The Ultimate £5k vs £15k vs £30k Summer Car Battle | Ep 85 | Drive Torque Podcast
Drive Torque Podcast
The Ultimate £5k vs £15k vs £30k Summer Car Battle | Ep 85 | Drive Torque Podcast
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64:59
Concept
summer car challenge
They’re doing a fun challenge where they pick cars that would be great for summer. The twist is they have different money limits, so it’s about finding something fun without spending too much.
Car
iX3 (G08)
The BMW iX3 is an electric SUV made by BMW. Instead of using gasoline, it runs on a battery and an electric motor. The podcast mentions it because someone drove it for most of the day.
Concept
driving embargo
Sometimes car makers don’t let reviewers drive a new car right away. They set a date when everyone is allowed to publish their thoughts.
Term
22 inch wheels
“22 inch wheels” refers to wheel diameter, which usually means larger rims and typically lower-profile tires. Larger wheels can change the car’s look significantly and may affect ride comfort and tire cost.
Term
head up display
A head-up display shows important info right in front of you, usually on the windshield. That way you don’t have to look down at the dashboard as much.
Term
xDrive
xDrive is BMW’s all-wheel drive. It helps the car grip the road better, especially in slippery conditions.
Brand
BMW
BMW is the car company. Here, they’re being cited as the source of the battery/range testing info.
Term
EV
An EV is an electric car. Instead of burning fuel, it uses an electric motor and a battery. They’re talking about how well it drives and how far it can go.
Car
Porsche Taycan
The Porsche Taycan is a performance-focused electric sedan that’s known for strong driving dynamics and packaging. The speaker mentions it in the context of packaging, suggesting they’re comparing how much space/shape you get versus other EVs.
Term
boot
In the UK, “boot” means the trunk/luggage space at the back of the car. They’re talking about how big it feels for carrying stuff.
Term
footwells in the rear
Rear footwells are the space on the floor where rear passengers put their feet. If the floor is flatter, it usually feels more comfortable and less cramped.
Concept
options
The speaker notes that the test car had “another nine and a half grand’s worth of options,” meaning the base price was increased significantly by add-on factory equipment. This is a key concept in UK car buying because the “as tested” price can be far above the advertised starting price.
Concept
PCP
PCP is a UK way to finance a car. You make monthly payments, and at the end you usually choose to return the car, buy it, or refinance—often with a bigger final payment if you want to keep it.
Term
rapid charging
Rapid charging is when you charge an electric car quickly at a fast charger. It can reduce how long you have to wait before driving again.
Concept
home charging
Home charging is when you charge your electric car at home, usually overnight. It makes daily driving easier because the car starts the day with a full battery.
Car
Triumph Trident 660
The Triumph Trident 660 is a motorcycle model from Triumph. The speaker went to a launch event for it in Spain.
Concept
dyno
A dyno is a machine that tests the car’s power by putting the engine under load. It helps confirm the car is performing as it should.
Concept
ASMR
ASMR is a video style where the focus is on relaxing sounds and close-up details. They’re suggesting doing a long, less-edited version so you can really hear everything that’s going on.
Concept
press cars
A press car is a car a company lends to reviewers. Because it’s meant for reviews and videos, it often comes with lots of options so the reviewer can show everything.
Term
Oak Green Neo
Oak Green Neo is the name of a specific Porsche paint color. It’s not just “green”—it’s a particular shade that can be an optional extra.
Term
carbon
“Carbon” usually means carbon-fiber parts. They’re light and strong, but if you damage them, fixing them often requires specialist repair work and can cost more than normal bodywork.
Concept
last 10 percent
“Last 10 percent” means the final bit of improvement is usually the hardest and most expensive. You might get most of the fun first, but the top version costs a lot for smaller gains.
Term
depreciation
Depreciation is how much the car’s value drops while you own it. If you buy a car and sell it later for less, that difference is depreciation.
Term
ring its neck
It means you’re driving the car really hard and revving it up. Basically, you’re using the engine’s top-end power.
Concept
blind drive test
A “blind drive test” is when you drive cars without knowing which one is which, to reduce bias. The point here is that even if the newer 992 feels better, it’s hard to prove how much of that is objective versus expectation.
Term
PPF
PPF is a clear protective layer that helps stop small damage from things like stones and road grit. It’s different from a wrap because it’s meant to protect the paint rather than replace it.
Term
MOT
In the UK, an MOT is a yearly safety check your car has to pass to stay legal to drive. If it runs out, you can’t drive it on public roads until it’s renewed.
Concept
skid pan
A skid pan is a controlled test surface designed to help drivers and engineers study traction loss. It’s used to evaluate how a car’s tires, brakes, and stability/traction systems respond when grip suddenly drops.
Term
convertible
A convertible is a car where you can open the roof. People like them in summer because you get fresh air and a more “open” driving experience.
Term
4D cut out job
They’re joking that the rear plate area looks like it’s been cut and shaped in a fancy way. It’s probably an aftermarket styling job, not the standard look.
Term
700 CC engine
“700 CC” means the engine is about 0.7 liters. Smaller engines usually cost less to run, but they may not feel as quick as bigger engines.
Term
manual gearbox
A manual gearbox is the one where you use a clutch pedal and a gear stick. It’s usually more involving to drive than an automatic.
Concept
armoured personnel carrier
An armoured personnel carrier is a big military vehicle built to keep people safe in combat. Here, it’s mentioned as a fun but very impractical way to drive to the pub.
Concept
track days
A track day is when you drive on a race track for fun and practice. It’s usually not a race, but it can be hard on tires and brakes because you’re going faster for longer.
LIVE
Hey guys, welcome back to the Drive Talk podcast.
Hey, we're back in podium place again.
Don't you think it's like bringing the podcast home?
I know, it feels like a natural location this for us,
doesn't it?
It does.
Yeah, it's wonderful being back.
And I think I've overdone it in the coffees.
I think we've had what sweet since we came out.
They're so good, you can't not have another one,
can you really, every time we stop and start.
Yeah, that's great to be back.
And the sun's out.
Sun's out, gun's out, and you came in the bike.
Yeah, yeah, hence my slightly, my knees aren't usually,
that's totally.
I thought you had an injury, but I thought you just had
swollen kneecaps.
There's just an age thing.
On the inside, just.
Is that in your jeans, or have you got like some?
In my jeans.
Right, get the jeans off and show us, come on.
Yay.
Yeah.
And yeah, I've got like my casual jeans and boots on,
but they are all protective stuff, so.
Yeah, I'm very good.
Well, I know you normally do shoes for me, Patrick.
They are.
Look at these.
Do you get them from Harrods?
They're PTS shoes, they actually are very Harrods kind,
aren't they?
No, these are PTS Sundewan shoes.
Wow.
Tan interior.
They're very special.
Yeah.
Oh, they match my jumper.
Yeah.
