For an electric car, “range” is how far it can drive before the battery runs low. Real-world range is usually a bit less than the best-case number the manufacturer quotes.
“19 inch wheels” refers to the wheel diameter, which affects ride comfort and how the car feels over bumps. Larger wheels often look sportier, but they can also change tire sidewall height, which can influence grip and impact harshness.
This is a version of the EV set up to use less energy. The car may have things like smaller wheels and fewer “extras” so it can go farther on a charge.
Smaller wheels can help an EV go farther because they can reduce the energy lost as the tires roll. That means less battery drain for the same distance.
Skoda is a car brand that’s often seen as good value for money. Here, the host is using it as an example of buying a car mainly for practicality and cost, not for status.
Dacia is a budget car brand. The host is saying some people want an EV mainly because it feels like good value, not because they care about the car’s image.
This is a typical EV charging comparison: how long it takes to go from low battery to a fairly full battery. Charging tends to be fastest before you get near 100%.
They’re estimating how far you can drive based on the battery percentage. If the car says it can do about 500 miles on a full charge, then 80% is roughly 80% of that distance.
Mercedes is the car brand being talked about. The host is saying that in the past, some people felt Mercedes interiors weren’t as high-quality as you’d expect.
A “shooting break” is like a sporty car with a longer, more practical rear—kind of a coupe-wagon mix. Because the roof slopes down toward the back, it can reduce how much cargo space you get.
“Digital displays” means the car’s dashboard and controls are shown on screens instead of dials. They’re saying the Apollo IE’s setup depends on options—without the extra passenger screen, you might see an empty-looking panel where a screen would be.
Brand
Merck
They mention “Merck” when talking about the screens in the car, basically saying the display quality is good. The clip doesn’t explain who Merck is here, so it’s unclear which exact screen supplier they mean.
Augmented reality means the navigation system adds helpful graphics on top of what you’re already seeing. So instead of just reading arrows on a screen, it can show guidance in a more “in-the-moment” way.
Sat-nav is the car’s GPS navigation. It tells you where you are and where to turn, and the host says the system can help more when roads get confusing.
Volkswagen is a car brand. The host is using it as an example of a company that has stopped doing a certain “cheap-feeling” button layout, which they don’t like.
The infotainment system is the car’s main screen and controls for things like music and phone features. Here, the host is saying even climate settings are controlled through that screen, which can feel less convenient.
Climate control is what controls the cabin heating/AC. The host doesn’t like that you have to use the screen to change things like fan speed instead of having real buttons.
Physical buttons are real knobs/buttons you can press by feel. The host is saying the car uses screens instead, which can be more annoying and less “premium.”
The Mercedes-Benz CLS is a four-door car that looks more like a sports coupe than a typical sedan. Some versions can come with a big V8 engine. The podcast mentions it because someone thinks you can get one with a V8 for a relatively good price.
They’re talking about the big economic downturn that happened around 2008. The point is that the Apollo story continued for a while after that crash, which helps explain the car’s era. It’s more about timing than a technical car detail.
They’re explaining how they tested the cars. The editor sent the host to drive both the older Apollo and the newer Apollo IE so they can compare them. The next part should be about driving feel and differences.
The Audi V8 mentioned here is an engine that’s 4.2 liters and uses two turbochargers. A turbo helps the engine make more power. The podcast talks about it mainly because of how it feels and sounds.
Car
Noble M400
The Noble M400 is a sports car known for being very track-focused. The host is basically saying the Gumpert Apollo looks even more extreme than an already hardcore M400.
“Aero” means aerodynamics—how the car moves through air. If it’s tuned for aero, the shape and wings are designed to help it stick to the road (especially at speed).
GT1 was a racing category in the 1990s for very high-performance sports cars. Saying the design is inspired by GT1 means it takes cues from cars built to be fast and stable on race tracks.
Car
Apollo Intenza Immozione
The Apollo Intenza Immozione is a very extreme Apollo supercar. The key point here is that it’s designed more for the track than for normal road use, and it looks unlike anything most people have seen.
The Ferrari LaFerrari is a very rare, very expensive supercar made by Ferrari. It’s designed to be extremely fast and uses a hybrid system. The podcast mentions it because it’s visually and mechanically impressive.
Side air intakes are openings that bring air into the car. On a track car, they’re often there to help cool important parts, and the shape can also affect airflow around the body.
Goodwood is a famous UK motorsport venue/event where people show cars. The hosts are saying they saw an Apollo there and it looked different from another one they’re looking at now.
Pneumatics are machines that use compressed air to make parts move. The “click bang” sound they mention is the aero system’s moving parts being powered by that air pressure.
A Ferrari-derived V12 means the Apollo IE’s engine is based on Ferrari’s V12 design. It’s a 12-cylinder engine (6.3 liters here) that’s been reworked by Apollo so it fits their car and feel.
Twin turbos are two turbochargers that help the engine make more power by pushing extra air into it. More boost usually means a more dramatic, louder feel and sound.
Revs are how fast the engine is spinning (RPM). They’re saying the car feels like an old race car when it starts, but it tops out around 9,000 RPM rather than the extremely high RPM you’d see in older Formula 1 cars.
Titanium is a lightweight, corrosion-resistant metal often used in performance exhausts. Compared with steel, it can help reduce weight and resist rust, though it’s more expensive and can require careful fabrication to avoid cracking or fitment issues.
That “lizard skin” look is basically the visible surface pattern you can get from 3D printing. It’s a sign the part was made with an additive process rather than a smooth, traditional finish.
Silencers are the parts in the exhaust that tone down the noise. If the exhaust has no silencers, it usually sounds louder because the gases come out more directly.
The Lamborghini Aventador is a very high-end supercar made by Lamborghini. It’s known for its sharp, bold design and for being extremely powerful. The podcast brings it up because the speaker thinks it looks or feels similar to another car.
The Ferrari FXX K is a very rare Ferrari made for track use. It’s designed to be extremely loud and exciting when you drive it. The podcast mentions it because the engine sound is described as uniquely intense.
A digital screen setup means the car uses electronic displays for information (like speed/controls) instead of classic dials. Here they’re pointing out that the cockpit is very screen-focused, including displays used for mirror viewing.
Carbon fibre is a strong but lightweight material used a lot in performance cars. Saying the mirrors are held on with carbon fibre suggests the car is built to be light and rigid, not just for looks.
Here “wobble” means the mirrors shake a bit when the car is moving fast and turning. They’re joking that it’s a race-car trait—more about how the car behaves than about having perfectly steady mirrors.
Shift paddles are the little levers behind the steering wheel that let you change gears. They help you keep control of the car while still shifting quickly.
The Porsche 911 GT3 RS is one of Porsche’s most track-focused 911s. The host compares the Gumpert’s weight and handling feel to it because both are set up for balance and track driving.
Mid-engine means the engine sits near the middle of the car, not up front. That usually makes the car feel more balanced and easier to handle when you’re driving hard.
Turbochargers are like an air-boost system. They use exhaust to spin a turbine and cram more air into the engine so it makes more power and feels punchier.
A sequential gearbox is a transmission where you shift one gear at a time, usually with paddles or a lever. It’s designed to make shifting quicker and more consistent.
The Lotus Exige is a lightweight, track-focused sports car from Lotus, built around sharp handling and driver engagement. Here it’s used as a comparison point for “old-school” versus “high-tech” driving feel, emphasizing how some cars are designed to thrill through pure dynamics.
“Vaporware” is hype that sounds real, but you can’t actually buy or see it yet. The host is saying they don’t believe the claims until real cars exist.
Horsepower is how much power the engine can make. “1000 horsepower” is an extreme number people use to sell very fast cars.
Term
280 cylinders
Cylinders are the engine’s combustion chambers. More cylinders can help an engine make more power, but here it’s clearly part of the exaggeration the host is skeptical about.
They’re comparing the interior to futuristic concept cars from a video game. The point is that the cabin looks like something designed for the far future.
“Financial difficulties” is used here to frame Gumpert’s production and sales strategy for the Apollo IE. When a manufacturer is struggling financially, limited production runs and small allocations can become even more important to understand—because the cars may be the last ones built or the only ones that reach customers.
Concept
extreme
In car talk, “extreme” usually means the car is engineered to be far more intense than normal—more aggressive throttle/response, sharper handling, and higher performance focus. The hosts use it to argue that it’s harder to make something feel truly “otherworldly” today because modern cars already push boundaries.
