Now there’s a wonderful term I keep hearing. And that term is “Lifestyle vehicle”. Now this term annoys me greatly. And I’m going to tell you all just why. You see its not the term which I object to, but the usage of the term. Before we begin I think its about time we had another little history lesson for those who might have been napping at the back.
Our story begins in the US of A, where this term seems to have originated.
Well, after WW2 there were a lot of excess war production Willys Jeeps. And there were a whole bunch of guys who kinda enjoy shooting stuff in the hills. Now before the war they had to do this on horseback, which requires a horse, which is a tricky thing to store, or maybe you could walk, but that’s a hell of an effort, or maybe you could try tramping up those trails in your Chevrolet sedan, and see how pleased Mrs Hunter is when you get home and tell her you broke an axle or the family car is stuck up in the hills surrounded by aggravated grizzly bears and AAA won’t recover it…
Yes indeed, the war surplus “General Purpose” had found itself another use.
Before long postwar American was in full swing of a boom economy. Not only were people hunting, but they had boats, canoes, tons of fishing gear and maybe they had a race car or motocross bikes to haul. And by the 1950s the American expectation of vehicle performance and luxury was changing, at a time when the supply of ex-War Department Jeeps were drying up a bit.
Willys of course was knocking out civilian Jeeps as well as a range of “Jeepster” and “Wagoneer” vehicles based roughly on the civilian Jeep. Kaizer and others had their own products and Ford, Chevy & Mopar all had slightly plusher versions of their lightweight pickups all powered by V8 engines. As the 60s wore on and turned into the 1970s the big three threw more and more production at civilian trucks and 4x4s to compete with the stuff Jeep was turning out. Well, before you know it the SUV (Sport Utility Vehicle) is officially born and before long the Blazers, Broncos and Cherokees are joined by Mountaineers and Escalades…
Thing is despite the on-road-only editions which seem to have been spawned from the current fad for such vehicles, and theres plenty of room to put to conjecture the reasons for that, but the big deal is that these vehicles have a roll in mind. And that’s fulfilling the American Dream, which as anyone who has studied Arthur Miller and the like will know is the myth of the cowboy and the great out doors. Even more than they like going fishing, hunting, off-roading, camping, Americans like to like the fact that they like to do it. Its kind of part of the national psyche, kind of like being miserable and moaning about the weather is for us Brits.
The term is much misunderstood, especially outside of America. Someone I heard commented that only the Yanks could consider a Chevy Silverado a “Sports car” when hearing the term Sport Utility Vehicle applied to it. But its not the vehicle which is sporty. It’s the owner. An SUV in its traditional sense gets you up into the mountains off the beaten path so you can go shoot stuff or whatever. Misappropriation of the label for soft-roaders and the confusion over where pickups, king cabs and the like fit into this leads to the term “lifestyle vehicle”.
So it appears that a lifestyle vehicle is one which supports your butch manly hobbies which involve towing, carrying and driving through mud. This I follow.
So can anyone tell me why it is that in this country such absolute abortions of a car like the Pug 1007 are labelled “lifestyle cars” by the media? It seems any piece of curse word small junk with an inflated price tag is called a “Lifestyle car”. See also VW New-Beetle etc.
In what possible way is a Pug 1007 an adjunct or enabler to any particular lifestyle except that of being in debt on finance and going shopping quite a lot being a happy little consumer drone. Anyone? I can’t see you fording wild rivers with a dozen deer carcass on the back of it for sure.
Ah, no, actually, it’s a lifestyle statement. You see you need to remember (and this is something else which heartily peeves me) the British can now no longer tell the difference between “lifestyle” and “fashion”. Or maybe that should be the difference between “lifestyle” and “some pre-packaged load of old junk we sold to you at a premium price because it’s a lifestyle necessity item”
Fine.
Thanks for that.
So what is the lifestyle which is epitomised by the Peugeot 1007 then? You can’t park properly at the supermarket and have difficulty opening the doors? You are a big fat heifer and the doors on a normal super-mini don’t open wide enough for you to pour your lycra legging swathed uber-thighs out of? Perhaps you watched Citizen Smith when you were young and mistake driving round with a sliding door open (on a Bedford CA in that case) for a political solution to the oppression of democracy endemic in the two party state where mutual interest with out-of-line-of-site backers, lobby consultants and special interest groups hold sway. Oh go on, shout “power to the people” you know you want to.
Nope, the statement being made is “I will buy an ugly piece of curse word car if I am told its cool to do so because I regard myself as quirky and unusual and open minded rather than another demographic in the long list the marketing department has now got down to a tee and is finding smarter and smarter ways to grist money out of”.
Or am I missing the point here at all. Perhaps a lifestyle vehicle is one which reflects a lifestyle which involves vehicles. If you drive around in a 30 year old banger then the fact there’s a real risk of you being on the bus tomorrow, missing a dinner date or a business meeting, the fact that you seek out other owners for advice, guidance and solace, the fact that you spend more money on tools than clothes or that you carry more tools than your local Halfords in your car at any one time… Hmmmm…. I think I might be coming up with a new definition of a “lifestyle vehicle” here… Can you see where I’m going with it. Or maybe the plain fact is that a lifestyle vehicle is the exact opposite of a vehicle lifestyle…
Just a thought...