So, you know, color coordinate, your color coordinate,
look at that, you've got white t-shirt.
I know, I'm not.
No.
Oh, there's the bottle opener shoes.
They are.
Yeah, they've still got the stain of.
The cider on, from when you sprayed cider all over me at the.
No, you sprayed cider all over me.
Well, no, you gave me a shook up bowl.
It's your fault.
We've got lots to talk about.
So, in this episode, we are going to have a bit of a general
catch up, because we've all been doing some very cool,
exciting things.
And then we're going to do one of our challenges.
Yes, we like a challenge.
Summer is on its way, blue skies and sunshine outside.
So, we're doing a summer car challenge.
So, we've each been set the challenge.
We've got three budgets, because we know how you guys like,
when we do like normal budgets that you can afford
without selling kidney.
Things that we could afford, they could afford.
Yeah.
It's much better that way.
So, we've had to choose our ultimate summer car,
three different budgets.
Four.
Oh, well, yeah.
We have a caveated one, yeah.
Up to five grand, up to 15 grand and up to 30 grand.
And then one without a budget.
Yeah, essentially a dream.
I can't wait.
I just know what Patrick will have come with some really
off the walls.
There's one of them that I think, yeah,
you two would never guess in a million years.
One of them is slightly obvious, but yeah.
And also, whether or not we've actually hit the brief,
because it's not a brief that you can go wrong with, really.
Well, it defends how you define a summer car, right?
I mean, this is very true, actually, very true.
We'll come onto that.
So, where are we starting?
Have you got the agenda on your phone there?
Oh, well, I did have, yeah.
Thankfully, Patrick says.
Well, we can talk about what you two have been doing, right?
Joe, you've just come back from a drive of a car.
You can talk about that if you'd like.
Yeah, so yesterday, I mean, this is going to shock a lot of people,
and it's probably going to shock a lot of people in the video.
But I spent most of the day in BMW's brand new iX3,
which is an electric car.
Oh, well, hold on.
Isn't that car of the year?
Exactly, car of the year.
I brought up a little story yesterday saying,
because it's crazy that there's a driving embargo on it.
But yeah, it's already car of the year, months ago.
I mean, yeah.
Did it live up to expectations, really, as the first question?
Annoyingly, it did.
I mean, I was really impressed with everything about it.
I'd seen the car physically at very BMW and Corridon, actually.
They had a sort of a dealer launch there about a month ago.
And I thought it was quite aesthetically pleasing to look at.
It's still got some weird angles like the side of the car.
I think, as with many BMWs, it's almost like they've designed the front,
they've designed the rear, they've designed the interior,
and they've just gone, let's just let's just keep the side
flat and plain and do nothing with it.
Just got to join the front and the back.
Exactly. Just extrude the two sides
and they meet in the middle, in the middle of the doors.
Yeah, uses little material as possible.
But even I'd say even the optional 22 inch wheels,
which are the non aero wheels look to me like full fat, like M wheels,
which is really nice to refresh and see, because I think I saw on with aero wheels
and it looked quite bland.
The car, as we know, wheels make a massive difference.
So aesthetically good looking, interior wise, looks amazing.
The quality of everything pretty much feels like it's gone up
a step compared to the current X3, which is only about a year old.
But hadn't the X3 gone down a step?
Yeah. So are we back to where they were?
Or do you think they've stepped on again from from peak BMW that we talk about before?
I don't think they're at peak BMW, which is in my opinion, only three, four years ago.
I think there's still there's still some sketchier plastics in places,
but it's not offensive now.
Like I didn't go in there and I spent the day looking for some horrible plastics.
And apart from like the steering column surround,
which was a bit sort of like cheapish looking, the rest of it was lovely.
All the touch points were good.
Honestly, they're tech in it.
And this is not me being a BMW fanboy.
They've got this new eye.
They call it panoramic eye drive.
And it's it's it's like the next generation of head up display.
So although this car also had the optional head up display,
which was overkill, because at the front of the windscreen at the bottom,
you have all of the all of everything you need to see.
So your dashboard with all your normal stuff that you can sort of configure.
But then you've got six different widget widgets to the left
that you can so easily control and swap in and out with whatever you want.
So whether you want it to be like a weather widget or your
what you're playing on your podcast drive talk podcast widget,
all these different things that you can configure.
And obviously that all stays with the driver and the key.
So if you're driving it and your partner driving it and that's all.
But just the tech it in one way, it was a lot to take in in one day,
especially for my my slow brain.
But in another way, a lot of it was like, this is actually pretty cool.
Like there's some really nice stuff in here and it all works really well.
Because like a head up display, when you're looking at it all,
your peripheral vision is still predominantly looking down the road.
So so that was all really good.
But for me, it was all about how is it going to drive?
You know, range is the big thing that we all talk about with EVs.
What is the suggested range?
And what is the the EPA rated range?
Yes. So the WT WLTP combined predicted range or whatever was was about
five hundred, depending on the model.
And mine was the top spec 500 miles.
Yeah. And really?
And the one I was in was the top spec 50 X drive M sport pro
with the optional 22 inch wheels.
So the least efficient of all, and that was four hundred and sixty miles.
But when I got in it, it said four eight eight range with 98 percent battery.
How big is the battery?
One hundred and eight point nine kilowatt usable,
kilowatt hour usable.
Oh, wow. So massive.
And it's a new it's something about the way they they use the cells
in the battery or whatever.
It's like a generation six battery.
But I did about 100 miles in it and I used about 110 miles of range.
But that included probably four or five launch controls, some spirit of driving.
So actually, I reckon, and according to the people at BMW,
and I don't think they would lie to me, but they did work at BMW.
They said that then when they're running them in,
they were getting well over four hundred miles in the colder weather that we had,
you know, a month ago.
So so it's it's I mean, spending a day in a press car and handing it back
with over 300 miles, an electric press car and handing it back with over 300 miles
in it. I've never had that experience before.
So it was all, you know, it was quite refreshing.
I kept looking at the range and I was just like, actually,
I've stopped looking at the range.
I don't know. I'm just I'm just calling an ambulance.
Joe's Joe's talking.
Yeah. Hello. Yeah.
Ambulance please. Yes.
Yes. The name is Mr Achilles.
Yeah, it's finally happened.
He needs an instant, instant intensive care.
Fatal injection.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
He's talking positively about an EV.
Yeah, I think this is end of life.
Now, yeah.
So so the range was great and the way it drove.
So this one, there's only one time of launch in terms of power,
but it's a small motor on the front axle, large motor on the rear axle,
not 16. I timed it just over four and a half seconds.
Quick enough for your ex family bus.
And so funny, four and a half seconds.
That 10 years ago would have been like a super car.
Yeah, exactly.
And the thing is it would do it in any weather at any point,
you know, you know, anyone could get that achieved that sort of time.
Do we know how much it weighs?
2.35 tons.