Boost is extra pressure from a turbocharger that helps the engine make more power. When the boost kicks in, the car can feel like it suddenly lunges forward. That’s the “hit” you feel during acceleration.
The Bugatti EB110 SS is a famous old-school supercar, and this sounds like a very rare prototype version. The hosts are basically saying you can’t easily buy one because they’re so expensive and hard to find. It’s a “collector dream” car.
The Bugatti Veyron Supersport is a super-rare, very extreme version of the Veyron. The hosts mention it to show that even the “big name” hypercars are still priced in the millions. It’s basically another example of a car you can’t casually buy.
The Ferrari Enzo is one of Ferrari’s most famous supercars. In this segment, it’s used as a reference point for what “track-only” means, since the FXX EVO is described as its track-only evolution. It’s basically the starting point for that special track-focused family.
The Koenigsegg CCX is a rare, very high-performance hypercar. The hosts bring it up to show how much money you’re talking about when you’re shopping in this supercar tier. It’s basically a benchmark for “seriously expensive.”
The Nissan GT-R is a fast sports car made by Nissan. It’s known for quick acceleration and overall performance. The podcast brings it up while talking about other extremely fast cars.
The Koenigsegg Regera is an ultra-rare, extremely fast car made by Koenigsegg. It’s in the same category as other top hypercars. The podcast mentions it as part of a list of cars that are meant to impress.
The Lamborghini Centenario is a limited-run Lamborghini supercar made to celebrate the brand’s 100th anniversary. Because it’s rare, it’s a car people notice when they see it. The podcast mentions it because the speaker saw one in Hong Kong.
Importing is when you buy a car from another country and bring it home. That usually costs more and takes extra paperwork. The speaker is saying the Hong Kong location makes it harder to get.
A manual gearbox means you shift gears yourself using a clutch and a gear stick. It’s usually more engaging because you control when the car changes gears. Here, it’s part of why the Aston Martin Valor sounds appealing.
The Aston Martin V12 Vantage is a sporty Aston Martin with a V12 engine. It’s designed to feel exciting to drive, not just look good. The podcast mentions it because someone tried one with a manual setup.
“Used market” just means buying cars that someone else already owned. They’re saying that, for these rare cars, prices are much higher when you shop used.
GPF means a filter that traps tiny soot particles from a petrol engine. The speaker wants a car made before GPFs were common, because they’re worried about how that extra emissions equipment might behave as the car gets older.
A particulate filter is an emissions device that catches soot from the exhaust. Here they’re referring to the petrol version (GPF) and saying they want to avoid cars where that filter is likely to be old and expensive to deal with.
This is a Mercedes-Benz CLS AMG—basically a sporty, higher-performance CLS. The CLS 63 version uses a large 6.2-liter V8 engine, which is why it feels so punchy.
The Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG is a high-performance sports car made by Mercedes’ AMG division. It’s designed to be fast and exciting to drive. The podcast brings it up while discussing AMG cars and V8 engines.
This means the engine is a V8 with a total size of 6.2 liters. More engine size usually helps with strong acceleration and a louder, more characterful sound.
A four-door coupe is basically a car that looks sporty like a two-door coupe, but it has four doors. It’s meant to combine coupe styling with more practical everyday access.
These are high-end brakes made from a special ceramic material. They can handle hard driving without losing stopping power, but if they need replacement, it can cost a lot of money.
The C63 AMG is a sporty, high-performance Mercedes. The host is mentioning it because they like the way “AMG” used to be placed at the end of the model name.
This is Honda’s performance version of the Civic hatchback. Even though it’s a four-cylinder, it’s turbocharged, so it can feel really quick. It’s also a practical four-door car, so it can be a fun family car too.
A turbocharger helps the engine make more power by pushing extra air into it. That’s why a smaller engine can still feel strong and quick—like the host says here.
The Porsche 911 is a famous sports car model known for being fast and well engineered. The podcast mentions it while talking about how different versions are set up for driving. It’s used as a reference point for performance discussions.
A sound generator is a device that makes fake engine noise. It’s meant to make the car feel more exciting, but sometimes it can sound unrealistic compared to a real engine.
LIVE
Welcome back to The Gassing Station, the podcast that gets into the piston head forum like my co-host Sam Sheehan has gotten into two slash three extremely different cars recently.
Yeah, honestly, they couldn't have been. One was extreme high value, exciting. The other one was like a grenade on my backside or more like a bomb in the living room. And the other one is very sensible.
When you said high value, I thought you meant like good value for money and I was like extreme high value.
In that world, it could be considered good value, but it's also extremely expensive.
Well, I think we'll get into that, but we're going to start off with the one that is probably the car that most people are going to be able to buy.
Yeah. And former Gassing Station co-host John Howe was a massive fan of this. I've not driven it, but it's looks...
Yeah, it's a bit...
It's the Mercedes CLA electric.
250 plus electric and particularly the shooting break. I've driven the non-shooting break, the one I have in at the moment, literally parked to summer flat right now.
Nice.
And the reason it's worth calling out before pH has gone, no, it's an EV, stop talking...
It's a really good one because of one crucial thing, which is a point that we all, fair enough, petrolheads will often complain about.
And that is range because my God, does it have a lot of range?
Yeah.
You can get almost 500 miles between charges from the slipperiest and most efficient versions, but because this is a shooting break spect up to the nine.
So it's 56 grand car as it sits because it's AMG line premium plus.
It's got all the kit, 19 inch wheels, like you said, looks remain divisive, but the bits added to it for this trim are quite nice.
The wheels included.
So that means it's got about 440 ish miles of range in the battery, even if you knock that back a little bit for a real world, call it 400 miles.
Right.
And that means this is the first ever electric car I've ever had on loan as a press car or just in general, actually, where I've never had to charge it for the entire week.
It arrived fully charged.
That's incredible.
And I've had it all week and I've driven it out to Surrey.
I've driven it into Kent and then around town quite a lot.
I've done a fair amount of suburban and rural usage, which obviously includes motorway miles as well.
And I haven't charged it once and I've still got some off the top of my head.
I think it's 160 miles left.
And it's going back.
Start next week.
I won't have done 160 miles over the weekend.
So I won't have to charge it for the entire week.
How is the real world range near 500 miles if it's actually around 430 odd?
Yeah.
I mean, that's for the most eco-focused version.
So smaller wheels, smaller wheel, less equipment inside, et cetera, et cetera.
I see.
So if you actually want it looking good, you're only getting north of 400.
But that is still amazing because it's still really good.
Yeah.
You know, I think when we bring an electric car story to you here on the gassing station,
we want to do it in a way that would actually make sense because there's a loads of new EV stuff that comes out
and most of it doesn't come on our radar in the slightest or move the needle.
I think when an electric car becomes tempting, or like, oh, I really want one of those,
is when it's almost like the Skoda approach.
You know, everyone loves the Skoda or a Dacia of where it's like,
I just get as much value as freaking possible.
I don't really need to worry about the car or the image.
It's just cheap motoring.
An EV is always going to be expensive, but at least with this,
you're not having to worry about range anxiety.
That's it.
And then we do fill up.
I mean, what's the charging speed?
Well, it's up to 320 kilowatts.
So I mean, the classic stat, 10 to 80% in 22 minutes.
Call it half an hour on a UK charger to go from to 80%.
But you know, 80% of four, 500 miles is, you know, over 300 miles.
So it's still good, good range.
In fact, I did the sums.
If you live in Norwich and you wake up and you think,
I really fancy a cross on from Paris,
you could hop in your CLA 250 plus shooting break with a fully charged car in Norwich
and get to Paris without stopping once.
Or if you live in London and you want to go to Leeds to pick up,
I don't know, Leeds United shirt quickly and then you need to whiz back.
Well, the croissants in Paris.
I'm sure Leeds does great.
I lived in Leeds.
I can confirm the croissants were okay.
But you could get to Leeds and back with charge to spare.
So if you wake up in the morning and you realize your niece and nephew needs the Leeds United top,
it's their birthday tonight and it's not going to get to you in delivery time.
You just whiz up to Leeds and back.
And if you charge at home, that's not actually going to cost you much if any money at all really.
Exactly.
So in terms of usability, it's brilliant.
And you know, for the average mileage, I think if you look into the UK average mileage,
it's like you're going to charge once a fortnight, maybe once a month.
So it's really, really good.
Yeah.
Okay.
So that, that is seriously impressive for an EV.
And I think that the, the, the, the range anxiety kind of thing is now becoming less and less of an issue.
So that's good.
