OUR VERDICT

Stylish and highly practical, the ‘big saloon’ 2000 range was ahead of its time in many ways and still has a lot to offer for a very reasonable outlay, especially if you don’t have your heart set on the Holy Grail Mk1 2.5 PI. If you prefer automatics then the Borg-warner 35 is a good one, while the manual with overdrive cruises with modern traffic. Just don’t buy a rusty one, because it’ll cost more to restore than it will be worth unless you do it all yourself.

FOR

A very usable classic saloon with great parts supply and competition potential, with no significant mechanical weaknesses

AGAINST

Rust is the big challenge, along with chopping and changing of parts while the cars were cheap. Trying to put a rusty or modified car back to original is expensive and time-consuming