It's not bad.
So yeah, it's sort of normal.
But also it's relative.
It was on passive suspension.
Now, I'd heard whispers that they're going to bring out an adaptive suspension,
but they haven't developed that properly yet.
So it was on passive springs and non adjustable.
And on the way down to our lunch location, I was like, OK, well, it rides really well.
So it's surely not going to feel great in the bends
because they've set the spring way up to be.
But actually, when I took it into the twisties, it handled really well.
So so that was good.
But I think one of the biggest standup points for me and I noticed it
the second I pulled out of BMW UK's headquarters was the calibration
on what they've done.
And I'm sure it's the same with a lot.
I don't drive that many EVs, but I think a lot of manufacturers
are really nailing the calibration of the throttle
and what we know as the throttle early EVs.
It was very not on or off, but it was very like, oh, we're in an electric car.
It was this one, the first 30 percent of the throttle pedal is just so especially in.
So there's a more natural torque curve to the power comes in like an engine.
But like you'd expect.
Yeah, it feels like you've got like a 180 horsepower normal SUV.
And it's like, OK, but then obviously then you you put your foot down.
You're like, oh, no, I've got 500 horsepower, nearly nearly 500.
But it was just that was just lovely that, you know,
that the feeling and the pedal, the steering was nice.
It all came together really well.
I thought I thought I really genuinely think as a package,
I compared it a bit to the McAnee V, which which is a great car
in terms of driving dynamics and in the same segment,
but a McAnee V spec for specs going to cost you an extra 25 or 30 grand.
Also, the McAnee V in terms of packaging like the Taycan,
it's although it's not bad, it's nothing like the IX3.
Like there's a way they've got a 520 litre of boot.
I was going to ask about boot space like is that a big.
So the physicality is good.
So the battery and I'm sure it might be the same with the McAnee V.
I don't know, but the battery is now right on the floor
and it's and it's actually a fundamental part of the chassis now.
It's not just bolted to an existing platform.
It's so it's all so that the so the footwells in the rear, for instance,
a normal car footwells.
They're not the flat floor where your legs are up like this.
Yeah. So so you've got all of these advantages.
And I mean, yeah, I wouldn't be saying it, you know, me and Evie's.
I know.
Another phone call coming up, let's say, yeah.
Tony, yeah, Tony, TRL Tony.
Yeah, yeah, Tony, you need to cancel the M3.
Yeah, yeah, Joe's changed his mind.
Yeah, he's going to have an IX3 instead.
Hang on, I've just got a phone call from BMW HQ.
They said, yeah, we can send the invoice. Oh, excellent.
Perfect. Yeah, you're on that one.
Yeah, that was enough podcast about it.
Yeah, definitely.
I'm definitely getting lots of fun in for this one.
But anyway, yeah, I'm not going to hear those.
So is that why one car of the year then or now now I can see.
So as much as it's a silly premise, you can validate that it is that quality of car.
This isn't. Yeah.
And for the money as well.
So fifty nine grand, it starts out for the for that fifty X drive.
Sixty two for the top spec trim.
So it's hardly in.
It's like fifty nine for the base spec, sixty one for the middle spec
and sixty two for the top spec.
But but this particular press car, there is a caveat.
This one had another nine and a half grand's worth of options.
Oh, lovely.
Which but the wheels were like three and a half grand.
And and although the twenty twos look great, if you went twenty one or 20s,
you get much better range, better range, right?
Comfort as well.
Yeah. So so yeah, I have to say it was it was a refreshingly pleasant day
in terms of my experience with that car.
I wanted to go and experience it.
I wanted to see what all the fuss was about and see if it was just brown envelopes.
And actually, it was a very good car.
And if you could buy us an Enyak VRS two weeks ago on test
and that I mean, that's the top spec Enyak, but that was like fifty three.
Yep. OK. And it didn't do that.
Yeah. So the cars in the board mark.
Trader Mazda range.
So I'm surprised it's not going to say cheap,
but I thought it would be more than that.
No, it's in the right place, isn't it?
Like you can't I mean, still a truckload of cash,
but most people are on PCP anyway, isn't it?
Exactly. And and that architecture is going to be in the new three series
or the I three, is it going to call it?
And from what I hear, that's going to have a range of very close to six
hundred miles because it's going to use the same battery.
It's going to be lighter and obviously a car or so.
Wow. I mean, that that we get maybe we get in there.
We're getting there. Yeah.
I still don't.
If you use an EV a lot, I don't get the why you need more than 300 miles
because you need to have a break before then anyway, with rapid charging and stuff.
But that still doesn't stop the barrier for a lot of people
where they wouldn't buy an electric car unless it'll do four to five hundred miles.
Yep. And now it seems like we're getting cars coming to market that will do that.
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, they still won't buy it.
I probably am sure at some point, giving you a positivity,
you might look to get one of these long term and I think that would.
But I think that would be the test for you
because you like what is being presented to live with one, to charge it,
to have a bit of home charging on the road to get a home charger and I did
actually half jokingly say to Martin yesterday, I would like to borrow one
for a month or so and actually live with it.
Yeah, because I think like you've done with lots of cars.
I think it's, you know, I think, yeah, I think as a means of transport,
it was very impressive and I actually got caught up in traffic
coming back to BMW UK yesterday on the A3 or whatever it was.
It was horrible traffic, but I was in this amazing greenhouse environment
with a pan roof and this massive windscreen.
Because the window line looks quite like the windows all around are quite low,
like they're quite big, which is lovely.
And the light that came in and because you've got all these controls,
the windscreen is like an extra six inches further away.
So you really have this sort of like.
Like a Fiat Multipla.
Like a Fiat Multipla, exactly.
Yeah, yeah, I guess, yeah.
But it was just, it was a really nice place to sit even in traffic
and being an EV, it's not sitting there going, it's just so that was really cool.
Before the week before that, I went out to Spain for a Trident,
Triumph, Trident 660 launch, which was great.
I mean, partly because, well, up until this week,
we've just had misery in the UK.
So it was just the sunshine was like, oh, my God, I rang Lou within five minutes.
I was like, oh, my God, why have we not gone away this year?
We need to go.
And the bike was the same conversation.
Yeah, as soon as you see it, it's just like, why, what have we been doing
for the last two months, complaining about the weather, just get on a cheap flight
and go away. But that bike, eight grand for a three cylinder Triumph,
you know, just, it was just brilliant.
And it was, it was really good fun.
And I think that's, well, without boring you too much,
the last subject before we get into PED is, is hopefully by the time
this podcast has gotten live, I've edited and finished my factory tour
video for my incoming M3 touring.
And I'm not going to go into too much detail about it.
But Tony and I drove out to Munich a couple of weeks ago
to watch my incoming M3 being built.
And it was my actual car and we watched the whole process
from the bare painted shell to the finished product
to where I was sitting in a passenger seat, going into the dyno.
