Im just wondering if anyone thinks they base their choices on image or not?

I ask because I want a new car, I always thought I was the kind of person who just bought what I liked and didn't care about image (this is true in clothes etc Im not one for following fashion)

I think living in Cyprus has made me more image conscious, especially with cars! They treat you differently if your in a nice car - when I drive around in my old RAV 4 the cypriots think its ok to pull out in front of me but on the few occasions Ive driven my step dads VW Golf around no one pulls out in front of you!

The car of choice is a mercedes here, if you can't afford a mercedes then you should always have one that looks like a mercedes lol. I want a nice big 7 seater car, clearly a Zafira is not "cool" enough and now Ive convinced myself I can only have an Audi Q7 or something "cool" like that... am I mad!? does anyone else have certain things they wouldn't buy because they don't look cool?

ermmmmm nope!


I couldn't give a flying fig what other people think about my car/other materialistic thing!


To be perfectly honest I pity them if they think they are better cos they have a 'nicer' car than me....also makes me laugh when people have nice cars on finance..they don't own it, they pay through the nose to 'rent' it each month...all to drive a fancy car the 5 minutes to work More fool them!
Also people who live in crappy houses and have a REALLY posh car sat outside...I mean WTF I'd rather live in the car than your house mate...there is a particular road in town of rather manky houses but lots of nice cars!
It's a bit the same her with manners though! If I drive my mums Shogun no one messes thats in a car...cos its like a tank and will dent their car more

It honestly doesn't bother me much. I mean I wouldn't really wana drive around in a beat up rust bucket but if thats all i could afford then fine. My bro and sis in law seem really bothered by cars and are always spending a bomb on cars that in my opinion arent that great but cause its a 'sport version' its supposed to be so much cooler. I don't get it. They just sold their 04 megane and old suberu impreza to buy a '52 honda accord which cost them £3200, apparently it's great cause its some big sport version - 2.5 litre engine. We just sold our '52 seat leon for £950 and got a '54 MG Rover zs for £1090. I think we got a better deal tbh. I don't know why they didnt keep their megane. Anyway bit of a tangent there.

I used to care about image in clothing and things like that but even that don't bother me now. I buy what i like and what i can afford.

Ive noticed that since we changed our car from oh's saxo to a picasso we get pulled over alot less by the police lol I think because oh workes in a pub so he does latenights on weekends they automatically assumed he was drink driving or something. Seriously we used to get pulled over at least once a week!

I dont really care what people think but I do care what they think of the way amelias dressed etc, so I had to have a nice pram and changing bag and she always has nice clothes on

Cars I would love to be able to buy a nice one instead of having a low budget and basically having to buy what I can afford, but thats life! I have a 2002 106 and even the 2003 meriva im looking at seems like a huge step up in the world to me! Its a stupid cartoon blue colour but beggars cant be choosers! Id prefer to get an older/uncool car with low milage than get a cool car in my budget that has 100 000 miles on it. Practicality over fashion any day here!

I agree with Lisa on people that finance cars. I have a friend that always has her cars on 4 year finance things and then trades them back in and starts again. She has a honda civic atm but is due to change in a few months. I prefer spending £1500-£2000 on a car and its mine for 4-5 years and even then I may get £500-£1000 back for it. I dont understand the logic in paying £150 a month every month for the rest of time.... Who cares what strangers think of your car? And as for friends you may woo them with your new car for a few weeks... but then they dont care. A year later they aint still going to be impressed by it so what do you do, upgrade again???

As for clothes I dont think there is as much pressure with labels these days (maybe im old and poor now so dont notice lol). I think Primark etc have made it more acceptable to do budget fashion. Primark is cool for teens atm, well girls anyway! I cant tell what make ppls clothes are so labels are lost on me.

I honestly never cared before but it's almost safer to drive on the roads here in a posher looking car lol.

Id never be able to afford the car I want anyway, Im just hoping for a lottery win or something, until then I may have to just stick with my old RAV4. I actually love it and don't care about driving around in it but it is an old persons car (over here anyway)

all the young high flying cypriots (the dr's the lawyer the pharmacists etc) all have or want to have the black mercedes with blacked out windows, if they can't have them they get identical looking ones with a different badge (our lawyer at work has a Volvo that is just a mercedes with a volvo badge looks wise) so funny! oh and if you can't afford a flashy car you get what I can only describe as a pick up truck but you pimp it out... ridiculously might I add.

then you have the retired english people who have Honda CRV's or RAV 4 or Terrios things (see my car is an old persons car haha)

Erm, not really. We both have newish cars (I have a 1 year old and Simon has a 3 year old) but they are not 'sporty' at all, mine is a Chevrolet Spark (although it is the top model ) and Simons is a Fiesta. We bought them because we had the money to buy them and went for as much as we could with the money we had so no other costs - mine only costs £30 to tax, has 3 years warranty and is dirt cheap on petrol.

With regards to clothes, yes I do like Libby and Dexter to wear nice clothes and look presentable but I do try and find bargains like Next sales etc. me on th other hand, I havent bought any clothes for myself in..... god knows how long and I do feel I always look a state as I dont have time to sort myself out.

Personally I like my money to go as far as I can - I am houseproud and like it to be nicely decorated/tidy but its all done on a budget.

Basically if there is something I really want then I would try my hardest to find it very cheap (obviously cant so much with cars), if I cant find it cheap enough I dont buy it

I used to be very materialist but since having the children I'm not anymore.

Our RAV 4's the huge jeeps? I thought they'd have been cool! How do old people climb into them?

lol snoopy that's the one... no they are not cool because only old english people drive them they're not really that big - you dont have to climb up into them just slide your butt over.

I couldn't have a "low" car over here - like anything normal a fiesta golf you know normal size cars because the drivers are so bad over here I like being a bit higher up so can see further down the road! and the roads are a nightmare so many holes you need a good sturdy thing too.

when your looking for a car over here you have to think ok what will scare people from pulling out in front of me... so the bigger the better, and what will stop people from over taking me - the faster or sportier looking the better haha.

Get something like a Shogun then...huge engine and huge car..scares people and its quick! costs a friggin bomb to run but hey lol

lol I think the equivalent of that here is the pajero but unless you get the newest model it doesn't count

I dont really need a car anyway but whenever I think about getting one I now always think well that own't look scary if Im driving up someones ass will it d'oh.

It doesnt bother me what car i have i do want a bigger car tho. BUt the one i have now is in great nick and affordable.

I rule in my little car hahah, no new/big car is pulling out in front of me .

I do love the audi q7s tho