Lexus: the car of the pretty wealthy.

[SheilaT]

36. For many years now cars have been the main

(and in some cases only) portable symbol of wealth and status that everyone can have. Which means, if can't afford any kind of car, you really are poor as dirt or worse.

I'm likewise one of those who doesn't fully get it. I drive a ten year old Honda Civic which I've had for six years and it suits me just fine. Whenever I daydream about being fabulously wealthy, I never dream about owning a different, more expensive car, but instead dream about owning multiple homes in various cities, or doing truly serious travelling, such as spending six months some where.

What I honestly don't get it the perceived need to drive a huge hulking SUV if you have a couple of kids. Those things don't hold any more cargo than my Honda, are quite a bit less gas-efficient, and have to give up parking spaces I can claim.

On the other hand, what kinds of cars occupy a neighborhood can be a very useful marker for relative affluence, and every once in a while I'll pay attention to that.

The other thing that is actually at issue, but not mentioned so far, is that a lot of people are car poor. That is, they saddle themselves with a large car payment and are often underwater in terms of what they owe, just so they can drive a brand new space hogging gas guzzler, and then complain that they can't make ends meet. Just the other day I heard another sad story of someone's daughter whose car was totalled in an accident (no one hurt which is always good) and owes several thousand dollars more than the insurance will pay for.