But the whole everything, the sort of 10 and a half hours
between the bare shell and the finished product, is that all it takes?
Yeah. Yeah. So it was, it was about 10 and a half hours.
And that includes an hour lunch.
I mean, it's amazing the way it all operates.
And they have like every hour and a half, they have a 10 minute break
where everything just goes, the production line just stops.
Everything goes dark.
Everyone disappears upstairs where there's always like chill out rooms.
And they all, and it's just, I mean, it's such a well oiled beast,
as you can imagine, but it was just an amazing experience.
Like the fact that it was my car was the icing on the cake.
And at the end of it, I had Frank Van Miel and Peter Weber,
who's the head of Plant Munich, both of them there to do a quick interview.
And both of them signed under my bonnet, which is brilliant.
So I'm going to make sure that Mike from Manusia PPFs over those bits
and doesn't go, oh, I've found some felt tip under your car.
I've managed to get it off to be like, oh, yeah.
But it was just amazing watching the whole process
from start to finish, the amount of work and man and women hours, women hours.
There was a lot of women on the production floor, which was awesome.
And ironically, everyone was very, so although the management
and there was a lot of work involved to get out there, including BMW.
I can only imagine how that how you organise that.
It was a lot of red tape.
And I think a lot of people like Top Gear and other big publications
had asked in the past and sort of been pushed aside.
But for me, it was like, number one, how many cars of Top Gear bought
off BMW over the years? The answer is zero.
You know, they get long term as whatever.
I've been a good customer of BMW over many years and I've got my YouTube channel.
So I was like, you know, and this is my car, so let's try and make it work.
And to be fair, everyone, it all worked.
It went out there.
But when I was filming on the production line, we were asking
everyone's permission for being on camera.
And 99% of the people were absolutely fine with it.
But I really wanted to get to show because it was genuinely there's
so many women on the production floor, but a lot of the women were like,
oh, no, I haven't had my hair and makeup done.
So yeah, so although I've shown a few in the video, there was a lot more there.
But it was just awesome.
It was awesome.
And I got to do some very cool things.
And I mean, one of the things I did was right the right the first stage
after the car had come through and been checked by all these lasers and stuff
to make sure the spray or the paintwork was perfect.
I got to stamp with this crazy machine, my chassis number into the actual
engine bay and then jokingly, one of the production guys out there said to me,
he was like, oh, thank God, you got that right.
Because if you mess that up, we'll have to throw your car in the bin because
obviously it needs a proper chassis number.
It can't be some blurred bit of, but anyway, yeah, it was good.
So hopefully if the video is out, it will be a long one.
I know I'm dreading the edit, go and check it out.
Or if it's coming out, then keep an eye out for it.
Because it was a cool experience and Mr.
Tony Lewis was there for the whole thing and we almost broken because it was
a it was such a long day.
Yeah, but that's it.
I mean, for me, I can't wait to watch it because I know I'm sitting there
going, how the hell do you film that?
I mean, that is, you know, when people watch YouTube, they consume the
content and they enjoy the consuming of the content.
When we're making content, you know, sometimes you pitch ideas or and then
and then you've got to think, oh my God, how am I going to film that?
Yeah.
And then you film it and you come back with tens of maybe hundreds of gigabytes
of data and go, oh, I've got to edit that now.
Yeah, put that together in a concise way together.
And yeah, so yeah.
Well, I'm looking forward to I've got I'm looking forward to maybe you should
do like almost an ASMR like long form version.
Like in a few months time, just put out the whole thing.
Yeah, just cut up each thing you do and just don't try
to make it too concise or too nice.
Kind of like Matt Armstrong does that with some of his car bills.
He just uploads everything as well as that.
I mean, we remember, we did it for GT three touring when we went to Portugal.
You did that vlog and it was great.
So yeah, I'd be excited to see that because there's so, like you said,
there's so many you told me about the different elements, but there's so
much that goes on and like for someone somewhere, particularly car
people like us, that's more interesting than you trying to curate a story.
Like actually seeing the reality, just letting it one of the things I think
you wouldn't mind me saying is that the amount of time they give to an end
product versus a normal product.
So you were saying that an end product has to sit in between what, two normal
products, exactly because they need more time for the M one versus you are
getting what you pay for the car is more expensive, but more time is spent on building it.
Yeah.
So yeah, that was really interesting.
That's probably a good thing to talk about.
Last point of promise, but is is the fact that, yeah.
So mine being an M three touring, I had an I four in front of me and a three
series, three 30 hybrid behind me.
And so that this factory plant Munich, they only build three series and four
series grand coupé to the four door four series, not the two door four series.
That's another factory.
So and they produce a thousand units a day every 58 seconds, a new car rolls
off the production line.
But as Pat said, because mine was an M car, it can't, you never get two
M cars in a row because they spend a lot more time on the M car than they do on
the I four, they spend less time on the I four, more time on a normal three
series and the most time on an M car because it has so many more radiators
and electronics and bits of body work and various bits and pieces, like much
bigger exhausts or some cases, the I four doesn't even have an exhaust.
So it was just, yeah, they, so when it goes to a station or like a section,
I don't know, half an hour long, let's say during that half an hour, they
might spend 20 minutes on my car and only five minutes on the I four and
five minutes on the car.
Do you know what I mean?
Like something, so it's, so even man and women hours, there's a lot more
spent on an M car and that doesn't include all of the extra parts.
And so that's, that's kind of why I wanted to go out there and film it was
just to justify, hopefully show people that, you know, although a hundred
thousand pounds is a hell of a lot of money, you start to understand why
you're paying some of that money, at least on, on just how much time goes
into your car. But anyway, Ped, what you, what you've been up to?
Well, driving Porsche's.
You're talking about a hundred thousand pound plus.
Yeah, make more than that.
Some good news and some bad news.
Good news is the new GT three touring 992.2 is brilliant.
Bad news is it's really expensive.
Yeah.
Yeah. No, I had that on tests from Thursday last week to Tuesday this week.
Amazing car.
Yeah.
Guess what?
That's no surprise, is it really?
But no, it was good.
It was really, really good.
But the big question for me is, is it, is it 200 grand good?
It's 200.
The one you had or what is a base?
The base.
So this was the 992.2 GT three touring and base price is a hundred and fifty eight.
Oh, OK.
So you, you know what?
You start going on to the configurator and putting stuff on it.
And the I did it.
I chatted in the video a bit about the thing with press cars.
And we've we've all talked about this before is two things that normally
grind people's gears about press cars is they're normally really
lairy colors and they've normally got every option under the sun on them.
So they're really expensive.
And the reason for that is quite simple.
Press teams normally choose lairy colors because they want a car to stand out
on the magazine cover or in a video.
And they've normally got everything on them so that when we review them,
we can test everything out and talk about all the different options.
Yeah, if the options are not on there, you can't say to a perspective
by what it's like.
