Odd car compliments
Discussion
Some time back I got a "Nice car mate" from some random bloke in a carpark
Then I had a customs guy at Hoek van Holland ask me how much power it had
There was a thread on here about googling your numberplate and I found a website called Plates Mania with a couple of photos of my car with several likes
A few weeks back my wife got accosted by someone in her work carpark who had been wondering who it belonged to and chatted to her at length about it (she's not a car person)
Then on Friday she went round a colleague's house and somehow driving a right hand drive car (we're in NL) came up, to which her colleague's husband perked up having apparently spotted it in the carpark and wondered who's it was and attempted to have a conversation about the different engine option and specs...as mentioned my wife's not a car person.
I guess this kind of thing is normal to some of you with exotic metal...but I have a 13 year old 150k mile diesel Skoda
I don't think the Mk2 vRS was ever sold here so they're pretty rare, but it's still just a pretty normal hatchback.
Anyone else had random compliments on relatively mundane cars?
Then I had a customs guy at Hoek van Holland ask me how much power it had
There was a thread on here about googling your numberplate and I found a website called Plates Mania with a couple of photos of my car with several likes
A few weeks back my wife got accosted by someone in her work carpark who had been wondering who it belonged to and chatted to her at length about it (she's not a car person)
Then on Friday she went round a colleague's house and somehow driving a right hand drive car (we're in NL) came up, to which her colleague's husband perked up having apparently spotted it in the carpark and wondered who's it was and attempted to have a conversation about the different engine option and specs...as mentioned my wife's not a car person.
I guess this kind of thing is normal to some of you with exotic metal...but I have a 13 year old 150k mile diesel Skoda
I don't think the Mk2 vRS was ever sold here so they're pretty rare, but it's still just a pretty normal hatchback.Anyone else had random compliments on relatively mundane cars?
Used to get a bit of interest in my first car, mostly because people didn’t know what it was. Mazda 323 saloon, seemingly very rare. I’ve only ever seen 3 in the wild and can’t remember the last time I saw one for sale.
Used to get a fair few questions about my mums Corolla after people had seen or heard it driving in anger. Had the engine that went into the Elise/ Exige so despite looking a bit boring and not having the best handling it was surprisingly rapid and sounded good.
And similar to you OP my Octavia used to draw comments, either because of its colour (world rally green) or because it was going unexpectedly quickly (diesel estate with a dog cage in the boot)
Used to get a fair few questions about my mums Corolla after people had seen or heard it driving in anger. Had the engine that went into the Elise/ Exige so despite looking a bit boring and not having the best handling it was surprisingly rapid and sounded good.
And similar to you OP my Octavia used to draw comments, either because of its colour (world rally green) or because it was going unexpectedly quickly (diesel estate with a dog cage in the boot)
My Clio RS200 Cup gets a surprising amount of attention. I've kept it in really good condition, but I use it as my daily, so it's usually filthy. But the amount of attention it gets is hilarious. This weekend I had a few bikers give me a thumbs up, but it's usually guys in their 30s/40s who want to chat with me about the car.
The last 20 year I've had lovely company cars and some great leases for the wife, never had much notice taken (maybe the Cupra 290 we had did) but recently opted out and got a Transporter that's a bit chavved with big wheels, lowered and a Sportline kit on it and I've had more people say how nice a 5 year old van is than anything I've had, on the work car park it stands out like a sore thumb but so many people mention something about it (in a good way lol).
Oddly the most compliments I had on a car I've owned was a modified Lupo Sport. It was very tidy, lowered, nice wheels, black roof and smooth all round. I had multiple people make a point of saying something nice.
Also, I think people in the UK are ok complimenting something that's not threatening. I mean in that it's a Lupo, it was tidy and a bit interesting but not especially fast, big or brash. People seemed comfortable making a nice comment.
I've driven cars that would potentially stand out as much but no one says a thing. I can imagine people in supercars could almost receive a negative response because people in Britain can't admire nice things people have earned!
Also, I think people in the UK are ok complimenting something that's not threatening. I mean in that it's a Lupo, it was tidy and a bit interesting but not especially fast, big or brash. People seemed comfortable making a nice comment.
I've driven cars that would potentially stand out as much but no one says a thing. I can imagine people in supercars could almost receive a negative response because people in Britain can't admire nice things people have earned!
A slight thread diversion: last week I paid a compliment to a smart young woman( no, on her car) These were the reasons : The BM W 3 series was a petrol, it was a saloon, and it wasn't grey! It was a lovely dark blue with no M additions, real or fake. The car park was crowed with faux SUVs. The clean smart BM was like a tonic!
