Must Have The Best Car, As Young As Possible
Discussion
Morning all,
There area many car scenes in the UK such as your 4x4 crowd, VW (low, Bentley wheels etc) crowd, tuner crowd, classics etc however, I've been noticing recently a new scene emerging, popular with young lads (late teens/early 20's) whereby having the newest, fastest or most prestigious car is the only way to go, almost like Top Trumps.
I caught my 20yr old brother on YouTube this week (could have been much worse, I know) drooling over car videos and fantasising about which hot metal he will buy himself with his taxable £18k per year. On his list were a TTRS, Scirocco R, RS5, M3 to name a few and all way out of reach for him financially if we take into account LIFE however, when I laughed at him and told him to get realistic with a 7yr old GTi or something he told me that he was quite prepared to put all of his available cash into the car and stave off other things such as moving out, a more normal social life, holidays. That means financing it, insurance etc which goes without saying but whatever is left, he's happy to burn in fuel, meaning his Friday and Saturday nights will be spent driving through the town rather than out in it.
I know where this is coming from, as his circle of friends have all been suckered into this craze. One has a Scirocco, another a Z4 and one guy who claims to be the Big I Am was gifted a 1M by his parents; he's the holy grail guy, apparently.
They all burn round the local areas on the weekend, not very recklessly I might add, but to grab attention, "oh, there's that XXX from school in a 1M, he must be minted. I must be like him". My brother freely admits this is why he's doing it but I just feel that he's falling into a deep hole for nothing other than to pretend like he's a rich boy...when he's not. The suggestion of tuning an older car to be fast isn't a consideration, it must be new and flashy.
He follows this one guy on YouTube who, from what I can tell is a professional Supercar spotter (if that's a profession, if so then very cool) who seems to have sunk every penny he has into a first in production R8. This car gives him nothing but grief, he drives it with numerous faults but, puts his spare change (credit?) into a loud exhaust, wheels and wacky wraps instead. I've seen the comments on his videos from other "kids", telling him he's their idol, but WTF?!
He's opened a small business, fair play, but otherwise appears to live in a small place (he films outside a pokey flat) and is up to his eyeballs in car.
I don't know, maybe I'm just too old to get it now, but when did pretending that you're rich in order to rub shoulders with those who are become a pastime? Do we have reality TV shows to blame? I don't know.
What summed it all up for me was one video he showed me of the "Gumball Meet". Which looked as if it was about 2000 children getting hard over a few supercars, none of them interested in the performance package, the history or engineering, only the attention it brings aka "Lambo bruv. So sik". Pretty sad if you ask me.
What happened to the days of buying a car then trading up a few times in order to eventually get where you want to be. I need some way of kicking him down to stop him making a massive financial error.
Over and out,
Signed, Miserable Bstard.
There area many car scenes in the UK such as your 4x4 crowd, VW (low, Bentley wheels etc) crowd, tuner crowd, classics etc however, I've been noticing recently a new scene emerging, popular with young lads (late teens/early 20's) whereby having the newest, fastest or most prestigious car is the only way to go, almost like Top Trumps.
I caught my 20yr old brother on YouTube this week (could have been much worse, I know) drooling over car videos and fantasising about which hot metal he will buy himself with his taxable £18k per year. On his list were a TTRS, Scirocco R, RS5, M3 to name a few and all way out of reach for him financially if we take into account LIFE however, when I laughed at him and told him to get realistic with a 7yr old GTi or something he told me that he was quite prepared to put all of his available cash into the car and stave off other things such as moving out, a more normal social life, holidays. That means financing it, insurance etc which goes without saying but whatever is left, he's happy to burn in fuel, meaning his Friday and Saturday nights will be spent driving through the town rather than out in it.
I know where this is coming from, as his circle of friends have all been suckered into this craze. One has a Scirocco, another a Z4 and one guy who claims to be the Big I Am was gifted a 1M by his parents; he's the holy grail guy, apparently.
They all burn round the local areas on the weekend, not very recklessly I might add, but to grab attention, "oh, there's that XXX from school in a 1M, he must be minted. I must be like him". My brother freely admits this is why he's doing it but I just feel that he's falling into a deep hole for nothing other than to pretend like he's a rich boy...when he's not. The suggestion of tuning an older car to be fast isn't a consideration, it must be new and flashy.
He follows this one guy on YouTube who, from what I can tell is a professional Supercar spotter (if that's a profession, if so then very cool) who seems to have sunk every penny he has into a first in production R8. This car gives him nothing but grief, he drives it with numerous faults but, puts his spare change (credit?) into a loud exhaust, wheels and wacky wraps instead. I've seen the comments on his videos from other "kids", telling him he's their idol, but WTF?!
He's opened a small business, fair play, but otherwise appears to live in a small place (he films outside a pokey flat) and is up to his eyeballs in car.
I don't know, maybe I'm just too old to get it now, but when did pretending that you're rich in order to rub shoulders with those who are become a pastime? Do we have reality TV shows to blame? I don't know.