So it was a pretty well option one.
It had it had upgraded paintwork.
Oak Green Neo, because you've got you've got the GT three touring,
but you'll get the new one because that the one I drove is just about
to be taken off fleet and replaced with a silver silver.
Yeah, that's cool.
Yeah, lastly, so it had it had an upgrade impact, but it had the the
lightweight pack, which is twenty nine and a half thousand pounds, like like
bow, like like bow, I think it is.
Yeah, it's got you get a little a little metal plaque by the gear.
And it's worth it.
But surely that and weight rather than takes it away.
Yeah, but that I mean, there's quite a lot in there, but the main things
it's got you get the magnesium lightweight alloys, which are great,
but a bit terrifying because if you damage one of them, it's like getting
carbon words, isn't it?
You're entering that level of like, if you damage one of these, how do you fix
a carbon roof and then you get the car foldable carbon buckets all in that.
But so that and then loads of suspension components.
Does roll cage come in with that?
No, the one I didn't have a rocket.
OK, so I don't having been on the configurator.
Can you not get one in a touring?
I'm not sure you can spec a roll cage in a touring.
I didn't see it.
Yeah, maybe maybe.
I mean, maybe it kind of makes sense, really.
But what you can do is spec seats in the back.
That's nice.
Yes, yeah, especially make sense with affordable buckets.
But yeah, so the one I had, it had, it didn't have, it had axlift
PPF from factory.
But an audio system.
It had a stereo.
Yeah. Again, they used to do a Berminster uplift.
But I don't think I didn't see that on the on the spec list.
So yeah, it was 203 grand.
But when you're talking Porsche retail, you know that
configurators, I think we talked about this not so long ago.
You said it had a base price of 158 grand.
Porsche are a little bit cheeky, because if you go on there,
configure it, and I only know this because I got when I was talking
to Anthony about when I was dreaming about having a 911 T
and obviously every penny meant, you know, like for me, it was like,
Jesus, this is I'm stretching everything here.
The the price you get on the configurator of the Porsche is not on the road.
That's a retail price.
And then there's like a you'll see, there's like an asterisk in it.
So then you've got a factor in the first year road tax,
which is about six or seven grand on one of those.
So actually compared to like, and I'm not defending BMW,
but it BMW Audi, a lot of other, they build it in.
It's on the road.
So that so that so that 158 would probably be one six five base.
And now it's interesting because I was when I picked it up,
I went in and found Anthony and and and chatted with Anthony.
Anthony, I didn't say Anthony.
No, you didn't.
Anthony, big shout out, by the way.
And we were chatting and and the premise of my video,
because I had the tea a couple of weeks before,
which is I think we talked about in the last podcast, just mega car, mega mega car.
And I just questioned, you know, how much better because if you want a manual 911,
now that's it. You've got there.
You've got two or three.
Yeah. How much better is a GT three than T?
And the simple answer is a lot.
But the a lot bit is like the last 10 percent.
Yeah. So the first 90 percent is I mean, a T.
So what's, yeah, what I was about to ask, like, what's a, you know,
sensibly spec T versus a sense of respect start one 15, I think.
I mean, yeah, so you'd like to get one of those at one 30, one 40.
One 30, one 30, let's say one 30.
Yeah. And then a GT three.
Carter Hain, a Prescott was one 30. Yeah.
And then a GT three touring.
Well, we're getting one of those sensibly. I got one 80.
Yeah. But yeah, I didn't put too much on it, about one seven four.
So 50 grand. Yeah.
So the probably the total cost of using either one of those cars over,
you know, five year ownership or something, that all in everything.
Tires, track date, like all of the you could have a T.
Yeah. And do everything you ever wanted with that car.
Mileage, not sensitive.
Or, but you're going to tell me about depreciation at the end.
They're probably both the same, wouldn't they?
Like lost money on both cars.
Yeah. But probably less with the GT.
Well, I don't know.
I mean, arguably that the T is so good on a on a B road in the in the UK.
You can ring its neck and and and have an amazing time.
But the big you can't do, which is where the GT comes.
So you see three comes in is the 9000 RPM red line.
The the front, the front ends, it's got double wishbones
and it just has such a better feel. Yeah.
But it's you're still not going to get out of a T and go out with shit.
No, they're just amazing cars.
OK, but where's a 991.1 used GT3 touring?
That's that's the first place you go.
Because isn't that the answer?
Yeah, just yeah.
Go for one of those. Yeah.
Probably can still PCP one, right?
Not that money, though, aren't they?
Yeah, they are.
But they only started like 160 specs.
Did you say 992 211?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
They look I've just been looking and they bumped up really a couple of months ago.
They were when the new one came out and at the, you know, winter months,
they started to go down.
You could get nice ones for you.
I found so one five five one sixty.
So it's like basically list.
Yeah. And now they look like like like average spec ones are one six five one
seventy. So they're creeping back up again now.
And honestly, having driven both now, I mean, I'm
they the new ones better.
But really, if you I know you can't do a blind drive test, right?
Yeah, it's not a lot in it.
No, no, I think you'd struggle.
I mean, none of us are existing customers with a 991.1
992.1. Yeah.
But like it'd be you'd really struggle to justify coming up one into the other.
I like to go in trade in upgrade.
I think there's kind of no point in doing that.
Yeah. Yeah.
And also you look, I know it's just a silly thing, but the analogue.
Yeah. I know the digital display is really cool.
And it's, you know, they've done a good job with it.
But that to me still, and I'm not a watched person like you are.
But I just I think I would miss that.
I love the way it's just like when when everything's off, it's just the dial.
And then when it all comes alive and it's just like that's that's pretty cool.
But it is a special car.
Yeah. Oh, yeah, I'm sure.
And what else? Just just Porsche?
Yeah, I had a skier on your any act.
That was good. Oh, yeah.
That was like drove that drove that for a week.
And I take it you drove here in your because it's beautiful day.
So it's perfect spider weather.
Oh, tell us about the spider.
It actually got driven last week for the first time.
Oh, wow. It's been parked up.
Well, a couple of things.
So one, it's been parked in the garage for, I think, three months without moving a wheel.
And I didn't have it on charge or anything.
And when I started it, the only thing it could have gone into battery.
It has like a battery preserve mode to preserve the 12 hour battery.
And it just said, you know, basically take it for a long drive.
And it's fine.
Yeah. So that had it had an air con fault.
So the air con has not working.
So when it never gets used, this poor car.
As I've said, when I put miles in it, I want them to be special.
It's going to get a lot of miles in the next.
But they're really special miles as you charged up the battery.
Now I drove to Porsche Portsmouth and back.
All right. Yeah.
So I've got a couple of grams of gas in it instead of eight hundred and fifty grams.
Oh, wow. It was fast.
I'll get it. Yeah.
So it's either got a leak somewhere or it just hadn't been.
