When you purchase a new car you might truly believe that you are buying it for any number of excellent reasons. It fits into your budget. It looks good and has loads of safety features. It goes like sh*t of a shovel! But the *REAL* reason that we buy a new car is almost invariably to fulfill some deep-rooted emotional need in our psyche. And what new car you buy often reveals more than you think about the type of person you actually are!

When you look at it logically, buying a new car is actually a very irrational thing to do. It depreciates in value the second that you drive it out of the car dealers, and most of the time you could buy an equally good (or better!) used car for *FAR* less money. But every year when the new models make their first appearance in the showrooms, or when the registration numbers change, the motor industry can be sure that people will be battering on the doors of the main dealers to be among the first to hit the streets in the latest model complete with the newest registration number.

Car manufacturers and advertisers are only too well aware of the emotional appeal of our four-wheeled chariots, and skilfully and cleverly pitch their marketing at the niche markets they know will be interested in their products. The advertising works. So much so that certain types of car and their drivers have almost become a clich. Hence you have the balding, middle-aged man trying to rediscover the testosterone filled days of his youth by driving a BMW Z3 or similar sports car. A look outside any school at closing time will reveal lots of mothers driving Renault Scenics, Opel Zafiras, and other small S.U.V.'s. (small utility vehicles) And a visit to any building site car park will no doubt reveal a plethora of large Mitsibushi Pajero's, Nissan X-Trails, or similar high-powered 4-wheel drive vehicles.

The next time you are stuck in a traffic jam on your daily commute to work, take a good look about you. Does that fat, middle-aged businessman beside you REALLY need that brand-new, shiny BMW M5. There's no question that it's a superb motorcar, with over 400 BHP of power, and a price tag of over 100,000 to match! But he's going no faster than the person beside him in his ten-year-old Peugeot 106, and even if he *WERE* on the open road, a BMW 520 (or similar) would perform just as well as his M5, and at half the price. (given the restraints of legal speed limits) But the chances are high that if you spoke to any person in that same traffic jam,

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