I’m already thinking about my next car which I’ll be buying this summer as family planning is on the cards.
It’s a very different car shopping experience to all the others I’ve faced, no longer is it faster, cooler, more fun
.
But, I have to say there’s some very fine looking cars around now its 2013
Here’s the topic for discussion. Looks and performance just don’t seem to go hand in hand anymore.
It used to be so easy to differentiate the top of the range models from the entry level. Remember the difference between a 90's 1.1l and an XR whatever?? It was an eyeful treat of extra loveliness that was the difference between a digestive and a frosted Krispy Creme.
With the rising petrol costs and a typically male ego its hard spending the extra for a flagship or high power model that doesn’t look as special as the price tag.
The flashiness of a Citroen runabout, the 19inch rims on an Astra, the viper stripes down a Suzuki swift, the cosmetic options list on a Mini all turn heads more than an M3 does unless you have Pistonheads in your internet favorites list. Pre-pimped cars if you will have had such an effect. Also car design is soooo superb now, it’s easy to get complacent about it but the average motor looks amazingly good compared to 10 years ago.
Now you could argue..... stuff what the car looks like it’s all about the driving.
Well it never has been all about the driving for me otherwise I would have a butt-ugly evo or a completely unpractical caterham. Car ownership is rarely just about one purpose unless your lucky.
I admit it, I want something the neighbour’s will twitch a curtain at, and my auntie Wendy will think is irresponsible excess.
So how with all the cosmetic additions that make even the slowest of models look so appealing/sporty/gaudy (pick your own) and the cost of a fill up now how do you justify a flagship power model??
I love being able to brake and power out the roundabout near Tesco better than a base model as much as the next man, but its getting harder to WANT the range topper if it doesn’t look much more special.
I have been eyeing up the 135i like many people lately and got very excited about the bargain that could be my next car. Then as I drive down the motorway a few days later I see a 1 series go by that looks identical in nearly every way that’s a boggo diesel. Great I hear you say, you've got a Q car that goes like stink. Well I’ve never wanted a Q car. If I was spending 2 million quid on a property I wouldn’t want a flat in Chelsea, I would want people to quiver at the size of my mega gates mansion in Surrey and think I must employ a million polish people to make posh sausages or something.
The car companies have catered so strongly to the cosmetic purchaser that the top of range models would have to have GT racer kits on with spoilers the size of light aircrafts for you to notice they are not a two liter diesel.
I know that driving an M3 is great but punters will walk toward a 335d all day long as it just looks 80% of the car now. And I guess that what I’m saying is that being a petrol head I’m annoyed with myself that I too would swipe my visa for the handsome diesel
Buying an M car now you will get what you always did; a brilliant car, but unlike 10 years ago you don’t get something that looks like it justifies the price difference to the entry level. I mean, is a wheel choice option and an extra panel bulge a difference enough??
To turn this on its head, for the less fortunate that can’t afford a top of the range car you can get a stunner! If I was 18 now and buying a car I could own something that looks amazing and would be well chuffed. Rewind the clock 10 years and people spent a lot of money making their 1.1l fiesta into that XR2 lookalike - now it’s already done for you!!
Can you even spec a new Corsa without body colored bumpers!!??!!
So, to summarize this garble. Much of it is written to stimulate argument . Is there much point buying for just performance alone in today’s climate when the lower power models now look annoyingly just as good? :? Is having so many better looking cars out there whatever their performance a good thing? As i write that last sentance i find it confusingly hard to say its a bad thing!!
Whatchyallthink?
It’s a very different car shopping experience to all the others I’ve faced, no longer is it faster, cooler, more fun
. But, I have to say there’s some very fine looking cars around now its 2013
Here’s the topic for discussion. Looks and performance just don’t seem to go hand in hand anymore.
It used to be so easy to differentiate the top of the range models from the entry level. Remember the difference between a 90's 1.1l and an XR whatever?? It was an eyeful treat of extra loveliness that was the difference between a digestive and a frosted Krispy Creme.
With the rising petrol costs and a typically male ego its hard spending the extra for a flagship or high power model that doesn’t look as special as the price tag.
The flashiness of a Citroen runabout, the 19inch rims on an Astra, the viper stripes down a Suzuki swift, the cosmetic options list on a Mini all turn heads more than an M3 does unless you have Pistonheads in your internet favorites list. Pre-pimped cars if you will have had such an effect. Also car design is soooo superb now, it’s easy to get complacent about it but the average motor looks amazingly good compared to 10 years ago.
Now you could argue..... stuff what the car looks like it’s all about the driving.
Well it never has been all about the driving for me otherwise I would have a butt-ugly evo or a completely unpractical caterham. Car ownership is rarely just about one purpose unless your lucky.
I admit it, I want something the neighbour’s will twitch a curtain at, and my auntie Wendy will think is irresponsible excess.
So how with all the cosmetic additions that make even the slowest of models look so appealing/sporty/gaudy (pick your own) and the cost of a fill up now how do you justify a flagship power model??
I love being able to brake and power out the roundabout near Tesco better than a base model as much as the next man, but its getting harder to WANT the range topper if it doesn’t look much more special.
I have been eyeing up the 135i like many people lately and got very excited about the bargain that could be my next car. Then as I drive down the motorway a few days later I see a 1 series go by that looks identical in nearly every way that’s a boggo diesel. Great I hear you say, you've got a Q car that goes like stink. Well I’ve never wanted a Q car. If I was spending 2 million quid on a property I wouldn’t want a flat in Chelsea, I would want people to quiver at the size of my mega gates mansion in Surrey and think I must employ a million polish people to make posh sausages or something.
The car companies have catered so strongly to the cosmetic purchaser that the top of range models would have to have GT racer kits on with spoilers the size of light aircrafts for you to notice they are not a two liter diesel.
I know that driving an M3 is great but punters will walk toward a 335d all day long as it just looks 80% of the car now. And I guess that what I’m saying is that being a petrol head I’m annoyed with myself that I too would swipe my visa for the handsome diesel
Buying an M car now you will get what you always did; a brilliant car, but unlike 10 years ago you don’t get something that looks like it justifies the price difference to the entry level. I mean, is a wheel choice option and an extra panel bulge a difference enough??
To turn this on its head, for the less fortunate that can’t afford a top of the range car you can get a stunner! If I was 18 now and buying a car I could own something that looks amazing and would be well chuffed. Rewind the clock 10 years and people spent a lot of money making their 1.1l fiesta into that XR2 lookalike - now it’s already done for you!!
Can you even spec a new Corsa without body colored bumpers!!??!!
So, to summarize this garble. Much of it is written to stimulate argument
. Is there much point buying for just performance alone in today’s climate when the lower power models now look annoyingly just as good? :? Is having so many better looking cars out there whatever their performance a good thing? As i write that last sentance i find it confusingly hard to say its a bad thing!!Whatchyallthink?
Usa