What is it with this? I seem to be noticing it more and more recently – on my regular morning dog walk there are two modest houses (one a two bed semi, the other a small two bed bungalow) but with very flash and very new Range Rovers sat outside. Then there is another – again a two or three bed tiny semi but has one of those new BMW electric sports cars sat outside in the very tiny drive.

Is it all simply about needing to have the latest, flashiest car all the time?

Pension realisation ?
Lottery win ?
But suspect it’s PCP deals on modest incomes.. and who can blame them if they can afford it.

Their money (or debt), up to them what to spend it on.

Maybe they have bucket loads of cash and like cars but don’t need/want a flash house?

or is it just personal choice? a big house isn’t everything. Some would argue that huge unnecessary houses are the same thing in reverse.

I’d rather have a humble home and be able to live than plow everything into a huge house for me and the wife and kids.

Is it all simply about needing to have the latest, flashiest car all the time?

It could be, or it could be something else like a company car. I’m sure some people will look at my place and the car parked outside shaking their head in bemusement. Car has a list price about 2/3s of what my flat cost but it’s not mine and I’m not about to move just so it doesn’t seem odd to other people.

It’s the latest generation of young middle management coming through – senior or capable enough to be in a job with nice perks like flash company cars but of a generation where you need to save for years and years to get yourself into a ‘flash’ house, if they ever make it.

Old’uns won’t get it.

But suspect it’s PCP deals on modest incomes

Posh cars can depreciate very slowly, so the monthly PCP payment can be very low.

Perhaps they ordered them while drunk from Ling cars and were unable to cancel.

Our street seems to be regentrifying at the moment, a rash of fancy Mercs, Porsches, Beamers and Audis among the Fords and VWs lately.

Drug dealers..

Maybe they like cars.

I live in a big house and drive a rubbish car.

Do I win five pounds?

Speaking as someone with a top of the range BMW but a tiny 1 bedroom flat, maybe they just value their motor vehicle more than they value their house?

It happens

Rachel

PCP has made brand new, flash cars pretty affordable if you want them.

Is it all simply about needing to have the latest, flashiest car all the time?

Sometimes you just have to accept that other peoples priorities are different to your own. Without a Carbon Fibre addiction I’m sure at lot of us could find £260 a month for a new C-Class if we wanted one, £330 for an Evoque, even £700 a month for that fancy BMW i8.

Equally, the last decade or so has shown a lot of people that doing your testicles on the biggest mortgage possible isn’t perhaps a good idea – some people like where they live, like their house, like their neighbours – so even if their income has grown, they don’t feel they have to trade up every 5-10 years.

Not everyone wants or needs a big house.

I think what it is is that the people whose money has been spent (on monthly payments or outright purchase) like those cars and are prepared to pay for them, but are not prepared or able to pay for a large house, or the bills involved. Or maybe it’s an environmental choice, after all heating a typical large house emits several times more CO2 than even a typical flash car.

Could you specify an acceptable house value to car list price ratio so we can avoid offending your sensibilities in future?

Without a Carbon Fibre addiction I’m sure at lot of us could find £260 a month for a new C-Class if we wanted one, £330 for an Evoque, even £700 a month for that fancy BMW i8.

What about an XC60?

Surely it depends entirely on circumstances. I have 2 cars including a porsche yet live in a 1 bedroom (plus box room flat). I could buy something bigger but as a single bloke whats the point in me having 4 bedrooms and multiple bathrooms?

I get enjoyment out of owning and driving a nice car. I doubt I’d get any enjoyment out of having an extra 3 empty bedrooms and the choice of which toilet to take my daily shit in.

I’d think it was far more bizarre having a big house, being burdened with a huge mortgage, and not having any money to enjoy life

I have 2 cars including a porsche

Did you always promise yourself you’d buy one?

It happens

This. I shall be answering this to all questions in future.

I probably fall in to this segment of person, I like cars and am willing to spend some money on having the one I want.

I have a house which is perfectly adequate for my needs, what would be the benefit in spending more on a house?

Did you always promise yourself you’d buy one?