Was that warranty? Yeah.
OK. Yeah.
So that's done.
And then it's going to get a full geometry set up at RBM Technic next week.
Nice.
Then it gets some carbon bits from Dissident Automotive.
And then put it on sale.
And then it goes to Spain for a 1500 mile drive tour.
Thanks. That'd be cool.
Yeah. That will be eight days of very rapid driving the GT Tours on keyboard.
Yeah. Nice.
So yeah, so don't take the mix.
So I came in Ruby Rotor so you could see her lovely new.
Now it does look.
I can see it from here and the colour of it.
That that the Colour Change PPF, isn't it?
It's not a wrap. It's a PPF.
It looks unbelievable.
It does look really good.
I have to say, I mean, it looked great in pictures.
Much as it pains Joe to say.
He doesn't like the stripes though, but yeah.
Yeah, no.
But when you get up close to the paint as well, you see all the metallic.
Oh, it's not even paint.
No, it looks like paint, but it's not.
Yeah, it's got metallic in it and everything.
And that only works that well because it's black underneath.
Can you do that in different colours?
You can. So that's colour change.
So that's Wax is Dead Colour Change PPF.
They do it in three colours.
So green, purple and red.
But you can only put it on a black car because because it's PPF.
So a wrap, you wrap the actual vinyl around all the body panels.
And normally if you do it properly, have to take all the body panels off.
Yeah.
And you heat gun it and get it to wrap around using a heat gun.
That's PPF, so you can't do that.
So you have to kind of finish the the sheet of PPF at the edges.
So if you look really carefully on some of the edges, bore shuts and stuff,
you'll see the black paint underneath.
Yeah, because it's black and in some lights, that looks black anyway.
Yeah, you don't really see it. Yeah.
But if it was a white car, you'd have like little fine white lines around everybody.
Yeah, I was going to say, how good would that look on the M2?
But yeah, yeah, unfortunately, the only thing is that there's loads of people
after my video of Connor contacted the guy and said,
oh, I'd love that on my car and I've got a gray car.
And you know what else that was fantastic about it?
The Michelin sidewall.
Oh, yes.
Is it running PS5s?
Yes.
Nice.
Yeah.
Oh, I'm running PS5s.
You're running PS5s.
And it doesn't have a neck.
My feet are dirty.
That one doesn't have a nail in it, but my can does.
Oh dear.
Yeah, tell us about that.
You've got, you must have, I reckon you've got a bird that also shits on you.
I know, Tom, man.
Oh my God, that was so bad.
That was, but I just, I showed Lou that and she was like,
that's really horrible and then she started laughing.
So yeah, so last week, so I had, you know, you don't,
because if you don't have a video, you just don't put one out.
Yeah.
But I try and put a video out Monday, Wednesday, Friday,
and I was like, I'm going to put it out.
And I thought, well, next week, the McCann had,
I don't know if I told you, I had someone comment on one of my McCann videos
saying your MOT is running out next week.
Unless I didn't know.
Yeah.
So it would have ran out the week after and I'd have been driving around
while it was in the garage, but I wouldn't have renewed the MOT.
So I was like, I've got to put the MOT in.
And I had a chip windscreen with it and it had blown the laminate on the windscreen.
So I booked it in for a new windscreen and then it had an MOT.
Then the spider was going, I thought, I know, I'll just,
I'll kind of just like video the week and, you know,
because the windscreen crack was pretty spectacular, to be honest.
And I thought I'll put the video out and nobody will watch it.
They might, it did like 30,000 views in the first 24 hours.
It's nearly, I don't know, nearly 50,000 views now.
It's not average watch times, 11 minutes.
Wow.
Yeah, it was just, and everyone's like,
I really like the whole kind of follow, you've got a normal life.
Day in the life, kind of vloggy style.
And I'm like, maybe I should do more of that.
But maybe I don't spend two days filming with a car and getting drive-bys
and massive long edits and stuff.
I'll just follow my life.
But I think you, I think because of the style of your videos over the years,
you've got number one, you've got very, well, very engaged audience,
but they, they, they do, I think because your mid-week 180s and stuff,
your audience is way more involved with you and, and, and, and feel part of what you do,
not just the car stuff.
Yeah.
So I think that sort of stuff, because I tried doing the daily vlogs
in Australia and stuff and although a few of my hardcore audience were like,
Oh, I really enjoyed that.
It never got any engagement reviews or anything.
Never reached like a wider audience.
Never.
And that's probably because with me, it's very like, this is my video style.
And that's it.
But with you, you do so many different things.
But maybe you could make your mid-week 180s more dynamic and do a weekly vlog
where you're doing something and you bring that in.
I think I probably will start doing that more.
By the way, a shout to your RS5 video.
Oh yeah, that was mega.
That's gangbusters, mate.
Yeah.
It was unbelievable numbers.
Have we spoken about that car yet?
That's a cool car.
Yes.
In the last one, we did, didn't we?
Oh, we did take about it.
Yeah, remember when we spoke about it last time?
It was great, wasn't it?
No, we did because you talked about it.
Oh, yeah, of course.
Yeah.
Yeah, no, it did well.
Yeah, it did really well.
It was nice to get invited out for the first drive.
Not.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Now, also, car went out there.
I think they got about 6,000 views.
Car of the year?
Or?
Yeah, probably, yeah.
It was too late now.
It has to be 2027 car of the year now.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, but yeah, what a beautiful, I mean,
yeah, the images of it actually driving and stuff,
and it does look good.
It looks, I've got to watch that.
I think Haggerty did one.
Oh, mate.
Yeah, Haggerty was.
Henry's one's amazing.
Yeah, and Rory's one, I'm guessing.
Proper strips and tyres, I mean.
Yeah, well, yeah, but I'd heard, yeah, it's weird, isn't it?
Sort of three bits of skids, tyres gone.
And that's it, yeah.
But see, that's...
Is that the weight showing?
Yeah, the weight and the power and just the physics.
But again, Audi did that a couple of years ago with the RS3
when we went to the skid pan somewhere in Spain.
What was the name of the skid pan?
That's where it went wrong.
It was just a big grippy bit of tarmac in the paddock.
Here's a car park, kind of thing, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And we destroyed, they said,
oh, you'll get 90 seconds on this new set of tyres
in this RS3.
And literally, I did about three or four doughnuts
and the rears delaminated.
And it was like...
What's the point?
That was cool, but what is the point in that?
Like, how does that look good for a brand?
Yeah, look how quickly our tyres...
The slow-mo smoky shot looks good.
Yeah, look, yeah.
But then it just worries you.
But you need the Chris Harris long corner, slidey look.
You do.
But I think this is going to be a problem with,
and I'm sure it's something that, you know,
the likes of Michelin have had big challenges with recently,
with these really powerful fast EVs and hybrids.
Because I know people that have got like M5s.
Another guy messaged me not so long ago.
