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Not liking it bc it looks like a dirty, nasty pos = pretty much what we would all do.
This. Your car does reflect your socioeconomic status, but not necessarily because of the brand. From your description of the vehicle you are driving a scrap bucket with corroded, peeled paint and an interior with cracked panels and broken parts.
Women would make the same judgments about you if you showed up on a date with ripped clothing, broken seams, or dirty skin. Same thing if they go to your place and everything is disheveled or cracked.
It doesn't necessarily have to do with gold digging.
I drive a Chevy cobalt sedan, which is paid off. I never upgraded to anything else, even though I have like 15k saved up. My car has only 72k miles, good on gas, cheap insurance like $345 every 6 months, never had any problem with it. I got new tires for it last year, but unfortunately, the previous owner ddidn'ttake care of it much, the interior is terrible, all cracked, all plastic. It doesn't have automatic locks or windows. It is base. The paint is all faded, it looks horrible, and it keeps getting worse. It would cost me at least $1000 to get it painted, which is almost the cost of the car.
I went on a date with some girl, and when we were walking towards the parking lot, she said
Is that your car?
With a tone, basically saying, that car sucks, you should be driving something better, I couldn't help but feel embarrassment, on top of that, I had forgotten to wash the car
After the date, and everything, even though it went ok, deep down, I wanted to have a better-looking car, even though I know it would be a very bad decision to finance one/waste my savings.
I'm a good looking guy, so whenever I drive my car, I often get weird looks from people (must be due to the crappy paint) is almost as if they expect me to drive something much better due to my looks, like Ive seen 80 year old grandmas drive much better cars lmao
Congratulations! You may have successfully filtered out an undesirable. You may now enjoy peace and quiet due to the lack of the sound of her hostile, gold-digging equipment in your Yard.
But seriously, there is a level of 'respectability' and safety which below which most anyone might just say no. I may have never made a point to fixate on acquiring expensive or flashy cars. The cars I did have lacked rust (at least visible rust), ran smoothly and quietly and were clean and sanitary on the inside and smelled good too.
$15K? OP, with very, very little cash outlay you can paint that car yourself: you can make a PVC paint booth + clear plastic sheeting and a box fan. You can buy sandpaper and blocks from Harbor Freight and some good rust-stop-coatings and at least apply primer to the car + you can buy some replacement seats from a junkyard or buy them new for probably under $300. I have done this myself just because I wanted to do it and gain the experience. There are inexpensive house paints that can be used to paint a car and you can buy automotive clearcoats to apply over them. For the best results I'd suggest a PVC paint booth with an air filter and a box fan (floor should be clean and/or hosed down and wet when painting).
For maybe $500 or less especially if you do some hunting in "bargain bins" you can likely patch the rust holes, put on a nice coat of matte black primer and replace the seats. P.S. A 'secret' to painting over existing paint is to scuff it you have to basically sand it down (fine sanding) so that the primer and new paint will be able to stick.
Also, a $1,000 paint job vs. buying a new car vs that the engine for that car is probably super easy to find in great condition at a junk yard, hmmm. Also, I'd probably fix the interior first. At places like Pick N Pull, interior seats can be had for cheep.
Congratulations! You may have successfully filtered out an undesirable. You may now enjoy peace and quiet due to the lack of the sound of her hostile, gold-digging equipment in your Yard.
But seriously, there is a level of 'respectability' and safety which below which most anyone might just say no. I may have never made a point to fixate on acquiring expensive or flashy cars. The cars I did have lacked rust (at least visible rust), ran smoothly and quietly and were clean and sanitary on the inside and smelled good too.
$15K? OP, with very, very little cash outlay you can paint that car yourself: you can make a PVC paint booth + clear plastic sheeting and a box fan. You can buy sandpaper and blocks from Harbor Freight and some good rust-stop-coatings and at least apply primer to the car + you can buy some replacement seats from a junkyard or buy them new for probably under $300. I have done this myself just because I wanted to do it and gain the experience. There are inexpensive house paints that can be used to paint a car and you can buy automotive clearcoats to apply over them. For the best results I'd suggest a PVC paint booth with an air filter and a box fan (floor should be clean and/or hosed down and wet when painting).
For maybe $500 or less especially if you do some hunting in "bargain bins" you can likely patch the rust holes, put on a nice coat of matte black primer and replace the seats. P.S. A 'secret' to painting over existing paint is to scuff it you have to basically sand it down (fine sanding) so that the primer and new paint will be able to stick.
Also, a $1,000 paint job vs. buying a new car vs that the engine for that car is probably super easy to find in great condition at a junk yard, hmmm. Also, I'd probably fix the interior first. At places like Pick N Pull, interior seats can be had for cheep.
even if I paint the car, it is still a crappy cobalt, also the interior cannot be fixed, is too far gone. I would never even consider do it myself, I've seen results of people have painted their car themselves, people seem to have more knowledge, and the results look ridiculous, why waste $1000+ on this car, when I can simply keep this towards a better vehicle in the future.
I simply have to stop caring too much, swallow my pride and wait a longer, patience will pay off
For years I've had two cars - always a late-model nice car (currently a Hyundai Genesis) that I keep garaged and an older car (currently a Chevy S10 Blazer) that I keep well-maintained but can daily drive, punish off-road, etc... and not feel bad about.
I would always take the older one to first dates. If she had a problem with the car I did not ask her out again. If she warranted a 3rd date or beyond, I would get the nice car out of the garage.
Do NOT try to do the paint yourself - it'll turn out badly as you don't have the experience, equipment, or proper dust-free environment. Just leave it! Appearance of a used car is not important in the slightest! What IS important is finding a woman who understands that and will go beyond it.
BULLCRAP!!!!!!! if you take your time, and prep the car properly, it will come out pretty nicely thank you. i can show you a number of cars that were done in the manner in which i recommended that still look nice after a number of years, even in the arizona sun.
now i will grant that they are not high end custom paint jobs, but they do look as good as anything maaco, one day, and other low cost shops do, and they look far better than anything sheib ever did.
Also, as a woman who is into cars and knows a lot about them, I also know you have to take pretty crappy care of them for the interior and exterior to look as bad as op describes.
Wonder how op would feel dating a woman with a holey, pit-stained t shirt.
I think a better analogy is dating a woman with 10 cats. Whose home smells like a dirty litter box.
I went on a date with some girl, and when we were walking towards the parking lot, she said
Is that your car?
With a tone, basically saying, that car sucks, you should be driving something better, I couldn't help but feel embarrassment, on top of that, I had forgotten to wash the car
After the date, and everything, even though it went ok,
That's it? You, and many others here, viewing her as shallow are being ridiculous. First, she asked a simple question. Having just met her, walking together for the first time, I doubt you are qualified to draw hard conclusions about her "tone". Second, she has the same right as anyone to draw impressions from what she sees. We are not talking about a low end car but a car that hasn't been taken care of. From her perspective, it could be indicative of your character or manner of living. Or not. There's no indication she held it against you as you state that the rest of the date went ok.
I have a Pontiac Torrent from 2009 that looks brand new. Why should I upgrade?
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