When we were living in Cary, NC, a few friends from the Triangle would tease that Acuras, Audis, Lexus and BMW’s were standard issue–taking the place of the lower-end “main stream cars” that were so popular in the Triangle’s other communities. It WAS true. From our house to the grocery (~1 mile), we’d usually see 10-15 “luxury cars”.While we thought we were living in an affluent area in the states (and we were), London’s in a different league altogether. Cary’s Lexus and BMW’s have been replaced with Astin Martins (see photo–this one was by our neighborhood pub), Porsche Boxsters, Bentleys (semmingly on every corner), Lambourginis…the variety and quantity is astounding. Here, BMW 5 and 7 series are the equivalent of a Honda Accord.
However, that’s not to say that the lower end isn’t covered. It seems that there are 2 camps in London: those who want the “flash” car and those who want the smallest car possible (hatch backs and SMART cars–a brand of small car).
Apparently, if you care about your car you put large sums of money into it. If you don’t, you REALLY don’t.
A story to put it all into perspective. London’s been plagued by strong winds over the last few days–on Thursday they were so strong that they nearly swept me of my feet. I made my way home from school and turned onto our street. Belsize’s streets are treelined and a HUGE tree (probably 3 feet in diameter) fell right on top of a brand new BMW 5-series. Needless to say, the owner was not happy. Moral of the story: don’t buy a car you can’t afford to replace–and if you do, don’t park next to trees on a windy day.
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