The only thing is, is that Mercedes in recent years have had,
or kind of be known for potentially slightly questionable quality in the interiors.
And overall, what's the, so again, range wise, good, rest of the product, any good.
I agree on the look.
So when you get up close and you look at that front grill,
it's got the big Mercedes badge in the middle and then 450 billion other Mercedes badges around it.
Is that, is it literal 450 billion?
It feels like it.
I mean, it might as well be, there are a lot of them.
I don't know.
I didn't count them.
That does seem like something that Mercedes would do.
We've put 450 billion Mercedes stars in your grill.
It's too much.
So there are loads across the grill.
There were two, I don't mind the ones in the headlights and the tail lights because they kind of work.
They're sort of into the, the design of that.
That's fine.
But the ones on the grill, I find a bit annoying.
I think it's not the best looking car at the front.
The shooting break at the back, quite a lot of it.
The problem that I've got, so again, I'll put pictures up of this.
If you're watching this on YouTube or if you're seeing it on Spotify,
the problem I've got is that if you look at the grill and it's a, it's a massive,
it was really a good, it's a plastic filled in, plastic filled in grill.
Let's say that.
But it's the light bar that joins the front headlights together is above the grill,
a bit like a mono brow.
And I can say that as someone with substantial eyebrows that, yeah,
it's, it's kind of a, you know, brow kind of LED light that runs across it,
which makes it look a bit like a deep sea dweller.
You know, which is something that.
Deep sea dweller.
Yes.
Maybe you started doing that like a fish in the dark.
Well, the A class, wasn't it?
That was kind of like that.
Yeah.
Fish like, that was a friendly fish.
This looks like the sort of thing that is, is,
I'm not going to say nightmare fuel, but you know, it's like,
it's one of those deep sea dwellers.
It's like the one with a bit funny.
The big arm on the thing with the light.
That's 100%.
Yeah, that terrifying one.
Yeah, I agree.
I don't think the looks are brilliant.
The shooting break is a bit better because at the rear,
I like that it's got the slight,
it sacrifices a bit of boot space because it's quite a slanty rear roofline,
but I think it looks quite smart.
It looks quite good.
And I like the wheels and the car I've got is in red.
So it's, it looks, it's all right interior.
You mentioned totally agree.
The digital displays, if you don't get the third optional passenger display,
instead of that, you'll get a blanking plastic plate on what is clearly a space
for a screen, but there's no screen in it.
And then it will have more Mercedes badges on it.
So you have to really get the screen just to get rid of all the bloody Mercedes badges.
The screens themselves are really good.
I won't go into detail about them, but they work quick.
They're intuitive.
Merck does do pretty decent screens.
If you have to have a screen in your car, the Merck ones aren't that bad.
Yeah.
I don't know the way they fit on the dash.
They've, it's kind of like big stuck on slab of like an obelisk of screens,
but I have to admit the tech itself is really good.
And like, I like the fact that they've got Google.
You've got augmented reality for your sat-nav and stuff.
Nothing new on the CLA, but it's all carried over onto this and it looks really good.
And it's actually genuinely useful if you're a bit,
if you're in a tricky road scenario, this stuff helps with your sat-nav.
The issue I have is the plasticiness of the buttons.
The steering wheel, for example, has single plate bits of plastic which work on a rocker.
You press them by mistake.
I did it like 10 times.
They feel really cheap and horrible.
It's got that thing that even Volkswagen has stopped doing,
which is where you've only got the two window switches
and then you have to press the rear button to tweak the rear ones.
And obviously if you've got kids and they've been playing with the windows,
it's just annoying.
And it's just, it's just all cost cutting stuff that feels cheap.
The buttons and also the climate control, there are no physical buttons for that.
It's all in the infotainment system.
Yes, you can adjust the heater.
It's always on screen, but fan speed, you have to tap a button.
So those are really annoying.
It's just the range.
This car's saving grace is the range because you just go,
all right, that's annoying.
But in an EV, the biggest annoyance typically, if it's not great,
is having to constantly charge a thing.
And this just fixes that entirely.
The biggest challenge this car has is coming from BMW
because they're going to do an i3 touring.
And obviously, as we know, that NOAA class platform is very capable of near 500 miles as well.
So it's going to be interesting to see whether that actually beats this on range.
And that doesn't have a face like a...
No, good looking car.
Which is, it is a smart looking thing.
But remind me again of the price.
The car I have with all the kit on it is 56 grand.
Well, having, as I know what's going to come up later in this episode,
I know that someone could get a CLS with a big V8 in it for half the price.
Exactly.
Stick around to that.
And probably half the range, by the way.
Next up, though, is something that's a little bit more in our wheelhouse.
You've been driving something that I used to call a gumput.
Yes.
That I think a lot of people call it a gumput.
And for some reason it's related to something called an Apollo.
Gumput Apollo is now part, yeah.
It's now, yeah.
So it used to be Gumput Apollo and now there's Apollo IE.
Yeah.
These are cars that, well, for Gumput, for instance, hasn't been a thing for Jesus.
Over 10 years.
Yeah, 20, if not more than that.
It was post financial crash.
It survived a few years after that.
So it's nearly 20 year old car.
Well, the car came out.
Yeah, I think it was O5.
It's certainly O5.
They'd revealed them and I think O6 were customer cars.
So yeah, yeah, the car itself, Gumput Apollo, 20 years old.
Yeah, exactly.
And the Apollo is a little bit newer than that.
Quite a bit newer than that.
Yes.
So what's the deal?
Well, I was sent out by editor Nick to go and drive both the Gumput Apollo.
Oh, it's a hard life.
I know.
And the, I'm going to have to read it off the screen because I always get it wrong.
Apollo Intenza Immozione.
Emotion.
Immozione.
IE.
That's called IE.
Apollo IE, which is actually how they've referred to it.
You see it in all the press releases as well.
I think it gets shortened down.
Basically, the OG Gumput Apollo, the one that was famous, you know,
I think Mr. Hammond drove it on that famous television show.
Oh, yeah.
I believe it was.
Yeah.
And I actually watched that as part of my research because, you know, proper research.
Let's just watch old YouTube videos, obviously.
Oh, yeah.
And they made that out.
They made the car out to be a complete animal at the start, like spinning off everywhere
and then you get to grips with it and then you realize it's really, really fast.
So I went there and the reason they've done this is because they've got the latest model,
which we've covered on PH, the Evo version of this IE.
I didn't drive the Evo, which is lighter and a little bit faster.
I drove the normal one.
And then the Gumput Apollo just for the lulls, I guess, because it's a cool old part of history.
Different brand name, but it's still very much the same family lineage.
The company is at least, and it's got the same, sons of the original Gumput brand owner.
They now are very, very senior at Apollo.
And Apollo has different owners because it went into financial difficulty in the post pandemic,
post financial crash era and was then bought out by some foreign investors
and effectively is run in a very hands-off way by those investors and owners and the family still runs it.
And so the sons who I met who were great, really enthusiastic guys,
clearly really proud of the Gumput era stuff as well.
They let us loosen these cars myself and a couple of other journalists
because they're taking them to Goodwin.
So if you're at the Festival of Speed, you will see these exact cars being charged up the hill,
not in the timed stuff.
Yeah, but that doesn't matter because you're just going to want to be able to hear them
because there's some seriously good engines going on here.
So just to kind of refresh some people's memories, the Gumput Apollo, again, 20 years old,
this was, it's quite, what's the best way I could describe it?
I was going to say agricultural, but that's not quite, it's almost like an industrial looking car
because it's just a pure downforce monster from that inspired track day car.
So it was never a race car, but yeah, it was a full, it was very, very much track-leaning,
which back then was a really, not unheard of, but it was an extremely rare thing to have a supercar
that was very much tailored towards, were they road legal?
Yeah, I mean, the one that I drove had number plates on it, German plates.
Yeah, so very much track-leaning, that was a twin-turbo V8.
4.2-litre Audi V8 with twin turbos added by Gumput.
It's not, it wasn't the prettiest looking thing, but the best way, I mean, every time I saw it,
I thought, if Noble ever made the most extreme M400 ever, it would probably look like a Gumput Apollo.
Yeah, yeah.
It was tuned for aero, like you say, and it was inspired by GT1 of the 90s.
Then, fast-forward, say, a decade, then the Apollo Intenza Immozione comes along.
Hang on.
Very well, it's a German company, but it's an Italian sounding name.
It is an Italian, so maybe you've got to say it's in a German accent, which I won't dare do.