He's done three, just under 4,000, 3,800 miles
and he needed a new set of tyres for his M5.
And he only drives it on the road.
Wow.
And he said, I drive it a bit spirited.
Really?
Yeah, but I was like, wow,
I haven't even checked my own son's 6,000,
but then I have swapped wheels.
So, but when you think about the physics of it,
it's like, you've got a thousand newton meters of torque.
You've got two and a half tonnes of car.
Doesn't matter, you know,
there's only so much you can do to that tyre.
So, yeah, it does get, it all starts to sound
a little bit expensive after a while.
But at least you get out and drive in the sunshine
and in some, maybe you don't need a two and a half tonne car
with a thousand newton meters of torque.
No, I reckon I can find something for about five grand.
Do you want one?
Or 15 or 30.
Yeah, I think I could too.
What about you, Joe?
Yeah, I reckon five grand was a challenge for me.
Let's do five grand.
What did I tell you?
What did I tell you when we first arrived?
I was like, Joe will struggle with this
because the lower bracket, he can't PCP.
So like, what does he do?
And let's you suggest that he's buying a Citroen Ami,
that there's nothing you can PCP at that.
Yeah, four and a half grand PCP.
Who's going first?
Well, what I want you two to do,
and we'll start with you and we'll go this way round.
Like, how did you define a summer car?
Because initially in my head, and Joe said the same,
I went to convertible.
But then I was like, hmm, but is it like a track day thing?
Like, where do I want that?
And then there was a line, is it like a pub car
where you can bring your mates?
So like, you just bobble around.
And so I went in a certain direction, I'm sure you did.
And you definitely, I think we know where you went.
But like, where did you go with this summer car?
What's your definition of a summer car?
Convertible.
Convertible.
All amount of convertibles.
For me, because I've got two convertibles,
like today, I drove here in the Mini,
and I woke up this morning and went,
this is great, sun's out,
I'm driving all the way there with the roof down.
Yeah, I came in the convertible as well today.
Yeah, you did, that's pretty good.
So for me, a summer car is a convertible.
Okay.
And what's the use case, though?
That's more my, because you've got to pick the cars,
convertible, yes.
But are you going fast?
Are you going slow?
Are you bringing friends?
Well, the big one then,
it's not so much the fast or slow,
in fact, you'll see in my collection,
but whether you've got two seats or four
is the big question,
because there's like your two-seater
little roadster sports car,
but then they're limited to two people,
or you can have four seats,
but then you're limited to kind of,
four seat convertibles are normally quiet shit, really,
because it's like having a shoebox
with the roof taken off like,
and they're a bit flippy floppy,
but you've got the roof down anyway.
So yeah, I've gone for a bit of a mix.
Okay.
For me, and maybe this is the world that I'm in
with my 912, that I did get started the other week,
the weather's getting nice.
Yeah, you take the piss out of me with my Spydo,
at least I'd drive mine.
Yeah, but if mine worked, I'd drive it.
No, no, but I went to cars that you can enjoy
for a short period of time, right?
The 912.
Yeah, exactly.
200 miles.
Don't have to be reliable.
You don't have to use them every day.
You don't have to do the slogs in the rain and the weather.
You can get them out of the garage or the...
Suddenly fun go take off.
Yeah, exactly.
You can just go for a poodle,
whether it's fast or slow.
That was, that's where my head space was.
For me, for me, the summertime or summer car,
summertime, it just means fun times in cars
and going on road trips.
Having a fun time in cars, look at that.
Oh, easy now.
Easy now.
G-A-M-3 and like some kind of matte black,
horrible number plates, though.
Oh, anyway.
Using our draw keys.
So you're, are you going for like road trip vibes?
Yeah, I also did think convertibles.
So I'm not, maybe one of mine might be a convertible,
but I just pictured a car that I'm out and about in summer
and with a big smile on my face.
And whether that's in the Alps
or whether it's driving to the shops and back.
So yeah, nothing.
I mean, yeah, in a way, it's no different to a winter car,
but I think in my head, a winter car would be more
like an SUV thing or something that's a bit less exciting.
Summer cars, like I want a smile on them.
I'll tell you now, you wouldn't want to use any three
of my cars in the winter.
No, absolutely not.
No, no.
Right, should we start off five grand then
and you can go first.
I don't think that BMW could be dropped anymore, do you?
No.
Wow, that is, that is a mean looking slant.
It is mean to be fair.
And he's lost the front number plate on the way here.
He starts to put it in the window.
Oh no.
Yeah, it's a real shame.
I quite like, I'm not a black wheel fan,
but those wheels do look pretty good.
Good tires on it.
And they're on Mr. and Tyre's.
And yellow DRLs as well.
That is, apart from the rear number plate,
which was like a 4D cut out job,
that the rest of the car is nailed.
Oh hang on, granddad's got his laptop out.
All right, here we go.
Oh, I'm gonna show you a picture,
so I can see it.
I have to put my glasses on it.
Right, so we're going five grand.
Up to five grand.
Up to five grand.
So I've got a pound left.
Oh, I blew this one.
Right, my car has a three liter engine
with 282 horsepower.
Okay, it could be a lot of things at this point.
130,000 miles, okay.
And it's a BMW.
It's a Z3 or Z4?
Well, 282 horsepower.
Yeah, Z4?
Is it a Z4, three liter?
282 with a three liter.
That's a bizarre...
Under five grand.
That's a Z4 3SI.
No.
What is it?
I'm trying to think what's 282.
I'm gonna hate myself.
Look at that.
Oh, six fours.
Six fours?
This is a 635.
635i?
Yeah.
Wow, I wouldn't...
I mean, that is an ugly car.
It's ugly, but so one of the...
One, I thought, I mean, the thing is that five grand...
Thank God it's only for the summer.
A lot of the cars, the soft top cars,
they were all either basically Z3s or Audi TTs
or the occasional...
I thought you'd be bang on for an Audi TT.
Yeah, no, I only like the nice fast ones.
I couldn't get a TT, so I thought, yeah.
That is horrible.
But one of the things someone told me once,
and I don't know where this is true,
because you know they got that horrible lip bum on them.
That they did that so that you could fit two sets of golf clubs
and a power caddy in the boot,
so they had to make it that size.
He hasn't said, but it's actually a diesel.
Yeah, it's a diesel.
Oh, a 635d, of course it is.
Yeah, it's nothing better than a diesel soft top.
So when you're driving along,
you get all the fumes coming back into the car.
You'd be co-rolling with your convertible 6s.
I looked at lots and lots of like MX-5s and TTs and Z3s.
And then you ran outside all the way for that.
That's a crew.
You could cruise down to do good mileage and everything.
I thought that was a bit different.
It's only got three owners.
It's definitely different.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Let me have another, let's have a couple of...
Let's have a couple of looks.
Can we show us a petrangle?
Let me just...
