Spent some time there, buying container loads of Euro parts from the early 80s on . Seemed that all the LH drives were for the ones who wanted to stand apart and above the other well to do. As you well know there is an inherent class system there and it also runs into the types of cars driven. Mitisubishi being the bottom rung. Oh! and the Yakuza they have good taste in cars!
poppy62,
Sep 24, 12:02am
Does that include the "labelled gear" that you wear and have in your wardrobe. Ask you Mrs. Versace or Warehouse, Florence or Fukuoka, Mercedes or Mitsubishi. Hilton or Homestay. The response will give you and idea where she wants to be.
poppy62,
Sep 24, 12:12am
No! the car reflects ones choice of transport and defines ones power of disposable income. Now tell me, you'd much rather, South Auckland (Mangere/ Otara for example) ex-state house and Gallant parked outside, than Epsom/Remuera with an AMG SL in the drive and I'll show you why Immigrants do so much better than the average Joe Kiwi. in a word. Ambition.
mm12345,
Sep 24, 12:20am
I'd love you to run that past "my Mrs". Despite having been a product manager and assistant for SE Asia to the Paris based head of couture of a more famed house than Versace, and dealing on a daily basis with people with surnames - which if they were on tacky products like handbags and other such glittery trinkets intended to be sold to wealthy arabs - and a few slack jawed morons in western countries who seem to share your view. She drives a Mazda, and if you tried to take it from her, I expect she'd wup your sorry backside, as she's also trained in karate. She looks good whatever she wears - or not - as the case may be. Cheers.
No! you're mistaken. I knew you dad and he actually had an. OMG Galant.
poppy62,
Sep 24, 12:50am
Well I guess, that there are those, that will be amongst the richest people in the cemetery. So product manager huh! was based in NZ? Perhaps you should take your argument to the rich and famous. I'm sure they'd be willing to trade their Luxury items on the Mazdas and Hello Kitty products. No mention of you own labelled gear though.
mm12345,
Sep 24, 1:20am
Not in NZ obviously. You really do sound like a jealous wannabe.
poppy62,
Sep 24, 1:26am
Too old for that. Retired before I hit 50 (6 kids) and. I can afford a new Euro Supercar ( oh wait! I forgot, I've got an older one) but I'm happy in my Smart Fortwo . I'll leave the wannabe and dream on part for you.
mm12345,
Sep 24, 1:32am
Well I beat you to retirement by 10 years. Enjoy your merczubishi.
sw20,
Sep 24, 1:46am
Here I was thinking this thread was going to be a hearty discussion on VW's poor decision making, only to find it's a my dad can beat up your dad thread.
stevo2,
Sep 24, 1:58am
So getting back on track. I hear that VW can be fined up to $18 Billion (although they have put aside $6 billion for this) WHO GETS THIS MONEY?
msigg,
Sep 24, 1:59am
yes sw20, few ego's there, mm12345 sounds a bit more credible though, that's my opinion and i'm sticking to it. back to VW, as said lots more to come out of this, very damaging for the brand, plenty of executive buyers leaning to the left will be cringing at this and selling those cars, price drops will be huge.
poppy62,
Sep 24, 2:35am
Oh Bugga! i was hoping that your tax was helping pay my Super.
mm12345,
Sep 24, 2:56am
Super? Won't that toy car you drive run on regular?
tamarillo,
Sep 24, 3:03am
Maybe, or maybe not. It's a social experiment looking at what effect something like this will have on general population. Just because we care doesn't mean much, we are a tiny minority. It's impossible to know where things like this go. Recall Muldoon? It was hard to find anyone who liked him, yet we voted him back in. The Toyota scandal. don't think that made any difference to mr and mrs buyer here. Then on the other hand look how the flag debate got traction.
countrypete,
Sep 24, 3:11am
My time in japan was more recent than yours, however this isn't a pissing competition no matter how hard you try to make it into one.
Your belief is that your car defines you and you somehow believe that there is some sort of inherent European car superiority. What sad and shallow thinking. Clearly wrong, too, given the situation as it stands now.
caroob,
Sep 24, 4:38am
Not easy to accept that 11 million vehicles had their ECS organised in case there was an emissions test
mm12345,
Sep 24, 6:23am
A whole bunch of VW execs haven't found it easy to admit either, but they have. Nice cleansing exercise - less painful than a diesel enema I expect. It's going to take a while for this whole thing to unravel - and I expect some further surprises.
klrider,
Sep 24, 2:44pm
The question you pose is stupid, and lord knows why this is now about immigrants. Although if you want to use South Auckland as an example and then tell us about how well immigrants do, then its pretty clear you have been nowhere near that area. You dont need disposable large income to have an expensive european car either, you just need to be able to make the payments. People choose to use wealth in different ways, some, like you, define yourself by what you drive, some like me, find that pretty pathetic, and I do have the ability to purchase an expensive vehicle if I want. You care about what you look like, which means you base your own life on what others think, I care about practicality, so I base my choices on what works for me. I have a practicle vehicle, a practicle boat, and a practicle motorcycle. Each to thier own of course, but some, like yourself, choose to swim in the shallow end.
kazbanz,
Sep 24, 3:05pm
THAT was what was going through my head funnily enough.
I found that (go figure) there was a fairly strong sense of national pride. So buying the top of the line examples of Jap built cars was more common than I expected.
kazbanz,
Sep 24, 3:07pm
An extra program built into the emission test program so they can pas the compulsory smog testing
extrayda,
Sep 24, 3:12pm
+1 Yep. It's easy to 'have' a flash car and fancy house. A lot of these are on finance. Buying a massively depreciating asset like a new expensive Euro car (note I said new, one thing I agree with Jazz on is that there is a smart point on the depreciation curve to buy) is fine if you want to throw money away - I'd rather be a bit smarter with it. (Apart from my continued desire to own an old V8 - but I freely admit I'm not 'sophisticated' and don't feel the need to pretend).
As far as the VW thing goes, I think they should be hammered for it. I would be curious to know how many people bought their VW Diesel based on it's greenness though, because if you didn't, then I don't think it is relevant to the individual owner, more the intentional cheating on the test. How much advantage did this give them over competitors who didn't cheat and therefore didn't meet the standards for that market. If this sort of behaviour is to be discouraged, then the fine needs to significant outweigh the profit, otherwise crime does pay.
kazbanz,
May 10, 9:35pm
Sorry Poppy I just can't agree with you on this one. If the car a person drives is a statement of their standing in our society then I genuinely feel that our society is in much MUCH worse shape than I feel it is. YOU like a nice euro car and good onya. But because I choose to drive around in a Toyota Brevis doesn't mean I can't afford "better" it just means Ive found a car I genuinely feel comfortable with.
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