I always wanted a ferrari, but life didn’t turn out exactly as planned! At least its not a diesel however..

Me too somouk.

Been in our house 20 years now and it suits us grand.

Some people seem to think they need a flash house though.

I always wanted a ferrari, but life didn’t turn out exactly as planned! At least its not a diesel however..

Ah you have a Fiat 500 too then.

Speaking as someone with a top of the range BMW but a tiny 1 bedroom flat, maybe they just value their motor vehicle more than they value their house?

So are you talking ‘top of the range’ 3 series? M Sport? X6? M760Li?

What I am trying to get at isn’t people with nice cars, it’s the ostentatious flasher than really necessary sorts of cars that (to me) seem a pointless luxury if I am living in a small house with barely anywhere to park the damn thing.

A diesel Ferrari ?

Whodafunkit..

Nah, flash isn’t always what they think. Current crop of new cars are flash, but flash is the new standard.. so this raises the benchmark and some like to exceed the benchmark.

You only have to look in Waitrose carpark at Canary Wharf to find out whose got a nice bonus this year, yet that carpark is shrinking with the latest crop of new cars (Tesla included) most are now buying large saloon or estates, barely an X5 to be seen and the Cayenne is obvious by its omission. Porkers 911’s/Boxters are a plenty, 5 years ago these were seen as gauche and a bit sub std, but today walloping £70/£80k on a supremely well made vehicle small enough to enjoy the 2miles/40miles to the office seems a decent “eco” choice…

The worlds changing, becoming less Uber flash and more benchmark flash.. IMO.

Not everyone wants or needs a big house.

This, I live on my own and in a pretty small cottage, I spend too much time driving from one end of the country to the other, so I’ve got quite a nice Beamer to sit in while I do.

PCP on the cars and unaffordable housing means that nice car, smaller house is pretty much the norm now.

Knew a guy with a roller and council semi.

He’s dead now. Probably unrelated.

seem a pointless luxury if I am living in a small house with barely anywhere to park the damn thing.

The enjoyment comes from driving them not if they fit on your drive.

Its not a new thing,but as its getting easier to buy a ‘flash’ car it does seem to be more prevalent.

There have always been people who would rather spend their money on a car rather than a big house, and why shouldnt they be able to do that?

Anyway whats the definition of too much car relative to your house? Is there some acceptable ratio? Maybe your car can be up to 20% of the value of your house ?

Good at golf?

(Tiny…..)

Not as bad as a fancy car dropping kids off at a really crap school.

If you’re passionate about cars, is it so different from keeping a high end bike in your house-share bedroom (as i’m sure many of us will have done in our younger days).

Young relatives home visiting the old ‘uns for ConsumerFest?

Is it all simply about needing to have the latest, flashiest car all the time?

Are you from the North? I think Northerners tend to have poor taste in general, summed up by paving over the lawn to park a white T5 and a white Audi A3 outside the kitchen window.
Both had his and hers personalised plates aswell…..

Maybe they work for a garage?

What defines flash?

davidtaylforth – Member
Is it all simply about needing to have the latest, flashiest car all the time?
Are you from the North? I think Northerners tend to have poor taste in general, summed up by paving over the lawn to park a white T5 and a white Audi A3 outside the kitchen window.
Both had his and hers personalised plates aswell…..

You forgot to mention ‘ex council house’ in your searing generalisation 😉

Not sure that’s a northern thing. Not sticking up for northerners, but seen just as bad daahn saaf. Good luck to ’em I say. If Gav ‘n’ Shell bought their house in the 90’s for £15 and it’s now worth £459k why shouldn’t they borrow money for pink range rovers etc?

People get what they want, we’re all different.

alternatively ….

It’s a sign of our rampant consumerism and addiction to keeping up with the Jones’, our lack of planning for the future and the impending time-bomb of a load of millenials getting to retirement age with no cash behind them and then living in poverty for twenty odd years while moaning at the state because it sure as hell won’t be their fault.

Maybe they spend more time in their cars than their homes, so they are more of a priority?

I have a 2 bedroom flat and a 2 seater car.