What does your car say about you?
There is so much money in this area. OK so it's not the Home Counties, but there is still a lot of money around. Sometimes not where you would think.
For example, our next door neighbour gives every impression of being an impoverished elderly lady. But she once owned a large, prestigious hotel. I don't know what her financial situation is now, but I wouldn't be surprised if she is worth a million or two.
If you walk into our local hardware store you wouldn't give the bloke behind the counter a second glance. It's a ramshackle old place. And its owner is just as ramshackle. But he owns about 20 properties in this town, probably worth an average of half a million pounds each. I'll leave you to do the maths.
Even my barber with his tiny shop that doesn't have enough room to swing a cat. He drives a Mercedes convertible. On sunny days. The rest of the time he drives a smart SUV.
Driving back from the local supermarket the other day, within about half a mile we passed two Porsche Boxters, a Ferrari and a Lexus convertible in amongst the usual array of Audis, BMWs and Mercedes.
Our car is a top of the range high performance Volvo V70R. It's nearly 10 years old so it didn't cost a great deal but with its metallic paint and personalised number plate and leather upholstery it doesn't look out of place here. And then there's the sheer power of the Volvo. If you're going to try to burn off the Volvo at traffic lights in your flashy sports car you'd better make sure your car has plenty of grunt otherwise it might get embarrassing.
An Audi TT driver found that out the hard way. One day we were returning from a weekend away and this bloke in an Audi TT convertible overtook me in the wrong lane on a roundabout. OK, no problem, I don't get worked up about that sort of thing. But a minute later there he was stopped at a red light. So I pulled up beside him. So there he is in his Audi TT convertible with the top down and a glamorous female in the passenger seat, looking ultra cool. And there I am in my Volvo estate with 2 kids in the back and a boot full of luggage. So who was going to get away from the lights fastest? No contest, right?
When the lights changed, sure enough, the Audi shot away. The Volvo is quite slow over the first 10 yards but then the turbo kicks in and it's like it's rocket propelled. We shot past the Audi TT and within no time we were three cars lengths ahead of him. The look on his face as he receded in my rear view mirror was priceless!
The V70R has something of a cult following. There is even a web site devoted to it.
The down side is the amount of petrol the beast consumes. It averages 20 mpg. And with fuel costing 95p per litre at our local garage (which is the cheapest for miles around) that makes a serious dent in our weekly budget. For our American friends that's $7.80 per gallon. Yeah, ouch!
By the way, it always amuses me that American's refer to petrol as 'gas'. Hello, in case you hadn't noticed, it's a liquid, not gas. Yeah, OK, I know it's short for gasoline, but still…
Our other car is a 13 year old Citroen AX (small hatchback) which has a distinctly lived in look, tired and weary. It didn't cost us anything - some friends gave it to us for nothing. Son hates it if I drive him anywhere in that car. It's not cool. But I like driving it. I take a perverse pleasure in having the oldest and most downbeat car in the car park when we go to the local supermarket. Apart from the beat-up old Land Rover that belongs to the guy from the local hardware store, that is.
When I drive the Citroen maybe it does say something about me.
I might drive an old, worn-out car but I don't care.
Or then again it might be because I can't afford to put petrol in the Volvo.
So what does your car say about you?
For example, our next door neighbour gives every impression of being an impoverished elderly lady. But she once owned a large, prestigious hotel. I don't know what her financial situation is now, but I wouldn't be surprised if she is worth a million or two.
If you walk into our local hardware store you wouldn't give the bloke behind the counter a second glance. It's a ramshackle old place. And its owner is just as ramshackle. But he owns about 20 properties in this town, probably worth an average of half a million pounds each. I'll leave you to do the maths.
Even my barber with his tiny shop that doesn't have enough room to swing a cat. He drives a Mercedes convertible. On sunny days. The rest of the time he drives a smart SUV.
Driving back from the local supermarket the other day, within about half a mile we passed two Porsche Boxters, a Ferrari and a Lexus convertible in amongst the usual array of Audis, BMWs and Mercedes.
Our car is a top of the range high performance Volvo V70R. It's nearly 10 years old so it didn't cost a great deal but with its metallic paint and personalised number plate and leather upholstery it doesn't look out of place here. And then there's the sheer power of the Volvo. If you're going to try to burn off the Volvo at traffic lights in your flashy sports car you'd better make sure your car has plenty of grunt otherwise it might get embarrassing.
An Audi TT driver found that out the hard way. One day we were returning from a weekend away and this bloke in an Audi TT convertible overtook me in the wrong lane on a roundabout. OK, no problem, I don't get worked up about that sort of thing. But a minute later there he was stopped at a red light. So I pulled up beside him. So there he is in his Audi TT convertible with the top down and a glamorous female in the passenger seat, looking ultra cool. And there I am in my Volvo estate with 2 kids in the back and a boot full of luggage. So who was going to get away from the lights fastest? No contest, right?When the lights changed, sure enough, the Audi shot away. The Volvo is quite slow over the first 10 yards but then the turbo kicks in and it's like it's rocket propelled. We shot past the Audi TT and within no time we were three cars lengths ahead of him. The look on his face as he receded in my rear view mirror was priceless!