What summed it all up for me was one video he showed me of the "Gumball Meet". Which looked as if it was about 2000 children getting hard over a few supercars, none of them interested in the performance package, the history or engineering, only the attention it brings aka "Lambo bruv. So sik". Pretty sad if you ask me.
What happened to the days of buying a car then trading up a few times in order to eventually get where you want to be. I need some way of kicking him down to stop him making a massive financial error.
Over and out,
Signed, Miserable Bstard.
The same thing has happened with TVs and houses.
No more "save and buy what you can afford". Thanks to cheap credit and a "me, me, me" society people just jump in to a new car, a 4 bed detached house, and a 6 foot 3D TV in every room (At least they do in Aus).
Nobody actually owns anything anymore, except the banks.
No more "save and buy what you can afford". Thanks to cheap credit and a "me, me, me" society people just jump in to a new car, a 4 bed detached house, and a 6 foot 3D TV in every room (At least they do in Aus).
Nobody actually owns anything anymore, except the banks.
Haha
So he might regret it financially in the future, that's a risk, but we learn from our mistakes. He'll change over time I'm sure, and why not reach for a dream while it's possible (even if not necessarily sensible)?
1Addicted said:
I caught my 20yr old brother on YouTube this week (could have been much worse, I know) drooling over car videos and fantasising about which hot metal he will buy himself with his taxable £18k per year.
I just think it's good there is still enthusiasm for fast cars, I was getting worried that there was no fresh generation who cared about cars. So he appreciates cars in his own way, fair enough, personally I find that sort of appreciation better than some of the modifying scenes. So he might regret it financially in the future, that's a risk, but we learn from our mistakes. He'll change over time I'm sure, and why not reach for a dream while it's possible (even if not necessarily sensible)?
the youtube guy is Shmee150 isn't it? think he's on here.
Couple of my mates were like this. They thought they were the business tooling around in newish Focus ST's and the like. I had a £300, 20 year old VW Passat. Oh well. I bought a house instead and they were still living with mummy and daddy.
Couple of my mates were like this. They thought they were the business tooling around in newish Focus ST's and the like. I had a £300, 20 year old VW Passat. Oh well. I bought a house instead and they were still living with mummy and daddy.
Edited by lufbramatt on Friday 19th December 07:58
I've spent every penny I've ever earned on cars. Only ever owned two outright and they were both sheds, everything else has been on tick. It's cost me the equivalent of a 1 bed flat round my way to do, and I've lost bloody thousands.
And I don't care one jot.
It's my hobby, it's my passion, and the adventures I've had with those cars have been priceless. I'd do it all over again.
And I don't care one jot.
It's my hobby, it's my passion, and the adventures I've had with those cars have been priceless. I'd do it all over again.
I'm 23, have a £1000 BMW. But I do have a house. I don't want to come over all reverse snobbery (that's just as bad) but I wouldn't really want to finance myself up to the eyeballs on a brand new Scirocco. Fair play to them if they are doing well and can afford it, but I'd rather keep the £400 a month for when my BMW breaks!!
Could be spending it on drugs... Lol mums net response.
I think if you enjoy driving then it's good to work up I had a 1.2 clio then a Saxo vtr then a golf gt TDI, then a civic type r then a bmw 3 series the list continues.
Gave me a chance to learn to drive different cars and as a result am a competent fast driver.
A young lad I know inherited a big chunk of money and bought an audi S3. He is 18 and paying monthly around £500 to insure it.
Fuel light is always on but he just had to go to awesome Gti and get a stage 1 remap. Was he bored of the performance after having the car for 2 weeks? No just to say to people it's a stage one.
Drives it very timidly and actually seems a bit frightened of the perfomance on tap.
I think if you enjoy driving then it's good to work up I had a 1.2 clio then a Saxo vtr then a golf gt TDI, then a civic type r then a bmw 3 series the list continues.
Gave me a chance to learn to drive different cars and as a result am a competent fast driver.
A young lad I know inherited a big chunk of money and bought an audi S3. He is 18 and paying monthly around £500 to insure it.
Fuel light is always on but he just had to go to awesome Gti and get a stage 1 remap. Was he bored of the performance after having the car for 2 weeks? No just to say to people it's a stage one.
Drives it very timidly and actually seems a bit frightened of the perfomance on tap.
Lugy said:
A few folk I know are like this, ever since making the mistake of buying a nearly new car on tick and realising what a mistake it was, I'm of the opinion that if you need credit, then you can't afford it.
I think that's a step too far. I just bought a brand new car on PCP. Why? to save money, pure and simple. What it costs to buy and run is less than my fuel cost alone on my old car. So even though its debt and I don't own it. Every month I run it I save £250. So in some cases (rare) its a good idea.Stupid to go get a ton of debt on something that's going to depreciate faster than you reduce the loan balance though.
Fox- said:
It's like threads on here.
Everyone is desperate to post how old they are in threads
'Yea I have an Audi A3 S-Line AND I AM ONLY 20, DID YOU HEAR THAT? I AM ONLY 20!!!!!!'.
