Is there really such a thing... a car which is bought and used by all walks of Society regardless of wealth or otherwise and in daily use?
The only one that I can think of that actually fitted the bill was the Mini in the mid to late sixties... They were to be seen being driven by everyone from Royalty to the working class man and his family... But then things moved on and it lost its wider appeal...
I can't think of any other car which has had the same appeal... the Beetle, 500 and Land Rover (Defender) have come close but even then there were section of society that didn't use them in the same way as people took to the Mini...
I think nowadays with all the marketing research that goes on and the plugging of "niche" markets its unlikely that there will be a car for all the people... if anything we seem to be moving away from the concept...
|
Volvo estates are fairly classless, the older ones anyway which do not cost an arm an a leg when something goes wrong with one of the many modules.
Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA, drives a '93 Volvo 240GL estate.
Golf also has a reputation as a classless car to be found anywhere.
Last edited by: gmac on Sat 1 Jan 11 at 09:12
|
|
I gave up on class many years ago...
|
|
Some are more equal than others in a classless society.
|
I don't think the Beetle was ever a classless car actually. Whereas the Mini was a chic fashion accessory amongst the wealthy set, and the Land Rover, at least in its earlier incarnations, was a true everyman's vehicle, Volksawagen's offering always had an air or working class about it.
Having suffered one I can understand why. Horrible thing to take on a long journey; I'd sooner ride a moped.
|
NO car was ever classless. The mere act of buying a car and running a car means you have stepped up a rung..
The act of stealing a car and joy riding means you have stepped down a rung.
Nowhere in the world is there a classless society.
|
|
I suppose VW has the classless name when translated but one of its instigators was not such a nice person. Yes I think the mini and the model t ford have it .
|
The Golf.
I've parked mine on council estates and in posh bits of London. Doesn't stand out or raise eyebrows in either. Driven by everyone from chavs to royalty.
|
|
I'd agree about the Golf: also cars that are useful (people-carriers, large estates) tell you more at people's circumstances than their class. Ford and Volvo, and Skoda are getting there with the Octavia and Superb estates.
|
Mercedes - in Europe.
In Britain they might be a prestige brand but over there they're used as Taxis.
|
nissan micra bubble
its classless see
|
>> its classless see
>>
No, it just doesn't have any class.... a slightly different thing. ;-)
|
In the UK I'd suggest that the VW Golf is truly classless. for a time the Focus (probably mk I) was classless too. Other makes such as Skoda and Ford aren't classless but people can be seen to have made a rational (rather than emotional or aspirational) choice.
In HK, ostentation is deep rooted in the culture - from the right handbag (for women) to what car you drive (or are driven in). Audi Q7s, Porsche Cayennes (and Panameras) are afforded a respectability here where they'd be ridiculed in the UK. I've seen some truly horrendous custom paint-jobs on new Rolls and Bentleys too. The VW Golf might (just) be classless here - but I'm not sure. A Ford is a definite no-no. The Toyota Previa might also qualify, there's a rather handsome new version in Asia which isn't imported to Europe.
Now in Malaysia, it could be argued that Protons are classless - because everybody (is forced) to have one....
Last edited by: idle_chatterer on Sat 1 Jan 11 at 14:23
|
|
Strange how given a list of car brands we could all sort them into a list from high to low perceived status and we would all put them in the same or nearly the same order.
|
|
And that order would pretty much follow the price list, really.
|
I don't care, or at least I don't think I do, what status, if any, my car confers on me in the opinion of others. Nor do I care, or at least I don't think I do, what status others are attempting to project, if indeed they are, by driving whatever they drive.
I don't feel like I am or aspire to be a member of any class to be honest. I'm certainly not upper class but I'm probably not lower either and in truth I don't feel very middle class.
I have some money, I have some possessions, a bit of education and a job, but like many, I'm about 6 months lack of income away from losing everything but what I stand up in.
Not sure how what brand of car I have while in the temporary comfort zone I currently enjoy confers any class on me other than to the two-dimensional observer.
Anyway, enough rambling,
I'm going to say a Mondeo estate of course in answer to the actual question.
:-)
|
I always found that my Subarus were classless. Few people I met know what they were and if they had heard of them they thought they were speed machines. So I could drive around in cars better built that all the European prestige brands, with superb engines and not put a single client's nose out of joint.
I can do the same in the S-Max of course, but as it has a Ford badge 'everyone' knows I have gone down market - if only they knew that I am driving the best driving 7 seater on the road!
|
Berlingo.
If a millionaire drives one it's for the hose-clean mats when taking hay to the stables.