The V70R has something of a cult following. There is even a web site devoted to it.
The down side is the amount of petrol the beast consumes. It averages 20 mpg. And with fuel costing 95p per litre at our local garage (which is the cheapest for miles around) that makes a serious dent in our weekly budget. For our American friends that's $7.80 per gallon. Yeah, ouch!
By the way, it always amuses me that American's refer to petrol as 'gas'. Hello, in case you hadn't noticed, it's a liquid, not gas. Yeah, OK, I know it's short for gasoline, but still…
Our other car is a 13 year old Citroen AX (small hatchback) which has a distinctly lived in look, tired and weary. It didn't cost us anything - some friends gave it to us for nothing. Son hates it if I drive him anywhere in that car. It's not cool. But I like driving it. I take a perverse pleasure in having the oldest and most downbeat car in the car park when we go to the local supermarket. Apart from the beat-up old Land Rover that belongs to the guy from the local hardware store, that is.When I drive the Citroen maybe it does say something about me.
I might drive an old, worn-out car but I don't care.
Or then again it might be because I can't afford to put petrol in the Volvo.
So what does your car say about you?
posted by Ed at 8:39 PM
11 Comments:
My car says I'm NOT driving my fantasy car - which would be a VOLVO. A true fantasy as that I will never have one. So instead I have a nice, blue Grand Am that is 12 years old. It, like myself, is getting older, but is extremely reliable.
Rosie, when I was young I always swore that I'd never drive a Volvo estate - and look what I ended up with! I do love it, though, apart from being so thirsty.
Nothing wrong with old, reliable cars, though. The only new cars I've ever had were company cars in the days when I was on a salary.
I will join your mini fan club! I have a volvo v70 cross country...and I love it more than I've loved any "thing" in this world. I actually find myself with fleeting fancies to caress it and kiss it...(I don't indulge, though.) It feels luxurious, and yes the turbo ROCKS and mine is all-wheel drive, so winter roads here in the mountains will be a piece of cake.
Also, my 5 year olds are stupefied by the fact that we call gas "gas" for the same reason you are! ("So it's like Saturn, mom?") Perhaps I have myself two mini-Brits...? That would make my day, actually.
what does it mean when you dont have a car?
means I cant drive but one day I will
My dad is obsessed with Alfa Romeos. I quite like them too, if I win the lotto!
M has a dark blue thing...hmm...iv no idea what it is! thats terrible!
Lisa, welcome. Glad to meet another V70 fan! Mine is all wheel drive too, but with the lowered suspension and low profile tyres I don't think it would fare too well on mountain roads.
Just to confuse matters, we have gas over here, but not gasoline or petrol, and it's sold as a liquid - LPG (liquified petroleum gas).
Clare, at least you can be smug in the fact that you're being environmentally sound in not having a car. And the walking is good for you too. :)
Petrol? I didn't know you all called "gas" petrol?
And you ARE right...that IS funny that we call it "gas" when it's a liquid.
NO WONDER our children are so messed up in school!
You know, and another thing...the metric system. When I was young, we were told that ALL of the US would be switched over to metric by now. Nope. The only things that we measure with metric words are "2 liter bottle of Coke" and we measure in inches and "centimetes." That's just odd, huh? Oh, and foot races...they are measured in Kms. America is...weird....sometimes
what does my car say about me? this girl likes to drive fast. luckily it seems to whisper that fact when the police are around.
:-)
my car is older - but she's still a dream. '94 Mitsubishi 3000GT
Becky, we're really messed up with the metric system here. We buy petrol in litres but roadsigns are in miles, not km. And even though we buy petrol in litres we tend to measure consumption in miles per gallon We are gradually going more metric over time but there's a lot of resistance to it.
SS, a girl after my own heart! That's a serious motor. Remind me not to try to burn you off at the traffic lights!
I drive a 2004 Hyundia Elantra. So what does that say about me? That I'm economical, I guess. At between 90 cents to a dollar for a litre of gas (note that Canadians say gas too!) and a 35 km commute to work each way, I need good fuel economy.
I like nice cars well enough but not enough to go into major debt for one. As long as it gets me from A to B, I'm happy.
My car says "gulp gulp" when I'm driving down the road. It soaks up and spits out some major gasoline -- a guzzler for sure! A 2005 Lincoln Aviator. Oh, and it cost too much.
well, i drive old detroit iron. i have a thing about old cars and i have owned more than i can even count anymore. they are simple and i can do most of the repairs myself.
right now i drive a 1967 camaro. a red one. she's a good old girl and i'll probably keep her for a long time. my other car is a 1948 chevrolet sedan. a big, fat car with a back seat like a sofa. she hasn't run in 13 years... but she will again someday.
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