Wheels Part I

When it comes to vehicles I have my opinions and I also feel that there may be a strong regional influence as well but when it comes to vehicles for my other than my superfluous toys such as my motorcycles or snowmobile, whatever it is it should have a few common characteristics; it should be classic, something that will trigger warm memories as something that had some prestige in the past that this vehicle will maintain throughout its lifespan. Another characteristic is that it shouldn't be too flashy or ostentatious. Why you could say that muscle cars are classic they are not associated with prestige in their past and they were often quite flashy in their exterior appearance.


However even with these strong limitations there are lots of great vehicles in my opinion that meet the above criteria, send the right sort of message, yet you will still be unlikely to have one park next to you under regular circumstances.


There are 2 real categories I will separate these into, the first being Utility and the second being fun:


To start of the utility class I have to mention


 The Jeep Wagoneer

While it may not have carried the same level of prestige as some of the vehicles I will mention, it sends a strong unmistakable message, reinforced by Tommy Hilfiger's usage of the Wagoneer in his attempts to return to where he started (I don't think he can and some are saying Vineyard Vines and LL Bean are headed in the same direction as TH and Eddie Bauer).


Here is the Hilfiger commercial (notice which band they chose for accompanying music...)

Next up comes from a classic utility brand (as is Jeep) but isn't the offering from them, which the brand is most readily associated (that's next).


The Land Rover Defender,


While they are a bit over-killish in appearance (almost like a squished Hummer) they are something that most bystanders won't recognize instantly yet are built like a tank and will get you through most anything you would need to get through.

Next up for utility is the model that is instantly thought of on the topic of Land Rover, 

The Land Rover Range Rover.

 Now for this model it is not so simple as just owning one, too old and you will look like a military enthusiast or someone with a love of impractical vehicles, too new and you will be hard to distinguish from every other yuppie or wealthy soccer mom. To play it safe and avoid both I went with a 1992, nothing special about that year but its old enough not to be flashy, new enough to be used on a daily basis and be somewhat classic and out of all of the model styles it is one of my favourites (it is also similar to the one featured in the great show Always Sunny in Philadelphia).

My last offering in the utility class I hesitated to include as I have seen them to be quite hubris in appearance on occasion when new, just like the Range Rover, however if you follow the same principle by buying a few years older, you can tone it down a bit. The final straw which led me to include them on this list was the endorsement they have received from Canada's military.


The Mercedes G-Class (the pope used to have one!)

Since this seems to be a very large post I am going to stop here and get back to my studies and give you my perspective on the fun class later along with some honourable mentions, that don't quite qualify in my opinion.