Badge status

[sambuca2907]

The Lexus IS220 guy has got his head straight

[Palindrome]

Originally Posted by TTDegs

Having kust gone through the whole of this debate with myself (due to change company car soon)...

Am I a bdage snob? Yep

With huge apols and no disrespect intended, there is no way that I could bring myself to be driving round in certain cars / brands

Ford. Yes, we all know they are pretty good these days. BUT nothing says 'lower management rep car' than a Mondeo. ST220? yep, maybe. See my reasoning at the end of the post The new Kuga looks good though!

KIA. On one hand, it says 'canny buyer, getting lots of kit for their money' On the other hand it says "couldn't afford something 'better', trying to act all up themselves"

Skoda. Again, now great cars. Could I stand the constant p-take from the rest of the team at work though?

Vauxhall. Whatever you get, it's a rep-mobile. VXR possible exceptions. But still a fast rep-mobile.

Audi. You are definately paying for the badge. Having owned 3 before the Civ, the quality is better - but not £thousands better.

BMW. See Audi.

Toyota / Hyundai. On a par with Honda, good, sensible choice. Especially if you pump for one of the less mainstream models.

Honda. See above



My 'reasons'?
At the end of the day, it's a company car.
And it will be compared against all the other cars in the team.
And we're an unmerciful bunch

We rip the p out of the guy who has had 4 consequtive Jags - as being Mondeos in drag.
I had the P ripped when I got my TT (Golf in drag)

Gawd help anyone who turns up in an estate or an MPV LOL


Do I therefore need a body part extender / substitute?
No.

But do I need something I can easily 'defend'?
Sadly, yes.

The Civ made this task easy

Not sure yet what will this time round.


anyway. Enough waffle.

One final point to make...


If all those people on here are so vocally anti-badge snobbery, how come there is a cross over with the people who get wound up about non-R owners using R bits?

[TTDegs]

Originally Posted by sambuca2907

The Lexus IS220 guy has got his head straight

he is a she

I got an email from her - "I think I've just ordered a Lexus!"

LOL - tech savy (we use an online ordering system) she isn't - think the choice was more by luck than judgement

Agree it was a good call though


Palindrome -

[HappyMan]

I live in a country where the Audi, Mercedes and BMW rule. However we have a different set of rules.

Audi A6 - Company President ( CEO )

VW passat/ Toyota Avensis - Board Director

VW Golf - senior manager/director

Skoda Octavia / Opel(vauxhall) Vectra- Regional Director

Vauxhall ( opel here ) Corsa - Sales Manager.

Now the cars such as Audi A4 and BMW 5 series are coming in more and more and there is a badge snobbery about it.

A lot of my friends are Audi drivers and I decided that instead of buying a basic A3 i would buy a very well equipped Civic.

And the CEO of one company drove my civic the other week and was so impressed that he is questioning the company car policy of his company, As they bought a Golf with less equipment for one board director ( a lady but not sure why she didn't get a passat) and paid 25% more than I paid for my Civic.

I don't doubt that a car is connected with the status of the person but maybe the other brands are encroaching in on the traditional position of the prestige brands. Over here the Toyota Avensis is a prime example!

[Foggy69]

Originally Posted by TTDegs

HappyMan - yes, kind of...

It is largely down to peer presure at the end of the day, unfortunately.

In the last batch of car changes (we all tend to change at roughly the same time) we had people who chose base spec Audi A6s over more fully spec'd A4s.
Not becuase they needed the extra room, but becuase the A4 is 'seen' as a middle management car, whereas the A6 is 'seen' as an upper management car

I personally bowed out of that 'race' many years ago.
My first car (which I didn't have a choice over) was an A3.
Then I went to an A4 - which 'fitted' my 'status' at the time

Then I went a bit off the beaten track and got the TT.
This marked me out as being different from the heard (who were getting into Jags / A4 cabrios)
Then came the Civ
This took me well outside the heard mentality (of A6s and BM 5 series), and firmly into the "wacky, but what do you expect from someone with an IT background!" camp

But ultimately, the way that marques are 'seen' in work fall into:

BMW 3 series / Audi A4 - wannabe lower management with no imagination
BMW 5 series / Audi A6 - if base spec then serious wannabe pretentions, or if top spec more money than sense! (ie upper management )
BMW 1 series / Audi A3 - someone who just wants a badge

Any 4x4 - usual reaction to 4x4 (what on earth do you want that for!?)
Porche 4x4 - you paid how much?!
Kia 4x4 - you must be the Kia Account Manager then? Can't think of any other reason why you would get one...

Skoda - Brave!

Ford - no imagination

Honda / Toyota - okay, what extra gadgets can you show me?
Hyundai - similar, but not many people have these, dunno why

Seat - cheap VW, so better make sure you get the cooking version!

VW - overated, no imagination, so be prepared for some stick!

Kia - make a sign now which reads "But it's good - really!"

Alfa - be ready for comments about buying a trailer to put all the bits in that fall off it...


For interest, this time round we have already got:
1 person who has gone for a Lexus is220
1 looking at going for another Saab (he is the ex 4 time Jag owner)
3 CRVs already, plus another possible

Aren't humans weird

This company car thing, are you saying that bigger and more powerful is better, as long as the badge is right.

