BUYING JOURNEY

evo reader Paul Williams’ car history includes a super-secure Rover S D 1 and a pirouetting TVR Wedge

WHEN GLANCING AT SOMEONE’S

car history, quite often certain themes become obvious. It could be hot hatches, turbocharging, cars from a specific country or even models from a particular marque. It’s usually easy to spot. But not in the case of Paul Williams’ buying journey. Yes, he’s sometimes owned more than one or two cars from the same manufacturer, but you could hardly call him loyal to any marque.

While there may not be any overriding themes or deep brand allegiance, there is a consistently high average quality of choices. Look beyond the conservative diesel BMW estate and Range Rover and you’ll find everything from Rovers and TVRS to Subarus and Ferraris, making for an impressively low number of embarrassingly bad cars.

Well, not at face value anyway. Paul’s tales sometimes tell a different story…

ROVER SD1 3.5 V8

‘ This was ridiculously cheap – around £ 500. It was awesome for a student, but it was a shame about the fuel and repair bills, and the fact that the electronics were dodgy to say the least. Shortly after buying it I drove it to university to show it off. Unfortunately the central locking trapped me inside and I had to climb out through the boot with lots of people watching. I replaced it with another Scirocco, which was a bad move – the engine on that died and the doors grew 6- inch rust holes.’