What are your thoughts on badge snobs?

[vsideboy]

I've just sold my Range Rover, what what.

[mar00]

in general badge snobs don't really car about cars or know much about them either, more about the fake images they believe it presents,

just happens most of my cars have been German, followed by Japanese, few British, French and couple of Italian,

i buy cars first for the engineering then style/class badge is irrelevant, but at least three times I've been out drove past a dealer seen a car and bought it :-), well know badges too,

[Kenan]

I choose a car for how it drives and performs. The badge has never really come into it, but I could be called a model snob as I would always go for the higher spec models.

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[ollienoclue]

BMW and Mercedes- brands being synonymous with quality and reliability isn't a theory I buy into any longer.

I personally believe the big German car makers have all lost the plot and diluted their brands or philosophy so much that they don't appeal to me any longer. Of course they are all selling cars in droves but then McDonalds sell food by the pallet load....

Mind you I am a tight wad by nature and would never ever pay through the nose to have any car on the drive, I don't care what it is. I genuinely don't owe anyone a cent for anything and there is no way you would convince me or the wife to be shelling out hundreds of pounds a month for a car on PCP for the prestige of it. It's just not how I was brought up. I'd sooner drive around in a 100,000 mile Mondeo (not for the first time in my life either) than be stabbed for serious money each month. When I was a lot younger I had a small bank loan to part pay for a new (to me) car, from memory the repayment schedule was £150 a month by direct debit and I hated paying it every single time so I eventually paid the remaining balance of the loan off by saving hard.

The very young people saddling themselves with significant debt early on makes no sense to me. As one of my first cars I used to drive around in a diesel Fiesta (the old 1.8 Endura with no turbo) which sounded like a bag of hammers and basically converted most of it's fuel into air pollution rather than horsepower but it cost nearly zip to run. I think it cost £1800 new which at the time was about 3 weeks worth of wages.

Historically have always bought used cars though always looked for models with the options I wanted at the time, of course as time goes by the spec of most cars is increasing all the time so that's probably unnecessary now.

[Lexus-is250]

Ive only gone with Japanese cars over the last 20 years. I've looked at the big German manufacturers but their reliability scares me after so long having bulletproof reliability.

Yes Japanese cars dont feel as engineered as their panels might be slightly thinner or the interior hasn't got as many soft touch plastics in and the paint is softer.

But they just keep going and there is a lightness of touch about them that I like. I'm drawn to some of quirky traits that they often have that's still in some of the cars now including my Mazda.

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[Andy from Sandy]

What particularly irks me is seeing people in base spec cars

I don't spend my life in my car.

I don't want a factory fitted sat nav as they usually cost money to update.

The only single option that I miss on my current car is the auto dipping rear view mirror so I don't get dazzled from behind.

I have a BMW. I paid cash for it and could of sunk another £X grand in it for all the options but they don't pay you back in resale value.

[RCCampus]

I guess my opinions stem from being tight with money/general philosophy with money

[Harry_p]

The only thing worse than a badge snob is an inverse badge snob who assumes everyone who buys a base model 'premium' brand only does so for the badge.

I bought my first BMW not because it was a BMW but because it was an m3 which evokes memories of late 80s / early 90s touring cars from a period when I was starting to take notice of such things. I really wasn't that bothered that it was a 'bmw'

As it happened, I rather liked it. I liked the driving position, the large transmission tunnel with relatively short and stubby lever, the weight of the controls, the honest solid engineering and materials which weren't trying to be too flashy as well as the front engine rwd layout.

Because of my experiences with one of the brand, then next car I bought was another BMW. This one was a 316i compact as a spare car, runaround, park anywhere, throw anything in it car. Did I care that it was a base model? That people might think I was driving a poor mans bmw? No. I enjoyed the very same solid engineering, the seating position, familiar ergonomics, the push from the rear driving dynamics and nimble sporty feel despite the very modest engine output.

At one point I owned a 2.3 litre left hand drive m3, a 1.6 8v 316i compact and a 3.2 litre 315bhp m3. I currently daily drive a little Alfa mito and also own a couple of Rover metros. I am far from a badge snob!

[LSpec]

this is interesting, because sounds like I cant have a certain badge because I will be a snob badge, but I understood that if you buy a car, base spec car because of the badge and you are getting money problems because of that, yes you are a badge snob.

but if I can afford any car, why that would be a snob?

all my cars always were top of the line (dont get me wrong) always used, and the list is.

Mitsubishi mirage LS, bought in 2010, year 2002. Is the top of the line here in GT.
Suzuki swift GLT, bought in 2014, year 2007,
volvo XC70 2001, bought in 2015.
and my recently, BMW 130i 2007, bought in 2018.

I dont have any money problems, thank God, and I bought any of them because I like it not because the looks or status that gave me.