Oddly, given the reputation they have bothon here and in the real world, the most number of compliments I've had for any car I've owned are for my current Range Rover (2006 L322). It gets referred to as a "beast" a lot (in a good way!) and the 'Supercharged' badge usually gets an oooooh.
In complete contrast, before I bought the Marcos, I was warned that I would probably have to spend lots of time talking to random strangers about it when out and about. However, I've seen umpteen people taking photos of it when they drive past me, or it's parked up or when I'm filling it with petrol, but i think I've only ever had one person actually approach me to talk about it!
Maybe I'm a bit scary looking or something...
In complete contrast, before I bought the Marcos, I was warned that I would probably have to spend lots of time talking to random strangers about it when out and about. However, I've seen umpteen people taking photos of it when they drive past me, or it's parked up or when I'm filling it with petrol, but i think I've only ever had one person actually approach me to talk about it!
Maybe I'm a bit scary looking or something...
jonwm said:
The last 20 year I've had lovely company cars and some great leases for the wife, never had much notice taken (maybe the Cupra 290 we had did) but recently opted out and got a Transporter that's a bit chavved with big wheels, lowered and a Sportline kit on it and I've had more people say how nice a 5 year old van is than anything I've had, on the work car park it stands out like a sore thumb but so many people mention something about it (in a good way lol).
The vans are popular. Went to a supercar / race car event last week. We trailered my car there with my mates Transporter, bodykit, big wheels, air ride and the van got more attention than my car that had been invited to the event 
got stopped for a chat about it while filling up on the way home too.RB Will said:
The vans are popular. Went to a supercar / race car event last week. We trailered my car there with my mates Transporter, bodykit, big wheels, air ride and the van got more attention than my car that had been invited to the event got stopped for a chat about it while filling up on the way home too.
The van scene has exploded in popularity in recent years. My 06 T5 that's lowered, nice alloys and camper conversion attracts a lot of attention from a whole range of different age groups. It's cool, I enjoy talking to people about my cars and van. It makes the expensive RFL totally worth it got stopped for a chat about it while filling up on the way home too.
I got several compliments (every single one from blokes of course!) about my Golf R but the one that really attracted comments was the 840i GC; I rarely saw another one in the 2+ years I had mine and clearly neither had anyone else. Most people were curious as it's obviously a BMW but they didn't know which one. I'm not used to cars that get any attention (or taking compliments generally at all) so I had to learn to accept them and have a bit of a brief natter with the person if they wanted it.
When I had my Cherokee XJ was 20 years old and no one wanted them due to consumption. Got a lot of highbrow business men saying,
"I had one the very same back in the 1990s."
Best one was from my now wife who admitted she thought I had money because I lived in the country side and kept my Vauxhall vectra like new.
Ah the days when I got peace to spend an entire Saturday working on the car.
"I had one the very same back in the 1990s."
Best one was from my now wife who admitted she thought I had money because I lived in the country side and kept my Vauxhall vectra like new.
Ah the days when I got peace to spend an entire Saturday working on the car.
Edited by GIYess on Monday 28th November 15:52
tpiece 306 in the work carpark they say either "Thought it was yours" or "my mate had one and crashed it"Until recently, I've never had a complete stranger ask about or compliment on my car.
20 years ago when I had an Octavia vRS and they were quite new, I used to get lots of questions about it from people I might make small talk with (work colleagues etc). These were usually along the lines of "is it 4 wheel drive" or "is it as good as an Impreza?" which were a bit daft for what was only a budget Golf GTi. Skoda doing rallying must have done a good job for their marketing.
More recently, my current (boring) family bus has attracted lots of questions from complete strangers in car parks - a few "what is it?", "I didn't know they made a hybrid" and "is it as good as a Corolla?". Given I've never seen another one on the road perhaps its not surprising, but before I got it, I never thought a Corolla hybrid with a Suzuki badge on it would attract so much attention!!
20 years ago when I had an Octavia vRS and they were quite new, I used to get lots of questions about it from people I might make small talk with (work colleagues etc). These were usually along the lines of "is it 4 wheel drive" or "is it as good as an Impreza?" which were a bit daft for what was only a budget Golf GTi. Skoda doing rallying must have done a good job for their marketing.
More recently, my current (boring) family bus has attracted lots of questions from complete strangers in car parks - a few "what is it?", "I didn't know they made a hybrid" and "is it as good as a Corolla?". Given I've never seen another one on the road perhaps its not surprising, but before I got it, I never thought a Corolla hybrid with a Suzuki badge on it would attract so much attention!!
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