Man I hate threads like that. Glad someone brought it up. Everyone is desperate to post how old they are in threads
'Yea I have an Audi A3 S-Line AND I AM ONLY 20, DID YOU HEAR THAT? I AM ONLY 20!!!!!!'.
Usually don't respond to to threads I've already posted in so quickly but you deserve it.
They usually open a can of worms though those threads, a few kind hearted PH souls will congratulate OP, the majority will ask how its paid for etc.
Cheers for the replies, and I appreciate that opinions will differ. My sole aim is to protect my brother but he is his own man and will make his own mistakes after all is said and done.
The thing is with him is that he will go and buy an M3 but, he won't use it to enjoy it in the normal sense such as some fantasic exploitation of some of our beautiful back roads or a race track. It will be purely a poser-mobile and the most it'll get wound up is probably a few twt-ish blats down a dual carriageway. I just don't understand the mentality of it really, having a car as your only luxury, unless it's for driving enjoyment; not driving through a town hoping that girls will drop their pants in queue for the local nightclub.
I don't believe the YouTube was called Shmee. It was Supercar Spotter or something similar. The guy can do what he likes, of course, but he just depicts (if you like) the scene as it is.
The thing is with him is that he will go and buy an M3 but, he won't use it to enjoy it in the normal sense such as some fantasic exploitation of some of our beautiful back roads or a race track. It will be purely a poser-mobile and the most it'll get wound up is probably a few twt-ish blats down a dual carriageway. I just don't understand the mentality of it really, having a car as your only luxury, unless it's for driving enjoyment; not driving through a town hoping that girls will drop their pants in queue for the local nightclub.
I don't believe the YouTube was called Shmee. It was Supercar Spotter or something similar. The guy can do what he likes, of course, but he just depicts (if you like) the scene as it is.
Edited by 1Addicted on Friday 19th December 08:25
1Addicted said:
Morning all,
He follows this one guy on YouTube who, from what I can tell is a professional Supercar spotter (if that's a profession, if so then very cool) who seems to have sunk every penny he has into a first in production R8. This car gives him nothing but grief, he drives it with numerous faults but, puts his spare change (credit?) into a loud exhaust, wheels and wacky wraps instead. I've seen the comments on his videos from other "kids", telling him he's their idol, but WTF?!
He's opened a small business, fair play, but otherwise appears to live in a small place (he films outside a pokey flat) and is up to his eyeballs in car.
No i'd say that's Paul Wallace, 'Supercars of London'. To be fair to him he made his money taking videos of supercars etc and now owns an R8 from it, can't really complain with that! He Vlogs most days about his day and his car and people watch it and he makes money! Think he also works at a certain engineering car garage that deals with pretty high end cars (F40, 458 etc.) so wouldn't really say a small buisness! I say fair play to him to be honest!He follows this one guy on YouTube who, from what I can tell is a professional Supercar spotter (if that's a profession, if so then very cool) who seems to have sunk every penny he has into a first in production R8. This car gives him nothing but grief, he drives it with numerous faults but, puts his spare change (credit?) into a loud exhaust, wheels and wacky wraps instead. I've seen the comments on his videos from other "kids", telling him he's their idol, but WTF?!
He's opened a small business, fair play, but otherwise appears to live in a small place (he films outside a pokey flat) and is up to his eyeballs in car.
I used to be exactly the same and now can't believe I did it! I was more into cruising about with my mates on a weekend than going out drinking at 18 & 19. When I was 20 I had a supercharged Elise, Then a 450bhp B5 S4 at 22. Both cars completely crippled me financially, and all my disposable income went on them. Grew out of it about 23-24 though.
Funny this should be mentioned though, as when you're 18 or 19 and so obsessed with cars, you just buy whatever your cash can get you into, with absolutely no concern about running costs or MPG! They didn't even factor into the decision!
Funny this should be mentioned though, as when you're 18 or 19 and so obsessed with cars, you just buy whatever your cash can get you into, with absolutely no concern about running costs or MPG! They didn't even factor into the decision!
The guy you are talking about runs the Supercars of London youtube channel. He first started spotting supercars when he was 15 and has been posting videos on youtube since then. He bought a V8 R8 at 24 off the back of the money he earns from ad revenue and running his own company.
I say good luck to your bro OP, what is wrong with wanting a flash motor that will get the laydeez knickers moist? Better that than getting drunk down town on a Friday night.
I say good luck to your bro OP, what is wrong with wanting a flash motor that will get the laydeez knickers moist? Better that than getting drunk down town on a Friday night.
stargazer30 said:
I think that's a step too far. I just bought a brand new car on PCP. Why? to save money, pure and simple. What it costs to buy and run is less than my fuel cost alone on my old car. So even though its debt and I don't own it. Every month I run it I save £250. So in some cases (rare) its a good idea.
Stupid to go get a ton of debt on something that's going to depreciate faster than you reduce the loan balance though.
I totally appreciate that for some people it's the best option if it's done for the right reasons but after my own experience of spending 5 years paying close to £11k it's not something I really want to do again anytime soon!Stupid to go get a ton of debt on something that's going to depreciate faster than you reduce the loan balance though.
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