But they, this thing is, it almost looks like it would take your eye out just by looking at it,
because there is so much going on.
There are angles on the angles.
Yeah, so it seems like it's catering very much to a completely different audience.
Yes.
So we're talking about the likes of people who buy, say, is it rude to say the Mansory crowd?
No, not really, because I think the looks and the extremeness, the only thing is that it's...
I think it's the extremity, isn't it?
It's that kind of like, I just want the most...
You know, a Chiron is a striking car, as is a LaFerrari.
This thing is like, oh my God, I've never seen something looking like that before.
Yeah, yeah.
For better and for emphasis on...
Yeah.
I mean, in the metal, it looks just, it's so extreme.
By the way, it's not road legal.
So it's a track car, so it's different.
Pedestrian safety, it would just be like getting hit by a blender.
I think so.
So I agree that it's not pretty in any way, but my God, does it look extreme?
It almost reminded me of like the Fightercraft, whatever there are in Star Wars, where it's just like really purposeful, quite terrifying.
You know, it's a really purposeful looking car, and because it's a track car, it's allowed to just look absolutely bonkers,
which it does, from front and rear and side and inside.
Yeah, so it's a bit like, how would I describe it?
Almost as if it was a mask on like an Avengers villain.
Yeah.
There's a lot of layers.
Even the kind of the side air intakes have a layer separating the shroud of the intake with the actual bodywork.
There's canards on top of the canards.
We heard you like canards, so we add canards to your canards.
Honestly, and...
There's not barge boards, but there's a barge board in front of the... in a barge board.
So there's... it's almost like a twin chassis.
Yeah.
There's so much going on.
My view is it's very much...
My polite view is it's very spec dependent, because I've seen the one I saw, which was at Goodwood...
It must have been about six or seven years ago.
Yeah, because they were building it years ago, yeah.
That was flip-flop purple with gold wheels, but all the whole bodywork was purple.
Whereas I'm looking at one now that's more like a...
It's quite nice that kind of...
Reflex purple style TVR paint with blue highlights, with silver wheels, and it looks a little bit smarter.
But it doesn't matter really how it looks.
I was just about to say it's a track car, and you know, we're talking about how it drives.
Yeah, and also the main thing is it's so extreme.
It's kind of like... it's nothing like a lotus of ear, but in the sense that there's no part of a lotus of ear where you're like, that's pretty.
You're like, you're just like, wow, every component is doing something, every part of that body.
And it's the same with this thing.
Very, very different proposition.
It also has active aero on that rear wing, which is super cool, because it really lifts up and drops down.
And we got a demo on the car before the engine started, and I love the sound of like click bang, like all the aero hydraulics or whatever it is, pneumatics are just so mechanical sounding.
And of course, under the engine cover is a Ferrari-derived V12, a 6.3-litre.
It's shared with, or taken from the F12, but has been modified by the guys at Apollo.
And so you've got, what do you have, 780 horsepower?
Yeah, that was it, 780 horsepower.
Now, that's not actually a lot more than what you got in the Gumpa, because the Gumpa had twin turbos.
Yes, but I imagine this is a little bit more manageable?
It's more manageable, but the biggest thing you notice, especially when it starts up from the outside, is it is considerably better at exploding your eardrums.
Because the Gumpa, being turbocharged, is loud and thunderous, and you feel it in your chest.
It's a really amazing V8 tone.
But of course, it's just that the volume is, it's like, you know, a normal track car volume.
That thing is like a fighter jet.
It's like an old Formula One car when it starts up.
Not necessarily in pitch, because it revs to 9000 revs instead of 19000 revs.
But it's still, oh, the volume.
You have to put your fingers in your ears if that starts up.
It's so loud.
I love a super car that actually destroys your eardrums.
That's brilliant.
They're gone. I can't hear anything.
Incredibly, it doesn't have two or four exhausts, or even six or twelve.
It has three.
You've just reminded me about the exhaust.
Three triangular tipped exhausts.
I've got my piece here, because I'm trying to get the facts right on this.
So basically, yeah, there we go.
It's arranged in a star.
Yeah, so that exhaust is optional.
I think the one you're looking at.
There are two exhausts available.
Okay.
The first is just conventional metal.
I think it's, was it titanium?
I think it was titanium.
But it was in a conventional shape.
The optional one, which costs about, I think it's like 50 grand or something like that.
It's quite a lot of money.
Maybe a little bit more, actually, is a 3D printed titanium exhaust system that has a lizard skin texture to the outside.
And you can see it coming off the back of the block of the engine through to the rear,
because there are no silencers, so it just comes off straight off the back.
And so it looks really cool.
It's a lot of money, but if you're spending 3000000 euros on one of these,
which is what you have to do to get one, then, you know, 50, 60, 200K extra,
might as well, take that box.
Do both of them look like a starfish at the backside?
Yeah, they look a little bit, they've got pointed edges.
It reminded me a little bit of, is it the Aventador that has the,
that has some always all shapes, doesn't it, at the back?
The Aventador has like, yeah, it's like a rectangle, which will have a proper name,
but I'm not a mathematician, so I don't care.
No.
But the way this thing sounded, obviously, was just completely different.
It was proper, it was more comparable to a Ferrari FXX-K EVO track car.
You know, a properly amazing sounding motor.
But as you hinted earlier, it's a bit more of a pussycat to drive,
because the torque comes in in a much more predictable manner.
And so, chassis, you know, you get into this thing, it's really low,
it's got the steering wheel, as you can see in the pictures,
I'm sure you'll put one on screen, like, it feels very much like a future fighter jet set up.
My goodness, yeah.
You've got, you know, you've got a digital screen in the middle,
flanked by two digital screens for your mirrors,
because you can't see anything really outside of the car beyond,
because you're peering over that dash set up, and then the mirrors,
which, by the way, are held on by carbon fibre,
and when you go at speed, like going around corners, they sort of wobble a bit,
like proper track, race car stuff, I love it.
And so, it is a little bit compromised in terms of visibility,
because it's a proper, proper track car, race car thing,
but, oh man, it felt cool to drive.
Engine sound astounding, you know, amazing,
never anything short of just like every time you're swearing your head off,
as you put your foot down.
Gearbox is really quick as well, you've got shift paddles on the back of the wheel.
It had a cool start-up procedure, where you had to press some buttons on the top of the...
It was quite cool.
Sucker for any car.
It was cool with buttons on the roof to start it.
It was all quite cool.
It rode quite, it wasn't too firm, because these are quite light cars.
If I remember correctly, off the top of my head,
they're both way under one and a half tonnes.
I think it was like 1.3 and 1.4, something like that.
The engine equates for a fair amount of that.
1.2 and 1.3, yeah.
Oh no, sorry, 1.4.
So yeah, the newer car is 1.4, and the gun put,
which I've typoed in my article as gun put,
let's correct that, gun put, here you go.
So they're both comparable with a 911 GT3 RS in terms of weight,
and they're mid-engine, so both optimised in a balance sense.
But the gun put was, I mean, maybe I'm a bit biased,
because it was the car I had on my wall,
it was a poster I had on my wall,
and I grew up in the era when that was like the show car.
I think it topped the timesheets of that TV show we all used to watch.
So when I got in that, all right, yeah, it was a bit rudimentary,
it wasn't anywhere near as fancy as this inside,
and of course, when it was new, it was just over a quarter of a million quid,
so it was still very expensive,
but it was nowhere near as expensive as this is.
But my God, that engine, the thump of torque from two turbochargers,
and having, it was a sequential gearbox, a pull and push sequential gearbox,
I just loved it, and it felt compact and relatively small as well.
Well, it's not a tiny car, but it felt small,
so it was just an amazing machine,
and I came away from it going, I'd have both if I had the money,
but if I could only have one, I think I'd have the gumbo,
because I just love the rawness of it.
The newer car is very high-tech and makes a wonderful sound,
but the old car just felt old-school, and I loved it for that.
It was Lotus Exige as well, in balance.
One of them is kind of designed to thrill in every sense of the word,
whereas the other is just all about driving,
and so naturally, for someone like you,
and I think I'd be the same, the gumbo would appeal in that case.
That being said, when I saw this Apollo for the first time,
again, about 67 years ago,
I really wasn't a fan of it, because I didn't think it was actually real.
You see it, and I know it was there in front of me,
but the amount of vaporware supercars that come around,
and it's just like, okay, it is another company that says it's making
X-Men, 1000 horsepower, whatever car that's got 280 cylinders.
