might have on the boot and the last thing it would do is impress us, but if someone turned up in something interesting, old but normal even, would we assume that the person coming to sell to us might be real too.

 

Does our reverse snobbery thing work in strange ways with us here i wonder.

We've just had some really nice wrought iron gates made and fitted by a local company, the boss is an eccentric and possibly as scatty as the Mrs (she does all our negotiations, Greek, loves bartering) who liked dealing with him straight away, nice job done well, having some railings made and fitted now for the step down into our garden.

 

A sharp suited salesman for some large company wouldn't have been entertained.

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Does our reverse snobbery thing work in strange ways with us here i wonder.

Possibly, its the OP's money to do as he sees fit, but bugger conforming just because everyone seems to be measured by the worth of their belongings. 

 

Id rather spend £15 grand on bricks, mortar and my kids. Some people a car, some people coke and hookers. Everyone is different. I told the shiney suited 65 plate mondeo double glazing chap I wasnt interested, instead I had a window and door fitted by a Keith Lemon clone driving a well dented Renner Traffic. Did a bloody good job and didnt cost a third of what Mondeo man was quoting.

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This thread reminds me of that advert for a Toyota avensis. Remember the one with the squash playing executive?

 

I'd love to see Mrs Innes's face if you came home in a pale blue diesel maestro.

 

It's funny what non car people think about cars. Tam borrowed my £350 omega for a couple of days and asked his car sharing work colleague how much he thought it was worth. He eyed it up, scratched his chin and suggested £12000 :)

 

Unfortunately, he wasn't looking to buy.

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I'll just make the observation that when folk complain about having to wade through pages of worthless bilge to find the decent content on here, theyre talking about stuff like this (4-pager).

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201610138734039

 

I found this on page 2924 of the ebay thread, and this IS the answer to her indoors's need to keep up with the Jones's

 

There is nothing wrong with any content on Autoshite - now don't pretend to be Faux Offended - you know you is wrong.

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not in the slightest bit offended, just *bored*

You love it though! Keep coming back to post further replies! You just can't help yourself. I thought my posts were quite informative, rather than bleating in about the shit Aston! (Or whatever it was).

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TBH this crossed my mind as well.

 

Thankfully my Mrs is now at the point where she doesn't care what car I drive as in her words "I don't care, Its not like I'll be driving it". She also actively encourages me to buy what makes me happy which is why she is such an awesome wife. On top of that she has eventually acknowledged that while my chod tends to need more fiddling with than her modern, mine tends to cost a lot less over the year to run as I do all the fiddling myself.

 

I also suspect she likes me having hobbies, as its the lesser evil than having an affair (not that I would, but that's woman logic at work there)

 

There is a bit of compromise required, we will tend to take her car on family trips etc - I learnt this early on as out of badness I used to drop her at her previous workplace in my extremely scabby mk1 mondeo - think Onslo turning up to big shiny corporate digs - as her coworkers would look down their nose at it.

 

Her car is nothing special, a silver 307 turbot diesel but it has nice (OEM) wheels and a reasonable spec. Looks presentable polished up and I keep it clean for her. It sort of just blends in and doesn't feel out of place anywhere which she likes.

 

I know this is very un-autoshite but at the end of the day there is nothing at all wrong with buying a nice modern if its what YOU want. But you need to take a good hard look at yourself if you are doing it to please other people....

So a valet would sort it out? Or have you lost all interest in the megane and actively treat it like a skip.

 

I've seen this before. I've been here before. Ex-wife used to complain some of my stuff was embarrassing!

 

Maybe the wife wants you to find your mojo again. Not being critical here... just saying that your wife might actually care, and want you take a little pride again.

Some good advice here, shocker that its all from over here...

There's nothing at all wrong with a modern car. Although a 2008 car is plenty modern. But [most] women are looking for different things, and you have to understand them and their psyche. Do that, and you will be able to be a better husband a fulfill the role you signed up for.

One of their primary concerns is security. That doesn't mean inland defence or building a nuclear bunker, that means a car that starts every time and never breaks down. A zero percent chance of strandage or FTP will be high on the list of good things. A nice colour will also help, because pretty. As it's been drummed in to everyone that new=better, that's what they want. But if you are up to it, you can provide them with a car that will be reliable and safe, and they will accept that, but you must NEVER get it wrong. It cannot overheat once every three years, that will make it unreliable. {most} Women do not service or maintain cars at all. At all. So keep on top of all that, look after it, check it over once in a while, and it will be grand. Obviously never venture into the cockpit or open any of the detritus retaining cubicles because they will all be jammed full of spilled nail varnish and crumpled up post-its. I really have no idea how they make cars so icky.

