My car (company car) - I ask her opinion , she has a test drive of at least 50 miles, my choice.
Her car - currently on 3rd car in 28 years of car ownership, she asks my opinion but once she has found what she likes it's very much her choice.
Commer, bought 20 years ago from her dad who had it for previous 12 years, both chose & now kids won't let us sell it.
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Nicolle's clio comes up for return in the next 12 months. She wants a Golf. She will be guided to the new Polo.
Talking of which, where *is* polo girl.
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We don't have "his" and "her" cars; they are all "our" cars.
As such, decisions are made jointly, which means about 50-50, though if one of us feels strongly, then that person is likely to carry the day. E.g. when we got the Ka, she felt strongly that it should be a Ka and not one of its competitors. It so happens that I agreed.
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I tend to conduct the research and formulate a shortlist. We will both then look at examples and test drive to arrive at a decision. Certain factors are given- last time round, she said no estate cars, so we ended up with a saloon. Now apm junior is 14 months, I think I have persuaded that estate is needed. So next stop V70.
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We both decide on the cars we buy, although I might have more say in the car I use daily and vice versa. As we use both cars neither of us would get something the other hates!
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My situation is a bit like yours Snakey. We both use each others cars and share the decision, but there are a couple of reasons for the fairness.
We recycle cars. SWMBO gets the new one and I get her cast off. Mainly because she gets twitchy about driving something with more than 80k on the clock, (unreliability?!) wheras that's when I bought them before we met.
We need a family sized car for child-related gubbins and a smaller car. We both put on a minimum of 18k miles per year, so we buy a new-ish diesel with minimal miles on the clock. She has it for about 4 years, then I get it and she gets a new one.
My 'new' car is a 55 plate mondeo. She initially wanted an octavia, but was persuaded it was too big for a small car!
My stipulations were; as small as practical, fun, chuckable round B-roads and DAB. She's now about to get a focus after looking at a golf, leon and i30. I personally preferred the leon, but the focus is fine.
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Me: I want that one (pointing to the Vectra)
Partner: What about the Citreon C5
Me: hmmmm no i want the Vectra
Partner: are you sure yo dont want the Citreon
Me: absoultly thats what i want
So i would say about a 90% me and 10% Partner
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i quite fancied an estate for my last car, space and practicality. My wife said, 'no way estates are for builders'. End result got a hatchback instead. I suppose if we both going to drive it then we need agreement from both parties. However she is always saying that if we won the lottery she would by an Aston Martin, I wouldn't let her as I don't like Astons! If we ever got to that situation would be interesting to see who wins!
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I have found a fool proof plan to make sure no influence whatsoever is used. Bring SWMBO around to a couple of garages and she'll point out the pretty ones. 6 garages later she couldn't care less and wants to go home so make sure the cars you want are in those garages.
:-)
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With me its her requirements that leads to the car we have... a wheelchair (even folding type) rather limits choice! ;-)
Having said that a 40 year old design puts the majority of new hatchbacks to shame when carrying it... the Maxi was indeed Maximum when it came to interior space, Focus eat your heart out!
Edited by b308 on 25/11/2009 at 16:43
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Normally most of my "female friends" haven`t been drivers, and so, as long as i took them where they wanted to go, they had no interest in what i bought to take them in. This meant i had free range to buy exactly what i wanted ;-) however, it also meant that i had all the cleaning of it to do myself (not that i minded!). My Current "future ex" however, is a driver, and has her own car (Saxo) which is actually suprisingly ok! but not what i would have chosen, she cleans and polishes it all herself, and doesn`t like me to touch it! as she feels its her personal domain. I no longer drive, so no longer have my own car, our roles have reversed, i`m now the passenger, if i`m more forcefull next time she changes it, i may get to choose the colour!!
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yeah I decide my car solely. Wife's car well its my money so she can have 50% say.
Women don't really care too much as long as it meets their demands.
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Nil, unless you count colour (white) or the presence of heated seats, or the fact that it can't be a Golf (too flashy).
We got a Focus, with which she is very happy (as am I).
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same as Cheddar...my car is for me to decide. Her car equal input (but in reality heavily influenced by me), we do use her car for the long journeys..
I've chosen to keep mine long term, because I like it and we don't need two new cars, so we'll keep hers 'on the boil', updating it now and again....so I envisage the balance swaying more my way, because If I didn't like it, I wouldn't drive it and it's me that's the petrol head. Her only essentials last time were: diesel and estate, although I did arrange to 'just happen to drive past' the local Jag dealer when on holiday in Devon, so that the then new diesel estate version was on show. It worked, we ended up buying that demonstrator within the month.
No idea what to swap hers for next time, as they are discontinuing her model which is a shame as we both like it, it would be a complete back to the drawing board. I have something in mind, but suspect it'll take a degree of subterfuge, subtlety and possibly hypnosis.
