All cars are the same but......

Well, my regular transport is a Land Rover Defender, the best 4 by 4 by far. It is superbly agile, I have on occasion towed out lesser off-roaders stuck in mud. It is also beautiful cultural icon and supremely reliable, no other vehicle could tolerate the abuse it is subject to, driven fast off-road every day. In summer the roof and doors remove, even the windscreen folds down. Internally the cab is basic, lacking many of the luxuries of modern cars; slide windows instead of electric, etc. It escapes the status trap of cars, Land-rover owners generally wave to each other and many will stop and render assistance to one broken down. all the best urban

Welcome to MyLot. What I believe you are "driving at" is why should you be looked down upon for the type of car you drive? That's fair enough, but people do that with everything - not just cars. Some feel that people in society should have high standards - at least as high as their own & tend to feel much more at ease driving amongst or parking next to cars of similar value to their own. Some feel threatened by an old bomb pulling up next to their expensive recent purchase & the obvious insurance risk both the driver & the vehicle apparently present. You compare the BMW 1-series & X6 which are quite different vehicles with probably quite different drivers with different tastes; likewise the Mercedes. They may not use the same fuel & probably not the same grade of fuel from the same service station. The driver of the more expensive vehicle often prefers sticking to better roads, in my experience. They also tend to seek out "better" bays in parking lots, with good shade coverage & in such an area that would present a lower insurance risk. It's just human nature - people like to associate with those of apparently similar standards to their own & will use every means available to make such a judgement. Whether it's right or wrong, it's practiced by many, so you may want to concentrate on ways to not be intimidated by such people. It can be an expensive exercise to try "keeping up with the Joneses" just for the sake of feeling accepted by people. I find most motorists here are largely contented with what they have, though I have been abused when broken down in my younger years by passing motorists yelling out the window "get that junk off the road"! I drive a company car, so it's easy for me to feel "classless"!

I have had three cars in my life and they have all been about the cheapest on the market, I bought them all brand new, as you said, I bought my cars to get me from point A to point B in comfort..I wouldn't buy an expensive car even if I could afford one, many people told me on each occasion of buying my cars that they would not last but I can honestly say my cars lasted probably longer than theirs...

I don't know if the definition of "cars are all the same" apply to everyone here. Some people would see it differently since different price come with different kind of superiority, that is how I see it. If you have a much expensive car, it might come with higher functionality, and possibly some more features along with the price you paid for. For me, I am not much of a car person, and I don't keep track of market trend of modern cars, so I might be a car illiterate at this point. For me, I might see a car is a transportation for me to go to work, and from point A to Point B to do my errand.