If a painter and decorator drives one it's for the space inside for working materials.
The parents of a school friend of my daughter run one through motability, as far I can see they qualify for a free car through several years of eating too much and shouting too loudly.
|
Actually, on reflection, I can think of a few cars which have no class...
:-)
|
Without joining in the confusion on the meanings of the word 'class', I would nominate any reasonably used looking Ford Mondeo.
That could really be anyone's.
|
Sinclair C5
Might as well close the thread now that it's over ;-)
|
>> The Deux Chevaux.
>>
Not in this country. If anything it's a middle-class car in the UK, mainly run by ageing hippies who think that because it's got as much grunt as the average ride-on lawnmower, it's somehow going to contribute towards saving the planet.
Enthusiasm for the beasts soon waned when that article came out slating them for being far less eco-friendly than most people thought.
I always viewed the Renault 4 as a better option if you really wanted to act the part of a French peasant farmer.
|
|
Was just going to say that the R4 was a more classless car in the UK than the 2CV. The R5 was also was also quite classless.
|
I think there's a difference between a 'middle-class' car (driven by the majority) and a truly classless car (one which would look 'right' both on a country estate and a council estate).
Of the latter, the old Mini qualified, maybe also the R4 as Espada suggests - also in the old days the ubiquitous Morris Minor Traveller. It needs to be a car that's useful, either because it's nippy (old Mini) or you could chuck things into it (R4, Minor Traveller). New Mini is too much of an 'image' car - not sure about the Fiat 500.
So what's the spiritual successor to the R4 and Minor Traveller?
Citroen Berlingo? More like a successor to the Jowett Bradford, but a possibility.
Skoda Fabia / Octavia /Superb estates? You could never have suggested a Skoda a few years ago, but you can now.
Ford estates perhaps although there is still a (largely unjustified) repmobile image.
I suppose a Land Rover Defender in its own way has to be called classless.
Last edited by: Avant on Mon 3 Jan 11 at 00:49
|
I'd like to add my vote to the VW Golf.
A great quote about it sticks in my mind, about it being a car that "tells you everything, and tells you nothing" about the driver. i.e. indicates the type of person who buys the car, but not the social class that they belong to.
It always seems to be to be a great car on paper, but terminally bland (both inside and out) on all the affordable models. And in any case, common sense would lead me to get a nice Octavia instead of a Golf.
|
My thoughts were along the lines Avant mentioned... Whilst the Golf is a common car, I just don't see it as being "classless" in the way he outlined in the opening two paras of his post... They sold millions, yes, but so have many other cars such as the Cortina or Astra, but I just don't see them being accepted in all walks of life like the Mini was in the 60s...
As I said I can't see any modern car managing to fulfill the role these days as they are too heavily marketed for one section or other of the market... Its true that the Mini was marketed that way originally, but it also struck a chord with others due to its looks and handling and therefore appealled to a much wider audience... I tend to think "Golf" and "man-in-the-street"...
|
A used but not shabby Ford Mondeo could literally be absolutely anyone's. It is classless.
Too new and polished suggests salesman. Too shabby suggests toerag. Just used, and any model.
|
Old shabby but polished Mondeo is of course a toerag salesman's car....
:-))
|
|
Someone with asperations of moving up will want a car with "class". Someone who is acting down will self-consciously want something cheap and shabby. The truely classless don't care, and can't understand what you are going on about.
|
The wealthiest man I know, and I mean seriously wealthy as in old family money running into hundreds of millions drives a shabby old red VW Golf diesel not-terribly-posh version with dings in it and rarely washes it. He is the majority shareholder in one of Britain's, indeed the world's, biggest and most successful privately owned companies.
Amazingly self-effacing chap. Genuinely nice guy. Takes him about five miniutes to drive from his front door to a public road if you get the picture.
Absolutely doesn't care about cars. His wife has a smart but quite old Volvo V70 for family ferrying, again permanently encrusted with bits of countryside.
|
|
Exactly what I find. People with 'class' tend not to show it. If I meet a client at a property and they turn up in a fairly new expensive car (say £40,000 +) I worry about a) getting paid and b) are they telling me the truth. If they turn up in a more modest car I tend to trust them. Over the years, I think I have been more right than wrong.
|
|
Toyota Prius, owned by Celebs and common folk alike.
Last edited by: Kithmo on Mon 3 Jan 11 at 22:00
|
>> common [rich] folk alike.
>>
At their prices most "common" folk can't afford them... Just like that new "Leaf"...
|
A truly Classless Car? - ....