Then my status must be sky high. The company vehicle has the badge of a famous Canadian aerospace company, it can be up to 240m long, and has 6000hp. A picture of this beast is attached. How desirable is that.

Do I win

[TTDegs]

I think you loose cos your company vehicle looks like it's run into something hard and flat

[sambuca2907]

Originally Posted by TTDegs

BMW 1 series / Audi A3 - someone who just wants a badge

Hey TT,

I disagree with the above...! lol

I think the 1 Series and A3 are good cars - and nothing about just wanting a badge at all... However - I think you're not thinking clearly if you spend £25,000 on a car you can get from Honda for £17,000 though...!!

What are your thoughts on the new A1 which comes out soon... I think that looks really smart!

[TTDegs]

hey sambuca

I could have worded it better

especially as I agree with you!
yes, they are good - but owners of them are paying extra for the 'kudos' of the badge, instead of getting an equally good car for less money but with less kudos

I do rather like the look of the A1

[19 milano]

People think badge status exists, but really it means nothing. Look at the last 3 years JD power/Top Gear surveys. How many euro cars in the top 10? Skoda x 2 and a jag iirc. most of the top 20 being jap.

BMW's are far too comman (11th manufacturer in survey), who wants to have the same boring car as everybody else on the road?

[sambuca2907]

Good point Milano - all the best performing cars are Japs! And the "car of the year" etc goes to Skoda's and Kia's etc...!

HOWEVER... BMW claimed 5 out of the 11 2008 International Engine of the Year awards...! AND the International Engine of the Year 2008 award...(3.0 Twin Turbo). BMW are really going somewhere with their engines...

[sambuca2907]

Originally Posted by TTDegs

hey sambuca

I could have worded it better

especially as I agree with you!
yes, they are good - but owners of them are paying extra for the 'kudos' of the badge, instead of getting an equally good car for less money but with less kudos

I do rather like the look of the A1

haha - I do know what you meant though. I'd say a fair amount of people who buy the 1 Series and A3 are just because they want a BMW or an Audi and they're the cheapest models...! But the others buy them because they are good, reliable cars with style and image .... even if people assume you're a w*nker! lol

[kenP]

Style and image.

Have you seen the BMW 1 series.

[19 milano]

Originally Posted by kenP

Style and image.

Have you seen the BMW 1 series.

Yep. And style is not a word that springs to mind! Perceived image maybe.

BMW just does not appeal to me. And I have real issues with people that buy base models just to own a brand. I can never understand why they don't spend the same on another car and get alot more for their money (as long as the car is still a good one). It reminds me of chavs that buy a rubbish car for £2000, spend £5000 sticking bits of plastic on it, when they could have bought a good car for £7000!

My boss just swapped a super-chipped cooper S for a 1 series deisel! Why? I can only find it in me to take the pi@@ out of her!!!!

[Jack The Lad.]

Why do some BMW owners have their cars de badged.
Folk following them, who don't know a thing about cars couldn't care less and those that do know a bit, can instantly tell it's a 316 and not a 325 etc. ?

[19 milano]

Originally Posted by Jack The Lad.

Why do some BMW owners have their cars de badged.
Folk following them, who don't know a thing about cars couldn't care less and those that do know a bit, can instantly tell it's a 316 and not a 325 etc. ?

Lol, thats funny because I followed a car just like this, this afternoon. A 5 series that wasn't as fast as the owner seemed to think it was! And it was a disgusting purple colour (I think they call it red)!

There's also a local BMW with an 'M series' badge (prob from Halfords) and a few other M attachments, but the nearest it's really been to a BMW M series is in the owners dreams. why, why, why?

[TTDegs]

cos everyone knows that sticking an M badge on instantly gives you an extra 50bhp!

or possibly more to the point, everyone knows that your pulling power with the local 'ladies' (and I use that word loosely) increases in direct proportion to the amount spent in Halfords

[19 milano]

Originally Posted by TTDegs

cos everyone knows that sticking an M badge on instantly gives you an extra 50bhp!

or possibly more to the point, everyone knows that your pulling power with the local 'ladies' (and I use that word loosely) increases in direct proportion to the amount spent in Halfords

LOL. So true! I'm off to Halfords first thing to get a bass box (10bhp), big exhaust (20bhp), chav alloys (15bhp), furry dice (1000bhp), lots of stickers (5bhp) and a go faster stripe (100bhp). Do you think that will do?

[angie4m]

I went out in the CTR last night and got some admiring looks from guys in BMs, Mercs etc as the car is looking ace, but then I got the same looks today when I was out in the M3 with the roof down.

My biggest bug bare is those people that TT mentioned that put a M badge on the car when its a bog standard SE BM. Yuk!!! Don't know who they are trying to fool, cause they just look like a tit!

[TTDegs]

you'll definately get lucky

may I also suggest the purchase of some bin bags?
When cut (ripped if no scissors to hand) into shape and stuck onto the windows, they give the required gangsta bad boi look, which will in itself make you completly irresistable to the opposite sex.

It also has the added advantage of preventing you from seeing everyone over the age of 25 laughing at you *











* all the above obviously posted with tongue firmly in cheek and with no disrespect to 19 milano in particular or any uner 25s in general

[angie4m]

Lol TT!!!!