It's like, I will believe it when I see it,
and then you see it in person, you go,
I'll believe it when I see more of them.
But this is the thing, where I'm looking at it now,
there are several customer cars that have been bought.
It exists, and the fact that it exists,
and you can get it in...
It's in shouty spec, no matter what,
but you can get it in a way that doesn't look like...
It's screaming at you.
I actually think it's quite cool.
I'm looking at the interior, and it is so futuristic.
It's a bit like a Vision Gran Turismo car.
You know those concepts that they put in the Gran Turismo game
that look like they're from the 100 or 200 years in the future.
It kind of looks like a real version of that, that sounds epic.
And of course, I think it was 10 they've made.
So the original Gunpla Apollo they made,
I think it was fourth, they said between 48 and 50.
That seems like a lot more than I was expecting.
Yeah, before they obviously had their financial difficulties.
They've only sold, and they only intended to sell 10 of the IEs,
and they made 11, and it's not a prototype,
it's the one I drove and the one that's going to Goodwood.
So they made 11, but one is staying in the company.
They sold 10.
The same will be true for this Evo,
which I don't know if they've sold many of those yet,
because it's very recent, I think it was launched this year.
So the Evo is a bit lighter and a bit quicker,
but ultimately it's based on the same car.
So these are rare cars.
The ones you're seeing are probably the 10 or 12 you see on the screen,
is probably everything they've ever done of this family.
But like you said, they're real cars,
and that means the business, because they're expensive,
there is a sustainable future for the business, hopefully, with this.
I think it's the whole point.
I'll always give companies like this a fair shot,
and I think the whole point of it is that I understand it's quite expensive, right?
How much?
3 million euros.
Okay, 3 million euros.
That's a lot of money.
Yeah, it's a 2.6 million quid, give or take.
Which, and there's probably a fairly...
I don't know how much they're making on each one,
but let's say it's 3 million euros,
and it's for those people that want something that is completely otherworldly,
that will stop people dead in their tracks,
which is obviously harder and to do nowadays,
because everything is extreme.
They've made over 100 Valkyries, haven't they?
So a Valkyrie is more common than this.
And I've just seen the Valkyrie is 2.5 mils,
so this is, call it, 100 grand more, but considerably rarer.
Yes, true that.
And so that, I can see the appeal of it, and it's got a V12,
and you put it in a shanty colour, and it will stand out against everything.
3 million, though, versus what was the original gun put go for?
£275,000 when you, which obviously in today's money would be probably...
How on earth did they make any money on this?
Yeah, but I mean, it's crazy that you could get something that extreme,
even 20 years ago for £275,000, it's just ridiculous.
We were driving them around a runway, like a little made-up runway course,
oval course in Germany, and that gut, the IE was just,
every time you pad out the corner, you're just like,
wow, this music is astounding.
The gun put was really begging to be chucked around.
It felt to me in steering feel and rotation, and even a little bit the size,
like a lotus exige, except I had the biggest explosion behind me every time I touched.
Yeah, that sounds really wrong.
It sounds like the curry burst went through quite fast.
Yes, so I'm in a massive explosion around his backside.
Mechanical...
It was like a bomb was mounted midship in this car.
It was so bloody quick to accelerate.
It was as quick as I've ever felt in a petrol car at some points through the rev range.
That's really quite something.
All thousand the boost came on, and it was just like, bang, I'm down the straight,
and I'm already like, I need to brake.
Yeah, I still...
Well, I didn't drive them, so I don't know which one I would prefer.
So I'm going to put that 2.6 million pounds, 3 million euros in your pocket, virtually,
and I'm taking you through the classifies now.
Unfortunately, the EB110SS prototype that we've got here is out for each,
three and a half million, as is the Veyron Supersport that we covered the other week.
That's out.
I've also got an FXX EVO.
Oh, I love that.
That's the EVO version of the Enzo track only car, 4.88 million,
and that one I know for a fact is in Hong Kong as well, which is a little bit tricky to get a hold of.
However, you've got in budget just about a Koenigsegg CCX.
Yeah.
It's P1 GTRs, the Koenigsegg Regera.
Yeah.
You've got, I mean, Centenario here.
That was also in Hong Kong, so it's going to require importing.
Or the final Aston Martin Valor.
Oh, that's cool.
And that's way under budget.
Did any of those appeal to you?
Or would you rather the Apollo IE?
Oh, it'd be tough because my heart longs for that Ferrari, even though it's too far away.
You can't afford it though.
You can't afford it.
Your way too poor.
No, I think the IE I would go for because the V12, actually, well, I don't know.
The Aston would be pretty special, wouldn't it?
But that Ferrari V12, I just want a Ferrari V12.
The Aston, however, does have a manual gearbox.
So let's try that again.
A manual Aston Martin V12 or Apollo.
Oh, God, yeah, no.
Okay.
All right.
All right.
You got me.
Yeah, V12 manual.
But it's close and you think, which is saying something.
So that's how much you enjoyed that car.
And also, I've just seen GMAT 50, Gordon Murray's car, is 2.8 million with tax.
So that's, you know, this way out of budget.
Yeah, this is cheaper.
Also, GMAT 50, you can't buy anymore.
And on the use market, I think they are about double that.
Not surprisingly.
I mean, yeah.
So save yourself some money and get an Apollo in Intenso.
In Mozioni.
And have a lot of very loud fun.
They're bringing them to the UK, right?
Yeah.
Well, it's a track car.
So that was, you know, there's no road issues there.
Hence why they blew my eardrums off.
Let's bring ourselves back down to earth and find something that we can buy with money
that most people would be able to relate to.
So I've got a post here by BNBNBN.
BNBNBN.
BNBNBN.
That's, yeah.
Yeah, that's right.
But anyway.
I presume that's why they've got that name.
That must be why.
Yeah.
Unless we're totally missing something.
Anyway, so they've got replace my mini practical performance car.
And they say my car buying dilemma has got to the point where rather than being a lurker
on here, I have made an account and decided to ask pH.
Hooray.
Welcome.
Thank you for joining.
I have been looking for quite a while for a replacement for our Mini Cooper S.
The excuse for this is that it would be good to have something interesting slash fun that
can handle the two kids seats better than the Mini.
Ideally that means four or five doors.
We have a family car for the main bulk, but I would like something I get to use a bit
more.
We never take the Mini on trips for all of us.
I'd like something with an interesting engine and it'd be pre-GPF before they, so that's
the particulate filter stuff, before they all get too old to be able to daily.
I don't do many miles, so I am not massively worried about fuel economy.
Wow.
You can see why this spoke to me.
Yeah.
It must have an interesting engine slash sound good, can easily fit two adults plus two kids,
open to paying a bit on running costs, but don't want something that has a reputation
for throwing massive bills all the time.
I missed that.
I might ignore that one of mine.
Budget is a bit of a sliding scale.
I can go up to 22 and a half thousand pounds, very specific.
But the older the car is, the less I ideally want to spend, so I have some held back for
maintenance.
Very smart, BMBNBN.
Recommendations.
Of course, we always have recommendations.
BMBNBN.
What you got from me, Sam?
I think I alluded to this earlier.
You did?
Yes.
I've got a 2006 Mercedes.
It's about when it was Mercedes-Benz CLS AMG.
It's a CLS 63, which obviously has a 6.2-litre V8.
This is a car I really like.
I can't remember if I liked them when they were new.
I loved them when they were new.
I think they've aged extraordinarily well.
I adored these when they were new, but for some reason I like a four-door coupe.
But I think it looks absolutely spectacular.
The concept of this, which I saw relatively recently, it looked almost identical.
They went, concept, wow, that looks amazing.
And then they put it in relatively unchanged into production.
Dead call.
Dead call makes an amazing sound.
It's got the four doors, it's got the engine, sound, the space inside.
If they're kids, you won't have to worry about the swoopy roofline because they're not going
to be six-foot-two.
I mean, this ticks all the boxes.
And the price, $18,995, well under budget.
I know it's an 06 car, but it's only got 50,288 miles on the clock from two previous owners
that suggest it's been loved.
So the 63, if I remember correctly, was quite a lot rarer than the 55.
There was a lot of 55s.
And I think the 63 arrived really late because it was the same with the CLK.
The 63 was right at the end of its life.
And so it was only out for a year or two.
I don't know the production numbers on these.
However, because these came on my radar when I was looking for the four series.
And then I realized that while BMBNBN doesn't have to worry about running costs, I do.
Yes, yes.
So it did go.
