CAPTAIN OBVIOUS
RELAX INTO A WARM BATH OF SAFE BETS: THE CARS YOU CAN’T LOSE ON, THE HEARTLAND CHOICES THAT REQUIRE NO IMAGINATION WHATSOEVER...
£15K AND UNDER Ford Fiesta ST
PRICE THEN/NOW: FROM £22,930/FROM £14K... PROS A TopGear Car of the Year, a benchmark hot hatch, lots of standard kit, no known gremlins
CONS Current shape STs are only just starting to trickle below £15k, so you might be tempted by a tidy previous-gen car. It’s also fab
Put your money where our mouth is with a car so well rounded and fundamentally brilliant we named it the single best new car to arrive in the whole of And yes the very Fiesta ST that was the TG Car of the Year only four short years ago is now just dropping into the sub k price bracket
The previous gen ST was also a cracker so it’s easy to be confused here The earlier car complete with the litre four cylinder engine and button festooned interior has been sub k for years now this money buys a minter or you can steal into a high mile HPI clear example for about k
In Ford risked it all to meddle severely with the ST’s recipe In went a clever litre cyl engine with cylinder deactivation when cruising meaning mpg motorway cruising is possible We also got modes Normal Sport Track with reduced stability control interference and a more chirrupy engine note It sounded like Ford had overcomplicated its classically correct hot hatch but the result was a better sounding more comfortable but no less entertaining sequel
Recently facelifted this ST is only halfway through its lifespan but if you’re quick enough in the classifieds you can put one of the st century’s greatest performance cars on your driveway for k off list
£30K AND UNDER Porsche 981 Cayman
PRICE THEN/NOW: £39,690/£26,000
PROS One of Porsche’s best ever chassis, containing the good engine, before Stuttgart went and ruined it. Wears high miles very well
CONS For this money, you’re only getting a 2.7, so it ain’t all that quick. Prepare to be mugged by a turbodiesel taxi
Ah yes the answer that falls out of Captain Obvious’ mouth every time a hapless civilian queries what used sports car to get for grand a Porsche To or not to ? Well this sort of budget will bag you the tidiest of or early s
Or try this possibly the purest Porsche sports car of the century
The second gen Cayman was lower slung but wider than the first hard topped Boxster gaining stance and confidence Engines varied between a litre flat six good for over bhp per litre or a lustier litre flat six in the Cayman S
Inside you get a much more mature cockpit than the first gen baby croc just as well because it was hardly groaning under the weight of equipment Porsche decided the sweet handling balance and zesty engine would suffice and you’d pay extra for electric or heated seats satnav or adaptive dampers
Values are steadfast at just under k potentially because of this car’s legacy as the last nat asp flat six Cayman ¤GTs excluded¦ In Porsche facelifted this car into the ditching the detuned engines for a coarse turbocharged flat four that we’ve never quite forgiven These earlier cars sound leagues fruitier and though they lack outright overtaking torque revving these entry level Caymans out to make rapid progress is not exactly a hardship
£70K AND UNDER
BMW M5 Competition
PRICE THEN/NOW: £100,000/FROM £58,000
PROS Monstrous pace, opulent luxury, stick a private plate on and no one will spot it isn’t a £100k showroom-fresh one CONS Hefty servicing costs, chunky running costs. Obviously. It’s a two-tonne Beemer
Yep the very latest greatest BMW super saloon Not just any M the M Competition with healthily north of bhp and a lower ride height complimented by racier geometry and suspension settings Yours for five figures less than that ugly new M Now you’re listening
‘Competition’ was originally an upgrade pack for the regular M but now BMW only sells the Comp in the UK having ditched the regular bhp version If you’d prefer your M with slightly less taut suspension and can sleep at night knowing you’re a couple of tenths slower from the standard cars are now changing hands from The Comp isn’t dramatically more expensive
Powered by a litre bi turbo V the big news was the arrival of all wheel drive on an M It’s rear biased as standard you can fiddle with the settings to make it more tail happy still or just go right ahead and select the RWD mode
Like Captain Obvious’ other picks the F M is so recent it’s not really had time to disclose its reliability nightmares Owners’ main complaints are eye watering service costs and you’ll be chewing through tyres and premium unleaded at a fair lick See also tax Paying for two parking spaces And the local car wash is definitely going to class it as a ‘big car’ and charge you double