Our story begins in the US of A, where this term seems to have originated.
Well, after WW2 there were a lot of excess war production Willys Jeeps. And there were a whole bunch of guys who kinda enjoy shooting stuff in the hills. Now before the war they had to do this on horseback, which requires a horse, which is a tricky thing to store, or maybe you could walk, but that’s a hell of an effort, or maybe you could try tramping up those trails in your Chevrolet sedan, and see how pleased Mrs Hunter is when you get home and tell her you broke an axle or the family car is stuck up in the hills surrounded by aggravated grizzly bears and AAA won’t recover it…
Yes indeed, the war surplus “General Purpose” had found itself another use.
Before long postwar American was in full swing of a boom economy. Not only were people hunting, but they had boats, canoes, tons of fishing gear and maybe they had a race car or motocross bikes to haul. And by the 1950s the American expectation of vehicle performance and luxury was changing, at a time when the supply of ex-War Department Jeeps were drying up a bit.
Willys of course was knocking out civilian Jeeps as well as a range of “Jeepster” and “Wagoneer” vehicles based roughly on the civilian Jeep. Kaizer and others had their own products and Ford, Chevy & Mopar all had slightly plusher versions of their lightweight pickups all powered by V8 engines. As the 60s wore on and turned into the 1970s the big three threw more and more production at civilian trucks and 4x4s to compete with the stuff Jeep was turning out. Well, before you know it the SUV (Sport Utility Vehicle) is officially born and before long the Blazers, Broncos and Cherokees are joined by Mountaineers and Escalades…
Thing is despite the on-road-only editions which seem to have been spawned from the current fad for such vehicles, and theres plenty of room to put to conjecture the reasons for that, but the big deal is that these vehicles have a roll in mind. And that’s fulfilling the American Dream, which as anyone who has studied Arthur Miller and the like will know is the myth of the cowboy and the great out doors. Even more than they like going fishing, hunting, off-roading, camping, Americans like to like the fact that they like to do it. Its kind of part of the national psyche, kind of like being miserable and moaning about the weather is for us Brits.
The term is much misunderstood, especially outside of America. Someone I heard commented that only the Yanks could consider a Chevy Silverado a “Sports car” when hearing the term Sport Utility Vehicle applied to it. But its not the vehicle which is sporty. It’s the owner. An SUV in its traditional sense gets you up into the mountains off the beaten path so you can go shoot stuff or whatever. Misappropriation of the label for soft-roaders and the confusion over where pickups, king cabs and the like fit into this leads to the term “lifestyle vehicle”.
So it appears that a lifestyle vehicle is one which supports your butch manly hobbies which involve towing, carrying and driving through mud. This I follow.
So can anyone tell me why it is that in this country such absolute abortions of a car like the Pug 1007 are labelled “lifestyle cars” by the media? It seems any piece of curse word small junk with an inflated price tag is called a “Lifestyle car”. See also VW New-Beetle etc.
In what possible way is a Pug 1007 an adjunct or enabler to any particular lifestyle except that of being in debt on finance and going shopping quite a lot being a happy little consumer drone. Anyone? I can’t see you fording wild rivers with a dozen deer carcass on the back of it for sure.
Ah, no, actually, it’s a lifestyle statement. You see you need to remember (and this is something else which heartily peeves me) the British can now no longer tell the difference between “lifestyle” and “fashion”. Or maybe that should be the difference between “lifestyle” and “some pre-packaged load of old junk we sold to you at a premium price because it’s a lifestyle necessity item”
Fine.
Thanks for that.
So what is the lifestyle which is epitomised by the Peugeot 1007 then? You can’t park properly at the supermarket and have difficulty opening the doors? You are a big fat heifer and the doors on a normal super-mini don’t open wide enough for you to pour your lycra legging swathed uber-thighs out of? Perhaps you watched Citizen Smith when you were young and mistake driving round with a sliding door open (on a Bedford CA in that case) for a political solution to the oppression of democracy endemic in the two party state where mutual interest with out-of-line-of-site backers, lobby consultants and special interest groups hold sway. Oh go on, shout “power to the people” you know you want to.
Nope, the statement being made is “I will buy an ugly piece of curse word car if I am told its cool to do so because I regard myself as quirky and unusual and open minded rather than another demographic in the long list the marketing department has now got down to a tee and is finding smarter and smarter ways to grist money out of”.
Or am I missing the point here at all. Perhaps a lifestyle vehicle is one which reflects a lifestyle which involves vehicles. If you drive around in a 30 year old banger then the fact there’s a real risk of you being on the bus tomorrow, missing a dinner date or a business meeting, the fact that you seek out other owners for advice, guidance and solace, the fact that you spend more money on tools than clothes or that you carry more tools than your local Halfords in your car at any one time… Hmmmm…. I think I might be coming up with a new definition of a “lifestyle vehicle” here… Can you see where I’m going with it. Or maybe the plain fact is that a lifestyle vehicle is the exact opposite of a vehicle lifestyle…
Just a thought...