One of the things that made me go, oh, I might struggle with that, weirdly, is I believe these
came with carbon ceramic brakes as standard.
Oh my God, that is an expensive bill.
Several thousand pounds to replace that, if that's the case.
Yeah.
Not to put BMBNBN off.
But yeah, these were really quite special.
Yeah.
And I mean, that engine as well, they're stunning motors, aren't they?
Oh, 100%.
6.2-litre V8.
Noise is going to be incredible.
It's going to be thirsty.
The brakes terrify me.
Do I still want one?
Absolutely.
Hell yeah.
This one's in great nick.
Over 500 horsepower.
That's a really, really good buy.
Dare I say it, it won't be a million miles from rock bottom.
I suppose it could do.
If it was in a worse state, I imagine there'd be a few thousand pounds to chop off that
over the next few years, but this is in such good condition and the mileage is low.
Also, they're a massive tangent, but I miss it when Mercedes had AMG at the end of the
name rather than in the name.
I always love like C63 AMG.
Yeah, me too.
It just sounds right when it's finished off of the AMG.
When it starts off, it's just not the same.
I know.
Without that, I guess that's because it went from being external to internal, didn't it,
and all that stuff.
But yeah, although we're trying to emphasize that.
Now, this is quite contrasting my next choice because I've gone from like crazy, big, exciting
engine to very fast and capable car, but of course the engine by comparison will seem
fairly, let's just say normal, I guess, and that's because it's an FK8 Civic Type R.
I remember when these came out and I was like, oh, I don't like the look of that.
Yeah.
And I look at it now as an older man, arguably wiser, arguably not, and they kind of get,
they're actually really cool.
They are.
I still can't get over all the fake bits of plastic.
Like I'm looking at the picture of the rear of the car and I'm just remembering how big
that fake grille or the two fake grilles are.
That's like unacceptable Honda.
What were you thinking?
It's silly in a good way.
Yeah.
But in terms of fun, and if you put the kids in the back, again, four doors, plenty of space
in the back for the kids, it's a way to excite the kids and get them into cars.
Yeah, exactly.
You can imagine taking them for a drive.
And I know it's a four cylinder, but it's turbocharged heavily and it really does pack
some punch.
And with the diff on the front, they're really, really good cars to drive quickly.
There's a good reason why they were called front wheel drive Porsche GT cars, just like
the FL5, because they are in so many ways.
They have that finesse and fine tuning to everything.
And so as a driver's car, fantastic.
It's just whether your kids are going to get as excited over a punchy four pot as they
would do a big V8.
It's a four seater, so it's not the end of the world.
No.
The only thing is, is that they do sound pretty lackluster, because they've got a sound generator
in them, which sounds nothing like an engine.
Do these beep on when you hit the limiter as well?
I remember that.
They might optionally do a beep.
I know an FL5 can have a beep, but I don't know if this one does, but it could be an option
that you can switch on or off.
They ride quite well as well.
I've just remembered.
Quite comfortable, because they had the adjustable damping, didn't they?
I would say, yeah, of all the cars on your list, this is going to be the most fun to drive.
Yes.
But the least evocative when you actually, when you listen to it.
I should say it's 21295, so there's a little bit of money in the tank for, you know, I
don't think this would need much maintenance.
It's a Honda.
It's going to be solid.
60,000 miles, again, two previous owners, a 2017 car.
It seems like a nice buy.
That said, as we often do, you know, when we look at the prices suggested by pHs, we go
for the top of the range.
The use of the word ideally, that means four or five doors.
I took to mean doesn't need four or five doors if it's really good.
So I've gone with the two doors.
I've broken the rules.
I think this counts.
I love the color of this.
Yeah, this spec.
Such a nice spec, man.
Right.
Before I tell you the car, it's that lovely dark shade of like very gentlemanly red.
Gentlemanly red.
Silver wheels.
If I ever start a car company, I'm having a red like this and calling it gentlemanly red,
because it can mean so many different things.
Yeah, that's true.
Silver wheels and then a lovely cream leather interior.
And of course, I'm talking about the Jaguar XKR.
100%.
Yeah.
I mean, that is.
An 08 XKR, I should say.
It is ridiculous how affordable in air quotes.
These are to purchase initially.
I'm not going to get into running costs and all that kind of stuff.
But well, you've got six grand of running costs window that exactly for a 16 grand car.
Ian Callum design.
Yeah.
Very, very smart.
I think these look that the XK8 and XKR that came before this, I think looks really quite dated now.
These have aged spectacularly.
Yeah.
They really look good.
They still don't look pretty contemporary, even though this one is knocking on the door of 20 years old,
66,000 miles for 16 grand.
Yeah.
And you get a 420 horsepower V8.
Exactly.
4.2 litre V8.
I've just noticed the plate.
It's an 08 car and the plate is XK 08R and then some of the letters.
But XK 08R.
That is really good.
Yeah.
It can't just be a coincidence.
It can't be.
Yeah.
I guess it can be, but it's unlikely to be.
And zero previous owners, 66,300 miles.
Zero previous owners on this.
So apparently this is, although they have used the word owners in the ad.
So perhaps they've just not actually filled in.
But either way, this has clearly been cherished because this is absolutely mint.
Right down to the alloy wheels look absolutely spotless.
The number plate, you know, a car of this age, somebody's looked after this.
The number plates look gleaming.
It's clearly been looked after.
Oh, look at that interior as well.
So yeah, wonderful.
I mean, you may, you may know this from my choice of car, but I'm actually a bit of
an old man at heart.
And I look at that and I go, God, I would be so happy driving that.
And the service history is brilliant.
It's like every 45 K.
It's got loads of, loads of services.
They were like, right, okay, we've done another thousand miles, go and get it serviced.
God, that is, that is quite literally barely moved and they've given it a service.
Yeah.
In some cases it's done 1000 miles.
In fact, like for pretty much the three year period until very recently, it had a service
at every 1000 miles.
Oh yeah.
That's really cool.
And you're right in the sense that, you know, it's not using the full budget.
And they did say if I was getting something older and a bit more potentially temperamental,
like a bit of money to save, that's cool.
As far as high risk old Jags go, this feels low risk in that regard because of the history.
You're right.
You're right.
You're right.
That said, I have, you know, the cars that I've gone for one of the things they're after
is an, is an interesting engine or one that sounds good.
And I've gone for something that arguably doesn't sound the best, but is very big on
interesting.
You've gone for an unmarked police car.
I have gone for an unmarked police car.
Yeah.
Well, not literally.
This is a Volvo V60 Polestar engineered T8 PHEV or wheel drive.
And there's an A at the end of that.
And there's an A at the end.
I'm not entirely sure what the A is for, maybe for awesome.
Yeah.
But this is the twin charged hybrid Polestar.
So it's one of the last petrol Polstars they did before Polestar became an offshoot.
Because I did have, I actually had a straight six Polestar one lined up and I thought that
would be good, but it was out of budget at 25 grand.
Was it in that blue as well?
It wasn't.
I believe it was in the blue.
Yeah.
I think they're extremely tempting, but I have also heard that the running cost of those
is quite eye watering.
Whereas this one, I mean, it's a hybrid.
So it can't be that.
It's a plug-in hybrid.
So it can't be that bad.
400 horsepower, but you've got the same ish powertrain, same style of powertrain that
you would get in a Lancia S4 or is actually the only one I could think of.
I was going to say the O37, but that didn't have twin charging.
So Lancia S4, the first car ever in history to do twin charging.
There is a very, very faint link between the two.
This one is white with a sunroof and it's, it's an estate.
So it's massively practical.
It's got the big old beefy gold, uh, calipered Polestar brakes.
Um, yeah, 400 horsepower, 85,000 miles, 22495.
So just a fiver inside budget, but 2020 car.
So it's pretty new.
I think the running costs again, shouldn't be terrible.
Yeah.
I presume they're going to be quite, um, reliable.
I'd imagine so.
I mean four-part.
It's only got a supercharger and a turbocharger attached to it.
It'll be fine.
So that seems like the most sensible choice.
Yeah.
And you can see that being very usable as a family car.
I know it's not the main family car.
Yeah.
But then I thought, well, it's interesting in one way, but it doesn't sound especially
good.
So how about I get an engine that does sound good.
So I found this 2012 Audi RS4 event.
So this is a B nine B eight.
Testing my knowledge here, but I can tell you it's of the era when they had Matt
Silver mirrors, which I approve of massively.
It's a B eight.
Sorry.