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My car is my choice but I know what she would accept and what she would reject. So it's tended to be the top of the range in the run-of-the-mill saloon category (Omega, Vectra, Mondeo). When we were car hunting earlier this year we went to the Ford dealer, and I had in mind a budget of £8k - £9k. We looked at the rather attractive 2.5T mondeo I now own, and she had to persuade me to get it - seemed a lot to spend on what's "just a motor" at £11.5k, but she is always keen for me to have something I'll be happy with.
Her car - recent ones have all been Focii because she likes them. Originally steered to them by myself :-) Most important thing is the colour - bells and whistles come next then technical stuff like engine size & performance.
So while I like to think I've made the choices, her fingerprints are all over the choice of both of our cars...
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I have very specific car needs so it's not really up for discussion. More about what fits the brief. My wife loves driving and is very good at it. She prizes handling, reliability and economy so Fords tend to top her list.
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I know cars ... They used to call me 'The Man' when I was in the motor trade ... I've owned 40 cars, 3 commercial vehicles, 2 Lambretta's, 3 motorsickles and a partridge etc.,etc., etc.
I've lain under cars in sub zero temps, I caught vehicles on fire testing for spark/fuel, I've dropped the tip of Biro's into Pinto's when testing for TDC (The Man!)
So no, as awful as this may seem - I never consult the missus except ... when it comes to the price!
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Hmmmm. I now have a very much greater understanding of the attitude of salesmen in various dealerships when I was buying my present car/s.
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Perro, you're a man after my own heart !...I set fire to a Hunter when I welded straight through a plastic fuel line ! Didn't panic..went to the workshop, got a Mole and clamped the pipe off..then put the fire out..phew !!
I pick my own car..not too bothered as long as it's useful and tows the van.
The Tyrant Queen likes to be involved with her car and I let her get on with it subject to some technical input from me.....Colour is no. 1 priority then power steering, air con and auto box.
We once had a Punto on Motability, we took eldest daughter along and they plumped for a pink one......they must have seen the colour drain from my face 'cos they soon decided that Dad wouldn't be seen dead in it and changed their minds to an orange one !!!
Ted
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I generally decide what to buy but the wife has to approve the cars face, rear end and input with colour
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My wife hates my S60. It's everything she despises in a car. Saloon, big, a bit cumbersome around town. She absolutely dests the colour, referring to it with no affection at all as "the Goldmobile" (it's maya gold). She drives it only when walking is the only alternative. She loves her Golf. Kind of suits me really, although if I'm doing a long trip, prising the Golf key out of her hand (for 55 mpg vs 33) can be awkward.
If we were sharing cars, she would have a huge influence. She knows what she likes, and more importantly what she doesn't. She wants to replace the Golf with a mk6 equivalent. I have no problem with that, if the small question of affording it is put to one side. It won't be for a while. :-(
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SWMBO is my best friend and trusted advisor. She usually provides a valued second opinion when I buy a car, and I've always been happy with my final choice. She's never like driving the cars that I have chosen, though.
All this changed with my current car. I was spending (for me) a lot of money on a new car, and she felt that I had to make the choice 100% myself. Result: I now have a car that I am not really happy with, but she actually loves to drive!
After owning the car for a few months, I confessed one day that I felt that I had made a big mistake in buying it. Without any prompting from me, she was able to list all the things that I didn't like about the car! She knows me better than I know myself, and can read me like a book.
Next time, SWMBO definitely gets involved again!
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If I remember right, LDO, that's a BMW 3-series - ? If so, you and I are probably thr only people on the planet who don't rave about them. I had several long test runs in 320ds and couldn't come to terms withe the driving position and the gearchange.
Back to the point - SWMBO like test-driving cars with me but since the children have grown up has got used to driving small cars, so is less concerned about what I have. She now pays for her own cars so obviously makes the decision (maybe not so obviously, from what I read above....). I help and advise but the last two have been Minis, currently a Cooper convertible - she loves them and nothing else will do. For her needs I agree the Mini is just right.
For the fun car she preferred the Z3 over the MX-5 and I'm glad she did, for different reasons from hers.
Edited by Avant on 26/11/2009 at 00:14
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>>> I set fire to a Hunter when I welded straight through a plastic fuel line <<<
I know of a few people that aren't here anymore Teddy re: welding & fuel lines :(
Upon reflection, I do indeed consider Mr's perro when choosing a car as I would quite like DP's S60 (apart from the colour!) whereas the missus prefers a smaller car for parking.
Also, left to her own heart-felt choice, she would go for something a little sportier than a black Nissan Almera - she also has a soft-spot for the PT Cruiser but - being I work on Vulcan logic, reliability and practicality are foremost in my decision.
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