'Ages' for car ownership?

Gatster

Any opinions? We've had plenty of 'Girls vs. Boys' cars on these pages, so what about drivers of certain ages driving certain cars. Was discussing next purchase with the GF and her opinions on what constitutes an "old man's car" shocked me a bit...

2001 BMW 530i Sport (proper Sport kit) heralded an "It's Ok, but..."
2000 7 series Sport/S or E-Class is "Old man" as is any Jag
2002 Golf 4Motion was suitable but "just a Golf" (same for a 330i 4 door)
More or less any SUV (Merc M Class/X5/even previous shape Range Rover) entertains a much younger image, supposeldy.

I must stress that none of this particulary bothers me as I'll buy what I like when it comes down to driving it...

Dooom

Gatster wrote:

I must stress that none of this particulary bothers me as I'll buy what I like when it comes down to driving it...

Well done , was about to throw some "who wears the trousers.." abuse at you!

Anyway, I think there is some mentality about the BMW's. Seemingly (in this coutntry anyway), the majority of people I've seen driving 5 and 7 series are middle-aged types. So it does kind of seem to be an "Old man car". I guess.
That said, my father drives a 3 series coupe, just because he likes it. And I've seen plenty of people in his age group driving them aswell. He could've bought a 5 or 7 series if he wanted, but he thought they were to tankish.

I think the main reason it's classed as an "old man car", is because of the price of them. 3 series being cheaper, it's easier for younger people to get hold of them.
But then go to somewhere like the states, and you've got lots of young people driving their "drop-top 7 40 fizzi's".

As for the SUV's, they're more "cool" and "hip" (damn young folk. I'm not sure why I'm talking this way, I'm a young folk!), and they give off an air of superiority or something along those lines.

Anan1

"I must stress that none of this particulary bothers me as I'll buy what I like when it comes down to driving it..."

That's really the bottom line, isn't it? At the end of the day, buying a car to make a statement to others smacks of heavy-duty insecurity. Far better to spend a small fraction of the money on counselling, no?

BrianD3

Women generally don't have a clue about cars so who gives a bollox what they think. If a woman were to tell me that my car was an old man's car or a crap car or whatever, I'd laugh at her.

Gatster

This wasn't a thread asking for advice on what to buy, just to see if anyone else had come across this sort of 'age-ist' thing from anybody, and was certainly not intended as a women vs. men opions (as I stated at the start).

el tel

(Time for a new girlfriend Gatser!)

Iv'e been through that conversation with the girl numerous times.
Finally I've got her round to accepting that my next daily car will be a BMW 530d SE. Next project is to make her realise that twat$ are strangely drawn to 3-series

Kermitt

I think saloon cars generally suit older people better.. something sensible about them. Even impreza's, is it just me or are they becoming a mid-life crisis car for 35-50 yr old men..

Dooom

el tel wrote:

twat$ are strangely drawn to 3-series

Ahem.

Spike wrote:

my father drives a 3 series coupe, just because he prefers it over the other series'..

Careful there..

el tel

Spike wrote:

Ahem.

Careful there..

I re-composed my post a few times before posting to avoid offence!
To explain, having a BMW 3-Series does not make anyone a tw@t but I've noticed that among people I know it would seem that the tools among them all seem to aspire ("strangely drawn") to 3-Series'.

ballooba

22 Male Driving a Passat. Lots of Old Man comments.

"When are you getting the family to go with the car" was the best one.

I like it though.

spockety

Yeah I was thinking of getting a 3-series, then one day I said to the g/f, "Hmm, I'm thinking of getting a Volvo S60!", she replies, "Why, are you thinking of starting a family??"... haha.. oh dear.

Gatster

[PHP]twat$ are strangely drawn to 3-series[/PHP]

Easy, that's whats I'm going from (my third in about 10 cars so I'm well past aspiring)! I had a Passat before and had exactly the same 'when's the baby due' comments. New high-end Imprezas are in the price range where maybe it's only the older person that can afford the car/insurance

green-blood

I couldnt afford a bloody S60 *(whicha re jsut fabulous to drive - get teh leather) or decent mileage 520 so I've just bought a 1.8 Mondeo. and yes I do have the family to go with it, 1.98 kids.....we're that close to popping now.

I'm gonna have one major middle age crisis, just watch this space!!!!!!!!!!

Buy that 530D and overtake an artic with rediculous ease..... she'll not think it old fashioned for long. Stoopid 25K price tag

ambro25

el tel wrote:

make her realise that twat$ are strangely drawn to 3-series

hee hee hee (and agreed) with that one. And why bother with thinking about "car ownership ageism" when "stereotyping" is so much more satisfying

Kermitt wrote:

Even impreza's, is it just me or are they becoming a mid-life crisis car for 35-50 yr old men..

Because you would usually have to be in that age and income bracket to afford to run one in Ireland ?

...unless of course you (i) have a rich Dad or (ii) are inordinately entrepreneurial/skilled for your young age (which is why I'm running an Impreza 2.0 at well under that age bracket )

Interceptor

People will always generalise and I've come across lots of age related nonsense. Any car that makes your heart miss a beat, or that you catch yourself checking your reflection in shop windows in will fit the bill. Ask yourself whether you like the car and whether you care what people think (I'm watching out for a really cheap V6 Renault Avantime - what does that tell you?)

'cptr

mike65

That you are as iconoclastic as ever?

Mike.

prospect

mike65 wrote:

That you are as iconoclastic as ever?

Mike.

For those of you (who are like me) and don't know what the hell Mike is on about:

Word History: An iconoclast can be unpleasant company, but at least the modern iconoclast only attacks such things as ideas and institutions. The original iconoclasts destroyed countless works of art. Eikonoklasts, the ancestor of our word, was first formed in Medieval Greek from the elements eikn, “image, likeness,” and -klasts, “breaker,” from kln, “to break.” The images referred to by the word are religious images, which were the subject of controversy among Christians of the Byzantine Empire in the 8th and 9th centuries, when iconoclasm was at its height. In addition to destroying many sculptures and paintings, those opposed to images attempted to have them barred from display and veneration. During the Protestant Reformation images in churches were again felt to be idolatrous and were once more banned and destroyed. It is around this time that iconoclast, the descendant of the Greek word, is first recorded in English (1641), with reference to the Byzantine iconoclasts. In the 19th century iconoclast took on the secular sense that it has today, as in “Kant was the great iconoclast” (James Martineau).

mike65

Thats more elaborate a definiton than I had in mind!

Mike.

Interceptor

prospect wrote:

An iconoclast can be unpleasant company

Oh that would be me alright. At least you didn't call me a tasteless old fogey (which would be right back on topic)...

(It just dawned on me that since I am currently driving Vicki Pollards dream car that I should probably start listening to what people think old men should drive)

'c