So I got that, um, completely wrong.
But yeah.
So it's a B eight RS four, but it's the spec that caught my attention.
So it's 19, 495 84, nine, 90.
But it's the color that caught my attention because it's an extremely deep purple to
the point of where it's, it's black, but only purple in certain lights.
Yeah.
It's kind of like black with a hint of overgene.
Yeah.
I'm seeing that.
Yeah.
And I don't always know if that's good, but personally to me that looks absolutely
spectacular.
I'll say it.
I'll just copy and paste my sentence better with silver wheels.
But yeah, I was going to say exactly the same thing.
It's got gloss black wheels.
I've lost the wheels.
I can't see them.
It's got gloss black wheels, but it's, they've got silver Audi center.
If they were silver, that would really work, especially with the matte silver mirrors.
Well, the great thing about it being 19, 495 is that you've got a little bit
of money left over to get silver wheels for it.
And I think that that would really, really sort it out, but it's got more power, 4.2
liter naturally aspirated V eight.
Remember 444 brake horsepower.
Oh my God.
That's the bumper engine.
Is it?
It's sans turbo.
I presume so.
It's a 4.2 liter Audi V eight.
Surely they unless I was going to be, hasn't it?
It's the same unless it was the later version, but I'm sure it's well, I imagine it would
be a later version because the, um, I'm sure they must have revised it.
Yeah.
That engine would have come out.
I don't think it came out in the R eight, but it was obviously the R eight that made
it popular.
Um, so yeah, it's probably, but it's, it's in the family.
So you've got a gun put related Audi there.
So that's my, my fun option, my fun family option in a really interesting
color.
There's a lot of very shouty RS fours out there, but if, I mean, I don't know if BN,
BN, BN and I have similar tastes, but if I was going to buy an RS four, this is the
spec I'd want it in, albeit with silver wheels.
But then I thought a V eight and naturally aspirated V eight is very expensive.
And I know that they don't care too much about running costs.
However, if you're going to go and enjoy that car, it's going to absolutely chug fuel.
Yeah.
So then I thought what, how can I get something with the practicality of an event, but with
an interesting engine that's also slightly frugal and I nailed it immediately with this
a BMW three 40 I M sport in brackets, shadow edition touring.
Are they that frugal?
I mean, I'm not, I know they're not crazy thirsty.
How frugal are we talking about?
Well, this one's got the B 58 straight, straight six, which is a legendary ending twin turbo
charged.
I believe it's a smaller turbo to do low down talk and then a larger turbo for everything
above.
I have the N 55 in my car.
So the predecessor to this, which was a single turbo and it's not bad.
That's good to know.
It's not the best, but on a motorway, you're kind of like 40s, I'd say 40 miles per gallon.
That's really good.
I think it's kind of like 30s, 40s.
Yeah.
It just just cruises along in eighth.
I think that's very efficient.
Yeah.
It's better than my bloody MX 55 speed.
Reven the hell out of it to stick with motorway traffic.
Yeah.
I don't even want to think about it.
I think all in all, I probably average around 32 in mine.
Yeah.
Not bad at all for a big old straight six.
Yeah.
This one, however, everyone, you know, anytime I say to people, I've got the foot, the N 55
they're like, yeah, B 58's better though, isn't it, mate?
And I'm like, what apparently said N 55 sounds better, but the B 58 is ridiculously torquey,
ridiculously fast, 322 horsepower, but it was the it is such a torquey engine.
Yeah.
It will rip your face off and it's considered one of BMW's kind of legendary straight sixes
really.
So here being an M Sport shadow edition, you have all the kind of grills and stuff are
blacked out, which is not everybody's taste, but it itself being a black car.
It does look quite smart.
It has diamond cut wheels.
So it's part silver, part black wheels.
So it does look quite smart.
I just think these cars are fantastic.
Again, I don't have a B 58.
I've got a previous version of this and it is all cars to all.
All car to all people.
And it's still got everything I drive rotary controller and that hasn't it?
It does.
Yeah.
And this one being a 340i means you got carplay built in, which mine doesn't have.
So it's a fantastic car.
Functionally very good.
I really want this.
It's 89,221 miles, 7975.
I think that is the smartest option and that's the one I'm going to go for.
It's a lot of car.
You've definitely got more in the way of headroom and boot space than the CLS 63 I'm going to choose,
but I think this car is just so awesome.
I think from the engine point of view, I know it's a bit of a high risk buy.
Well, as I said earlier, I think this is probably so well maintained.
Do you know what?
Sometimes when we do these, I try and pick ones that will hopefully always kind of get the listeners thinking
and maybe make you go like, oh, I didn't thought of that,
which is why I sometimes lose them because by trying to choose a left field or slightly different choice,
it means that I picked a worse choice.
However, I feel like with this one, mine's not quite as interesting, but it is the better car.
So if you agree that my car is the best or you disagree and you think that for some reason Sam CLS is better,
you can actually vote on this if you're listening to this on Spotify,
or if you think we both did a terrible job, go onto the Piston Heads homepage,
look for the article of the gas station, click on it, hit the topic and go and put your own suggestions in.
You can even say that Sam and I did a terrible job if you fancy it.
We did have a good look through the Piston Heads auctions.
There wasn't anything that was quite up to the job this time around.
But yeah, check out Piston Heads auctions because we always have new stuff that's coming up.
While there wasn't anything that fit the bill right now,
I can almost guarantee that next week there will be something because that's usually how it goes.
Cap things off with XR mics, the one that got away topic.
And they say sometimes for reasons beyond our control or just sometimes down to poor decision making,
selling a loved car can happen to many of us, leading to regret later on in life.
Let's see what cars you have sold on and later regretted.
I'll start.
2004 Volvo S60 D5 Sport Facelift.
During my ownership, I had it mapped, fitted with the T5 front brakes, EGR and D-Cat.
What's an EGR?
Climby.
EGR?
Is it a diesel?
Yeah, D5.
Yeah, that's the valve, isn't it?
I think that's removing some kind of valve in the exhaust system.
I see.
I'll fact check that as you read the rest.
Yes, please.
Upgraded the sound system and fitted various upgrades to an OEM standard.
I own this car for over four years.
The car was a brilliant daily.
The seats were like arm chairs.
It had plenty of power.
It returned 50mpg on a run and was utterly reliable.
This car was on my must have list ever since I was young after starting in the motor trade.
I fell in love with the styling, design and build quality.
My particular car pulled me through many memorable moments in my life and it was definitely the best car I've ever owned.
Sadly, I needed to free up some cash and I was able to quickly sell it on to raise some funds.
Eight years on and I occasionally check its MOT status, wishing I held onto it.
Let's see your cars you regret selling.
There are some real gems.
One of them actually blew my mind.
I'll get onto it in a bit.
So, Heave Ho says, I let a 2008 Lexus ISF with 36,000 miles go for less than it was worth.
Along with the 12,000 mile 2013 R8 V10 Plus, they're really the only things I've had with hindsight I shouldn't have sold.
At least at the point that time I did.
The ISF's an interesting one because that feels like it's very much going towards modern classic.
Yeah, status now.
That is definitely on my list.
I think 20 grand gets you a half decent 2008 example.
Pre-face lift, post-face lift, 30 plus.
They are serious.
It always happens with Lexus.
You get one, they tank immediately and they stop above where any other car would continue to fall below.
So, that's very smart.
R8 V10 and an ISF, that's in a mega two car garage.
That's many cylinders.
However, we just is the one that really caught my eye.
So, they say when I was 21 years old, that was 40 years ago, I had this TVR, they said I had this TVR, but it's a TVR Griffith.
I really enjoyed driving it and I learned a lot about cars as it could break down just looking at it.
I kept it for a few years, then sold it to buy a new two bed house and get married.
40 years on, I still think about it now and again.
Amazingly, the car is still out and about today as I tracked it down on the TVR forum last year.
Same registration, albeit it is now in green.
Interesting.
I think it is the case with TVR.
They've got such a terrible reputation of breaking down and being woefully unreliable.
But I mean, anytime I talk to an owner that's got one, they're like, oh yeah, I've had it since the dawn of time.
And it's still going, although I have, you know, had to get a mortgage out to keep it running.
But the crazy thing is, is that we just being 21 years old when they bought a TVR Griffith,
is just ridiculously cool.
I had a high end though.
Fred Smith says, my 1982.0 S Ford Capri in forest green with black interior, black with yellow, orange tartan pattern,
fishnet rikaro, tasteful, not the best Capri going, but the exterior color S branding and the stunning interior
made it look almost as good as Capris get in my honest opinion.
