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In high school we read two books that have had a lasting impact upon me; one was "Rich Kids" by John Sedwick.
From the book and social observations since one learned that money from the best of old values places an emphasis serviceability and value for money over flash and trendy brands.
You can walk all over the UES and find beat up old wrecks or at least very late model autos you assume belong to doormen or servants. When someone dressed in dowdy or at least not decked out in Chanel or Versace opens the door to the thing it confirms your suspicions. Little do you know that the "bag lady" or "homeless looking" man could by and sell most of us hundreds of times over.
Persons that are secure in who and what they are do not need an auto that costs several hundreds of thousands. I mean when you get down to it what is the purpose of an auto? Once that question is settled all you need is something that will get you from point "A" to "B" and back reliably. Comforts do matter but is there really that much of a difference?
For the few people who have a lifelong passion for cars, it makes a giant difference in what car you own. A vast majority of people don't, so getting a boring point a to b car fits them perfectly. It's great to see people like Jay Leno and Seinfeld have awesome car collections because they have the car passion. If you don't have a love for cars you'll never comprehend any of it, it's always a point a to b argument which doesn't fit me one bit.
Growing up in the San Francisco bay area I always thought it funny that average people would spend a lot to have the newest Mercedes they could afford, and the real wealthy would have a Toyota Camry, or Honda Accord.
Back when one actually had to pay cash or have rather excellent credit to finance Mercedes-Benz like BMW was some sort of status symbol. Today quite honestly between every thug, drug dealer, pimp or whatever criminal not to mention "rap" music performers (for singers they are not), not to mention easy credit former high end luxury cars have lost some of their cachet IMHO.
It's like fur coats, top shelf liquor, European designer clothing or handbags, and so forth. Even whipping out an Amex gold card isn't as impressive as it once was (the check out girl at our local supermarket has one....).
You have to move up to a Rolls Royce, Maserati or something in that class to *really* impress anyone around these parts.
Here in the NYC/NJ/Conn Tri-State are Mercedes-Benz and BMW are almost as common as water, especially the "C", "300 Series" and other lower priced/intro models. Everyone's got them, from shop/small business owners to kids in or just out of college with or without visible means of support. Go out to certain parts of Staten Island and you'll find plenty of young men that live in their parent's house/basement driving MBs.
Believe it or not some of the most common autos seen on the Upper East Side of Manhattan are Fiat 500, Prius, Ford Focus, Ford Fusion, Ford Flex, Cooper Mini, and various makes from Toyota.
A new BMW or Mercedes Benz is still a status symbol locally (as opposed to old MB or especially BMW jalopies, which are commonly seen), as is a brand-new F350 on 23's. Perhaps it's because there is no local BMW or Mercedes dealer, and repairs are likely to be astronomical.
Personally I think MB's S-Class are some of the nicest-looking cars around, but I don't know whether I would prefer driving or riding in one to, say, a Lincoln Town Car.
On the other hand, Volkswagens, Audis, and Volvos are quite common.
A new BMW or Mercedes Benz is still a status symbol locally (as opposed to old MB or BMW jalopies, which are commonly seen), as is a brand-new F350 on 23's. Perhaps it's because there is no local BMW or Mercedes dealer, and repairs are likely to be astronomical.
On the other hand, Volkswagens, Audis, and Volvos are quite common.
What area of MN are you in? There's two Mercedes and 2-3 BMW dealers in the Twin Cities (which both seem low for our population size and as many Fortune 500 companies headquartered here)
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