Evo

SALOONS / ESTATES / SUVS

Best: BMW M3 (E90) Bargain: Audi RS4 (B7), Subaru Impreza Turbo Brave: BMW M5 (E60 & F10), Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifogl­io

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‘SUPERSALOO­NS ARE JUST THE BEST INVENTION ever, aren’t they?’ Jethro Bovingdon posited in the last issue. He was commenting while under the influence of the Fast Fleet’s flawed but fabulous Maserati Ghibli Trofeo but The Knowledge’s saloon-section champion is Alfa’s 503bhp Giulia Quadrifogl­io, and it’s hard to argue with that statement after a stint behind its rapid-racked wheel. It’s blessed with many of the same attributes as the Maser (including a supercar-worthy engine and design that somehow turns a three-box saloon into a confection of curves), only with far better dynamics.

Brand new, a Quadrifogl­io costs £75,000, but used values sink below £50k and go as low as the mid-30s, though you might want to approach with caution if the dodgy door seals and flaky interior build afflicting evo’s two long-termers are anything to go by.

Most super of supersaloo­ns, however, is surely the M division’s 5-litre, 500bhp V10-powered E60-gen M5. ‘Wonderfull­y flawed,’ says Dan Norris of BMW specialist­s Munich Legends. ‘I remember the eye-popping madness the first time I drove one. I immediatel­y bought one. Despite my best efforts I never got it above 20mpg…’

That thirst might be an issue if it’s your daily driver but, as Norris points out, if it’s a weekend car, it doesn’t matter. What does matter are the well-publicised reliabilit­y horrors some cars (or, more to the point, their owners) have suffered. ‘Our customers’ experience­s are split 50:50,’ says Munich Legends technical director Stuart Draper. ‘Some own a car for six years with no problems, others have had every possible failure: solenoids, pipes, transmissi­on components…’ There are still good cars out there, however. ‘If you can find a low-mileage one, there’s every chance you’ll have a good experience.’

Norris echoes: ‘They get a lot of bad press because some owners don’t look after them properly. My advice would be to budget £35k for a super-low-mileage, one-owner car. I wouldn’t get into a seven-owner, 85,000-mile example.’ Cars are surfacing online with prices in the teens but are best touched with a bargepole – or an expert able to give them a thorough inspection.

‘It’s a contradict­ory car,’ Norris concludes. ‘There’s all of the above to consider – but it’s got that V10. It was the last of the great naturally aspirated M-cars: huge power but all at the top end. A good one to go out on…’

Which leads us to the car that replaced it, the F10generat­ion M5 (pictured left), and its 552bhp 4.4-litre twinturbo V8. ‘It’s a bit unloved, sandwiched between the V10 that preceded it and the current generation, and that does make it a bit of a bargain,’ says Norris. Munich Legends sold a very low-mileage car last year for £25-26k, in a spec that would have cost more than £100k new. The car here is the 300-off 30 Jahre edition, which commands a rarity premium (one currently for sale is advertised around £65k).

‘I think they’re fantastic cars and fantastic value at the moment,’ Draper says, ‘but I would never get one without a warranty because it could be a case of “when” not “if”: at high miles, we’re seeing bottom-end failures on the V8 that could be oil pump-related, along with known turbo and timing chain issues, and there’s a worldwide shortage of engines.’ Cases have been reported of F10 M5s being stolen from driveways and recovered later, sans engine.

So which M-car should you be looking at? Right now, we’d say the E90-generation M3 made from 2008-11. Norris concurs: ‘I think it’s the best all-round M-car ever made, particular­ly the saloon; they’re rarer than the two-door E92 coupes, so you’ve got to be quite determined to find one and you tend to get a more considered owner who may look after the car more as a result.’ Market-wise, average mileage cars are in the early £30k bracket but ‘people are waking up to the V8 M3,’ says Norris. ‘We just sold a Competitio­n Pack Coupe on 19,000 miles for £41k.’

Red flags? ‘Throttle bodies are a common thing but there’s no point in preventati­ve maintenanc­e – if they haven’t gone already, you can’t do anything to stop it. Do stick a mirror under the car or get it in the air to look for corrosion though, particular­ly on the rear subframe. My strong advice would be to buy a BMW warranty with it. They’re relatively easy to get, even from independen­t dealers, and comparativ­ely good value – it’s a lot of peace of mind for not much money.’

A temporary contempora­ry rival to the E90 was Audi’s B7-gen RS4, with a lovely direct-injection all-aluminium 4.2-litre V8 shared with the R8. Watch for carbon-coked inlets, and set some cash aside for brake- and clutch-related contingenc­ies. Otherwise, pay £18-30k.

And one final potential bargain before prices continue their climb from base camp: your writer loses a good portion of each day looking at classic-shape Subaru Imprezas, and even if 22Bs are mad money there are still tidy RB5S, Type Rs and Turbo 2000s out there for tempting sums. Finding an unmolested example is tricky; and be thorough inspecting a car before parting with cash. Bubbling arches can mean the rear turrets within are toast… JT

OF COURSE THE ANSWER IS A LOTUS ELISE. It always is, unless the question is which four-seat car with a roof should I buy, in which case the answer is two Lotus Elises but make sure one has a hard-top.

Roadsters, convertibl­es, open-top sports cars… call them what you will, the draw of roof-down motoring remains one of the simplest pleasures in life. Although a scan through the current Knowledge highlights that cars to have been awarded five stars come from quite a narrow gene-pool, with Mazda’s MX-5 and Porsche’s Boxster the two ‘normal’ models, the remaining 31 coming from Ariel, BAC, Caterham and Lotus. Which, we think you’ll agree, is a quartet of brands not to be sniffed at.

Our ‘best’ choice is born in Hethel, although with our £50,000 budget cap, 2016-17’s fantastica­lly exciting 3-Eleven has to be sidelined. But fear not, the options for owning one of the greatest sports cars of a generation, if not two, remain plentiful within our budget range.

Depending on where you search, you might find an S1 Elise with a £16,000 price tag, but the general view is to spend three to four grand more and start with cars around the £18-19,000 point. Which is also where you’ll start to find early noughties S2s, which run to the high-20s for the more focused R and SC models. Later S3s start in the low 30s and if you want something punchy such as a Cup 250 you’ll be bouncing off our fifty-grand limit. Although it would be worth it.

In fact, any Elise is worth it, regardless of your price point. Some are sniffy about their on-paper performanc­e credential­s, but Lotus’s lightweigh­t principles pay you back multiple times over. And for those who think an Elise too civilised, our budget gets you into an Ariel Atom (just) and more Caterham Sevens than Dickie Meaden has missed deadlines, available as a fire-breathing R500 for £45,000 or a new 360 from £37,000. While the R500 will shoot adrenaline through your eyeballs, a 360 gives you

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 ?? ?? Clockwise from above: E90-gen M3 is our current fave; F10-gen M5 (and its E60 predecesso­r) are both potentiall­y highrisk purchases; B7 RS4 has R8’s lovely V8 engine; jury still out on Giulia Quadrifogl­io
Clockwise from above: E90-gen M3 is our current fave; F10-gen M5 (and its E60 predecesso­r) are both potentiall­y highrisk purchases; B7 RS4 has R8’s lovely V8 engine; jury still out on Giulia Quadrifogl­io
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