Sold for £200 in the early 2000s.
Yeah.
I mean, there were, you can think now, can't you?
How many cars were not worth a lot of money in the 90s and 2000s that are now worth a fortune?
Yeah.
I wonder what £200 is in inflation now though.
You know, it's probably still be like a grand or something.
It's probably sub.
I can find out why you do that.
Yeah.
And they still, yeah, they sold it for £200 in the early 2000s to be fair.
Even back then it needed every panel replacing due to the insane amounts of rust.
God knows what would have been left if I kept it.
I think about my ST like that to be honest.
£200 in 2002.
Today is £377.82.
But still not a lot.
So it's still peanuts.
It's still, still kicking myself.
Although, you know, it's almost doubled.
It's when you kind of hear stories about, was it Clarkson sold a three liter CSL for like a few grand?
Yeah.
And then obviously that was a terrible.
I've got an uncle that sold a Ferrari Dino for like 30 or 40 grand back then.
And obviously now they're worth many, many, many times more that.
I ran an article about it recently and we have one on the site that was up for about half a million.
Yeah.
Yeah.
He's, I mean, if he doesn't listen to his part, if he did, he'd probably pull over and cry now.
He doesn't have to be reminded of it.
Trevor555.
Quite a few I wish I'd kept hold of and they put some pictures up which included a Renault RS Spyder.
That's so cool.
Toyota AE86 Corolla, Citroen Saxo, VTR.
VTR was not the quicker one, despite the name.
It was the VTS, wasn't it?
It was the VTS.
Yeah.
Still cool though, the VTR.
Yeah.
It really annoyed me that Citroen went like, everyone goes the R, S is the mild one and the R is the hot one.
And they went, no, we're going to do the other way around.
Got one now.
I'll not sell until I can't drive anymore.
And up GTI as my daily.
Interesting.
Interesting.
That's a cool car.
Absolutely.
I now enjoy two wheels more than I do four.
Interesting.
Because I got the impression from that that they were getting a bit older and they thought I'll stick to something a bit more common.
Yeah.
Then they were like, oh no, but I've got a motorbike.
Yeah.
Well, yeah.
Fair enough.
RDMCG, there are quite a few cars I regret selling, but some are really sheds that later became valuable like a Fulvia HF and a 911 S.
Both definitely shed territory many years ago.
However, the more recent car I regret selling is the 997 below, which is doing it in immense disservice because it's a 997.2 GT3 RS.
And I've just read the next bit.
I had Sabina Schmitz drive me in it at the ring in 2010.
I just had no space at the time and I had a new car coming in.
Bad decision.
Sorry, 997 GT3 already iconic.
And then you had Sabina Schmitz drive you at the ring.
That is, that is cool.
As that is like anything legendary, legendary.
But they do have a picture, I think of Sabina in the car.
And that's like a good memory, you know, I don't have that on my wall.
Yeah.
And just to emphasize, they then put on a new paragraph by itself just bad again.
The car I most regret buying was a 1955 Gullwing, which I was offered in 1996.
He wanted 220 K and the car was in very good, but not concourse shape.
An excellent driver though.
I would have had to cash out investments and I generally never do that for toys.
Of course, hindsight is 2020.
So he didn't buy that.
He got offered it and he didn't buy it.
Wow, what are they worth?
Bloody hell.
Just considerable amounts.
And finally, Andy Chef says these two spring to mind and they have a Dodge Viper and a Dodge Challenger.
The Dodge Viper went after nine and a half years.
I had tremendous fun with it.
Track days, modded it, loved it, but thought it was time to experience something else.
I sold it for more than I bought it for, but then regretted it.
Especially now knowing that had I kept it, it's probably worth twice as much sad face.
I moved on to Hellcat, which was just as hilarious.
It then looks like he sold it to fund an apartment abroad, but it all fell through.
So I went out and bought a Mustang.
I think they've got a thing for American cars.
So I'm still, you know, we've got some people on the PH team who have owned north of 40 cars.
We've got a few people on the PH team that have owned north of 40 cars.
I am not one of those people.
I tend to be buy it and hold on to it until it literally can't move anymore.
And in the case of my ST, it is still hold on to it after it can't move anymore.
Anything you regret by selling, sorry?
I'm similar to you because of this job.
We drive so many cars.
I haven't owned many, so I had my punto.
I only regret selling that because the guy crashed it about two weeks after and I loved that car.
But it was my first car.
I've still got my Clio 182, which was my second car.
But I did buy, as a runabout, a Mini One R50 Gen.
And I loved that car because I changed the interior.
I had a full leather interior from a Cooper put into it.
I did it all, you know, the door panels and the seats and everything.
So it felt really nice inside, was fuel efficient, handle great.
I think the R50 still looks fantastic and it had the top of the range sound system.
So I had like that quality BMW vibe in a great looking small city car that handled great.
I sold it for a grand and, you know, it did its job for me.
But if I had like a endless driveway with loads of space, I'd have kept it just as my runabout because I really liked that car.
But unfortunately, I haven't owned anything much more exciting at all.
I think that kind of point of where we're fortunate to drive.
Well, me less so now, but we're driving kind of an array of cars.
And so you kind of invest more of your time and effort into the cars that you do have.
And so it's now the point where I'm so emotionally invested in at least one of my cars that if I did sell it, it would probably send me into a spiral.
I'm not sure I could come out.
So yeah, it's it's I'm not at that point yet.
But I think that day is going to have to come around and I don't tend to kind of I still see a car as an object at the end of the day.
I kind of think like it's fun to have time.
But I'm with my ST at least.
I'm like, yeah, I would really struggle to let that go, even though it is just a pile of crud.
Center mental value.
Well, a lot of these pages are talking about the money they lost from selling cars, whereas we're talking about sentimental stuff.
Exactly. Yeah, I'm not in the position to have investment cars.
No, I'm still I'm still in the market for my 986 box to rest.
I think I mentioned on an earlier pod.
Yeah.
The one I was looking at has felt it's MOT today.
So the search continues.
Well, if you have a 986 box that you want to sell to Sam Sheehan, just go and find one of his posts on piston heads and go, I've got a box to Sam.
Come and buy it.
But until then, that is an episode of the gassing station complete.
Thank you ever so much for listening.
If you like what you heard, please leave us a five star review.
Maybe some nice words too, because not only does it make us feel warm and fuzzy inside, but it also spreads the word of the gassing station to more people, which would really do us a solid Sam.
Anything you'd like to add?
No, I think I've just got some.
What am I driving in the next few weeks?
Can I tell you about this stuff?
It's under embargo.
Oh, hang on.
There is a Porsche coming up because, you know, classic.
Oh, we've got Le Mans next month as well.
Le Mans is next month, which I'm extremely excited about some really exciting stuff coming up.
I'm also going to see a Grand Prix next month as well, which I'm very excited about.
And I will tell you more when I see you next Tuesday.
About this episode
Gumpert Apollo IE gets the spotlight: its shooting-break practicality, screen-heavy cockpit, and extreme aero—plus a Ferrari-derived 6.3-litre V12 with active rear wing and a 3D-printed titanium exhaust option. The hosts compare it to the older twin-turbo Apollo, talk rarity and pricing, and then pivot to used-performance shopping: a £22k practical pick, carbon-ceramic brake scares, and the “one that got away” (a modified 2004 Volvo S60 D5).
We drive two of the wildest hypercars ever built: the original Gumpert Apollo and the outrageous Apollo Intensa Emozione. From GT1-inspired aero and twin-turbo V8 power to a naturally aspirated Ferrari-derived V12, we compare two very different takes on the Apollo name — and ask what other hypercars £3 million could buy.
We also discuss life with the new Mercedes CLA Shooting Brake EV, tackle a practical performance car buying challenge, and share stories of the cars that got away. Which sale do you still regret?
🏎️ Sell your car on PistonHeads auctions: https://www.pistonheads.com/sell/auctions
🎟️ Get your Annual Service 2026 tickets: https://www.pistonheads.com/events/annual-service
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:37 Mercedes CLA electric
9:28 Gumpert Apollo vs Apollo IE
28:55 £22k practical performance cars
47:41 cars you regret selling
TOPICS:
Apollo drives: https://www.pistonheads.com/news/ph-driven/apollo-intensa-emozione-vs-gumpert-apollo/51203
Practical performance car for £22k: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=255&t=2140711
The one that got away: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=2139413