 

They also do care about their image. Hence the national debt. If ladies did not buy makeup or hair dye for one year and gave their money to the World Bank thieves, or the Chinese, whoever "printed" the "money" that we "owe", the deficit would be gone. So they don't want to drive a battered Mondeo in primer. For some, yes, it's about pride and showing off, and that's pretty vile, but for many it's actually, and I kid you not here, wait for it - it's because they are proud of you, and want their peers to know what a good husband they got. She might even, as suggested above, be trying to get you to take a little self pride back too. Maybe she sees you as being somewhat depressed, or reads your actions and current look as that, and is trying to gee you up and make this new job work (for you all).

 

Anyway look the point is, as has been alluded to, she probably has good intentions motivating her. Don't expect her to think the same as you, that's how many marriages end - understand her needs, try and meet her needs, which at the minute are to see you do well and to make y'all look presentable [in her mind], try and work with that, or listen to her and find the reasoning. Once she feels her opinion is valued and understood, she'll listen to you, be more open to dopey suggestions involving v6s, and maybe come round to your POV. The key here is to listen to her first though, and make her know her ideas are valid and important, even if they're misguided.

 

FWIW anything of any age that is really clean, tidy and shiny is usually acceptable. Get a mini-valet.

 

 

Alternatively shes just trying to win the bitchy wars against Kara and Aimee at the mummy&toddler group/PTA/bingo delete as appropriate.

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I used to make Mrs Trigger go to work in a gold Triumph Acclaim and a B reg Suzuki Alto, she became known as the girl with the crap cars and she loved it, she said all the blokes at work would come up to her to talk about her cars! They used to say that In a office car park full of new Mercs and BMWs on finance it was refreshing to see a older car being used, and that was from managers on £70k a year!

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I used to make Mrs Trigger go to work in a gold Triumph Acclaim and a B reg Suzuki Alto, she became known as the girl with the crap cars and she loved it, she said all the blokes at work would come up to her to talk about her cars! They used to say that In a office car park full of new Mercs and BMWs on finance it was refreshing to see a older car being used, and that was from managers on £70k a year!

talking of managers i was on the interview for my current job, the manager who was interviewing me spent 20 odd minutes of a 30 minute interview talking about cars, he saw on my application that it was one of my interests and asked what i drove, his eyes lit up when i told him my daily was the saph, he had to go to the window to look out at it, he absolutely loved it

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My wife doesn't drive so doesn't get a say other than "I think eleven cars is a bit much, I'm leaving you" when I take too many on. If she passes her test she only wants to drive an auto 'cos she can't understand manual gearboxes so she'll get a 205 auto or the 850 or something of my choosing 'cos if I need to drive it too (which I will 'cos I'll break all of mine again at some point) I'm bollocksed if it's going to be something I hate.

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At a place I worked years ago there was a director who refused to adopt the company car policy, so out the front among the line of brand new BMW's and VW Pisshats, was this battered old Talbot Alpine. To him it was his pride and joy, but it was apparently deeply unpopular with the company top brass. Eventually they got shot of him, obviously there were other factors at play but his car and the fact it didn't 'portray a good image of the company' when out visiting clients did play a part. Not everyone sees things through the same shite tinted glasses

 

When I had a company car at my last job, if you opted out and took the allowance then there were a list of strict criteria the car you bought had to meet, regarding age, emissions, being of a 'suitable type' etc. Though I think that was more to do with it being reliable and not FTPing on company time, than image

 

If you're not using it on any company business though then there is no reason for them to care, a 2008 Renault is a perfectly average steed that's not going to raise any eyebrows either way in the company car park.

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talking of managers i was on the interview for my current job, the manager who was interviewing me spent 20 odd minutes of a 30 minute interview talking about cars, he saw on my application that it was one of my interests and asked what i drove, his eyes lit up when i told him my daily was the saph, he had to go to the window to look out at it, he absolutely loved it

 

I had one job interview that mostly involved talking about motorbikes & trips to europe.Got the job too.

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