Modern cars are rubbish (for cyclists and pedestrians)

I genuinely don’t ‘get’ the

I genuinely don’t ‘get’ the whole having a fancy car thing at all. The average car spends 98% as a large, expensive ornament where ever you park it. I could afford a nicer car than the one I have but I’d rather spend any surplus salary on my bikes or a nice watch that I can wear all day. Is it all about showing off? If so, who is actually daft enough to get sucked into that particular ‘game’  ?

kil0ran wrote:

Duncann wrote:

StraelGuy wrote:

kil0ran wrote:

I find it very odd that a few families I know splurge £700 a month on car leases. Surely the better option is to pay off the mortgage and subscribe to the bangernomics approach? I’m probably going to spend £500 on a Xsara Picasso at the weekend – 1 owner, low miles, bit tatty but a good runner and easy to fix. Will easily last a couple of years. And I’m a higher-rate taxpayer.

All about priorities I guess. Cars have always been about hierarchy, just as horses and buggies were. Personal transport has always carried status – its only when you get to 40-something that you realise its all bollocks.

(Of course, the same applies to bikes, but probably best not to go there 🙂

Totally agree. Im my last job, there was a police call Centre on the floor above us. About half the kids who worked in there were late teens / early twenties and most of ’em drove leased BMW 1-series. Here’s a thought, why not drive a banger like we all used to and save some money towards a mortgage deposit  ? The world has definitely gone car crazy…

I suspect it’s mostly about status anxiety and (related) peer pressure. I think younger and poorer people tend to be more prone to such pressures (and advertisers know it).

On buying bangers, there’s also the risk that your £500 bargain generates a £2000 bill at the MOT stage… Of course that could happen to any motor but it’s more galling when it’s more than the thing is worth! 

It’s not just cars… how many people who can ill afford it are tied into expensive contracts for the latest iPhone, etc when they don’t need more capability than a midrange handset (which is as good as the top end of 3/4 years ago)?

If it generates a £2k bill you throw it away (or part it out) and start again. When you’re buying at £500 you can easily recoup most of your outlay if you’re handy with a spanner (interiors and switchgear are popular eBay items)

I used to go to footy – £800 on a season ticket – and would stand next to teenagers off the local estate who all had iPhones. No idea how they afforded them – I certainly couldn’t justify a £50 a month contract. Perhaps if it’s your only device and you don’t have broadband/tv it makes sense.

I was the same in my 20s – spent a fortune on cars, DVDs, XBox games, footy, drinking, etc. But the difference was I could easily afford a mortgage because the housing market hadn’t gone mad. I guess they’re all living with their parents still…

I wasn’t/am not a big earner but I think my Northern upbringing had an influence on my spending/saving habits (as it has my son). I’ve always bought my cars outright, usually 3-4yr old ex company cars and never had a loan/debt aside from the mortgage. I was lucky to buy in the mid 90s when house prices even in the Northern home counties were affordable to those on a below average salary, I feel so fortunate to never worrying about having money in my wallet/account, never felt I couldn’t go out when I wanted or go on holiday somewhere.

BUT, you sacrifice x so that you can have y, within your means. Saving £100 month not having x so that in a number of years you can buy y, but that amount could be £500 a month or a £1000 or more, in reality the amount people earn often means exactly the same thing just at a higher spend level.

As said, it’s this need within some to keep up with the jones’s or to peacock themselves, humans are different but predictable, some need to do what they do as a crutch, to project an outward impression or garner favour. But when that causes more negatives, more problems further down the line and doesn’t address the issue then it must be very stressful living that way, needing the next fix that costs you a shit ton of money, particularly cars.

Teaching our kids that you can have a happy and fulfillinb life without having to spend every penny you earn and more on what are mostly material things that are wants not needs, is extremely important IMHO.

And getting back on topic a

And getting back on topic a bit:

kil0ran wrote:

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

problem is, and has been talked about many times (including by Guy Martin when he raced against an AI car) is how these vehicles are programmed. MB have already said they will sacrifice innocent victims to keep their motorvehicle occupents safe.

Elsewhere and incl Guy Martin say those in the vehicle should be the ones that take the hit. There’s a discussion here https://www.reddit.com/r/scifi/comments/3pw714/why_selfdriving_cars_must_be_programmed_to_kill/

Seems to me that the only viable solution is for all cars to have the same homologated safety logic, like they have sealed ECUs in F1 & MotoGP. It’s the same as the rules of the sea and rules of the air, albeit in a more chaotic environment. If all cars know the control rules for all other cars then that should eliminate vehicle to vehicle collisions.

The challenge is that it removes a differentiator for the manufacturers – why would you buy a Merc instead of a BMW if it drives the same? Of course, you’ll no longer be driving it so perhaps that question is irrelevant .

One of the posited developments of autonomous vehicles is that they will constantly communicate with each other. This should have both safety benefits (I’m crashing, keep clear! Ice here! etc) and allow “platooning” (forming convoys of vehicles all heading for the same destination, thus saving energy). 

Simon E wrote:

Duncann wrote:

I suspect it’s mostly about status anxiety and (related) peer pressure. I think younger and poorer people tend to be more prone to such pressures (and advertisers know it).

Older two-wage households are still susceptible to marketing, evidenced by the proliferation of 4x4s and posh German marques everywhere. Upgrading high-end smartphones is just blowing money on a toy computer, probably also for the reasons you cite.

I think spending £x per month is easier than finding and/or justifying a hefty lump sum every two years to get the same thing again in a different colour. But it is a hand-to-mouth existence and PCP, along with other forms of credit/finance, does apparently make the possibility of another ‘credit crunch’ very real. [Guardian] The last time I borrowed money was in 1990 to buy a 7 year old VW Polo, the youngest car I’ve ever owned.

Duncann wrote:

But let’s not be too smug… how many of us spend four figure sums on new bikes every year or two, or several hundred quid on wheelsets (etc. etc.) plus just to potter around at modest pace on a Sunday?

Not me, I’m afraid. £600 for a s/h TCR 6 years ago, bought specifically for racing, is my biggest ever cycling purchase. I don’t think I’d go any faster on a new one.

Unfortunately,  there´s a lot of us out there who get brand new cars thrown at us every couple of years! Life´s a bitch.

Leasing allows people to have

Leasing allows people to have things they can’t afford, but want the assumed cachet of ‘owning’.

A family member has recently acquired a Range Rover Sport which is on his drive to impress the neighbours.   It’s not used during the week as he has a van for work and his wife commutes on the Metro.   Most weekends its longest trip is 8 miles to the Trafford Centre.   The car is purely for show.

When I was working I had a company car and had a free choice up to a certain cost.   My colleagues had BMWs, Audis or Jags, I had a Skoda Octavia (more tax efficient).   One of my colleagues actually said to me that she wouldn’t be able to stand the shame of having a Skoda on the drive!

Work is full of lease idiots

Work is full of lease idiots and phone idiots. Lass I work with has £25pm contract, same for husband. Kids have a iphone with £34 contract each. They are 9 and 11. £118pm on phones!

Add in the £200pm lease hire cars for each one that no doubt need a sizeable deposit and it’s madness. Strangely she’s always complaining about being skint. Well I never. 

That motorbike I bought a while was £1300 and in great condition. If I sell it in a year I’ll get around about the same unless I cosmetically ruin it. Even ruined it’d still be worth an easy £800. So a £500 loss at worst. I even got a set of BKS leathers for £50! No bleeding money in my house.