I will say the wheels aren't bad.
I like the wheels.
Okay, no...
Well, the N-series is quite nice.
Do you know what that is?
That's James Dimmock.
That is James Dimmock.
That is a James Dimmock spec.
Like Silverstone leather or something.
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, okay.
It's not bad.
No, it's not bad at all.
How much?
Just under five.
Yeah, four thousand nine at the moment.
I mean, that would have been 80, 85 grand back in the day.
Five grand?
Yeah, nice.
And it's got nicer switch gear in it than my M5.
Yeah, probably.
It's got the same switch gear as your M5.
Oh, much nicer.
I can tell you that.
There you go.
So that's mine.
Okay.
You want me to get mine up?
Yeah.
Now this is...
I went for cars...
No excuse.
No, there's no excuse.
This is a car I've always wanted to own.
And I was going through...
Five grand.
Yeah, there's loads of cars I'd like to own.
I nearly went for a 180 Cleo,
but you can't really buy any now
that are good ones for under five grand.
And you've had one then.
Yeah, I have.
So this is a car I've always wanted.
It nearly became my first car,
but I couldn't find one at the time.
And it's different.
It's fun and it's two and a half grand.
Oh, so you get two and a half grand
to keep it on the road?
It's from 2004.
Or to spend money on yours.
You are going to need to spend...
I think there's two and a half grand
to be spent on this to maintain it
for the summer months.
So it's 61,000 miles, 2004.
It's got a 700 CC engine in it.
Oh, the little chinko chin...
No.
It's cappuccino, no.
It is a smart roadster.
Oh, cool.
Now it's bad.
It's your gearbox though.
Yeah.
Well, yeah.
There's a lot wrong with it,
but like I said, I'm only driving with it.
That's lovely though.
That's cool.
Dark blue, silver wheels.
It's the roadster.
So it has the boot bit at the back.
Because the other with the coupe ones
that were cut off at the back,
I always thought they looked really weird.
But that, that is a cool...
That's very cool.
You can't say that's not a cool looking thing.
No, I concur with that.
And it's got three spoke alloys on it.
And I've got two and a half grand
to prevent it from breaking down.
Look at the interior though.
Two and a half grand to catch a bus.
I'd probably get new seats.
New seats in that.
It was the smart...
But I think that's cool.
What was that?
Again, like I'm not,
I'm not using it all the time.
It's sunny days.
It's, you know,
you can trip to the pub or...
You can get a Brabus one of them as well, can't you?
You can't for five grand,
but yeah, I did look into one of those.
It's funny because I saw one of them
the other day going past me,
ironically on the motorway.
What were you doing?
Walking down the house over.
I don't, yeah.
I'm trying to figure out how or where that was.
Maybe it was in Germany.
Were you going the other way?
Yeah, probably.
Yeah.
But in that spec and I...
Look at the interior.
It's so small.
It's a bit odd, but...
It's cool, man.
No, I like that a lot.
For two and a half grand,
I think you're having a lot of fun in that.
Like I said, you're not going fast.
You're not going on track days,
but you could go down a country lane and enjoy it.
It's a small car and I've always thought they're novel
and I think they're interesting
and this is a lovely spec one.
So, just to give you some context,
so we were talking about the GT3 earlier.
When I specced my GT3 up on the Porsche configurator for,
I don't know, 175,000 pounds,
it said finance payments only four and a half thousand pounds a month.
Oh my.
You could buy pretty much two of them in the first month.
That's insane.
What about yours?
So, mine's relatively...
Which BMW have you chosen, Jim?
Mine's relatively boring.
Joe's picked a Porsche Boxster.
No.
No?
Oh, one second.
It's sold.
Yeah, it's sold.
Let me bring these links up.
So, my first car.
So, how much money are you going to negotiate off of this price?
I'm going to have to negotiate a grand off this one, unfortunately.
Oh, it's...
I'll caveat that by saying
that you could definitely find a lot of them for five grand.
I just saw this one.
It was quite a nice example.
This is getting really...
This one is very left-field.
So, it is a Ford Focus ST.
What?
Oh, yeah, that's my first thought of a summer car of that.
Yeah, do you know what I've always wanted for the summer
is a Ford Focus ST.
Yeah, well, it's on a 56 plate.
And I actually had one of these on a 56 plate 15 years ago.
And you didn't learn from your mistakes the first time?
No, because I absolutely loved it.
It is like so many fast Fords over the years.
It's a very underrated car.
The problem is now they've got such a bad image, I think.
Like, you know, they're a bit sort of...
I don't know, they haven't got the best image,
but this one's very untarted.
But what's awesome about this car, either of you know...
Straight five.
Yeah, yeah, it's got the five-cylinder Volvo engine in it.
So, it's 2.3-litre turbocharged five-cylinder.
And it makes such a good sound.
Maybe sound base.
They sound base.
They go really well.
The manual gearbox is lovely.
It's 64,000 miles as well.
Yeah, it's a good mileage.
This one's got like three owners in total.
Last owner lady since 2009.
Yeah, so never raced a rally.
Never raced a rally.
But I know it's very left-field, but...
And what are you...
No, but I'm intrigued, what are you doing with that?
What's...
Take it on a road trip.
Okay, yeah, fair, fair.
Yeah, I could see it going.
That would just be...
If you want to buy a shit car for under five grand challenge,
then that'd be great, wouldn't it?
It would be, yeah.
It doesn't even have a sunroof for the summer bit, but I'm sure it will.
Just the front windows down with your arm moving out of it with the tablet.
Yeah, perfect.
But anyway, so there's Joe's very left-field one.
I did not expect that from you.
But even after seeing you two, I'll still take that.
I thought you were going to say Z3, Z4 back in the world.
No, no, no, no, no.
That'll come with 15, I imagine.
Right, next.
Right, so 15,000 pounds.
It's quite a lot of money when you're talking about just for the summer.
It is.
This is definitely a Sunday fun day.
Okay, I like that.
Just take it out for a special drive.
And now, I've gone classic.
Perfect.
Yeah.
I've always wanted this car's big brother,
but there ain't no way you're getting that for 15,000 quid.
Okay.
And you won't guess at all.
In fact, even if I show you the picture, you might not even know what it is.
Oh, my goodness.
This is a pet special.
It's an Austin Healy.
It's an Austin Healy Frog I'd Sprite.
Can you give me one of those for 15 grand?
For 15 grand.
That is cool.
That is cool.
Would you fit in one of those?
I have no idea, probably not.
But I'm not sure that's you.
Look at it.
So pretty.
You'd have to drive it from your drive.
Yeah.
It's so long.
Now, I have no idea.
I mean, it's got a knock off wire wheels.
I mean, it's just a cool looking.
What year is that from?
It is a 1960 something, I think.
Oh, let me just...
That's cool.
Wow.
Like your sort of age then.
Oh, shut up.
It is.
Yeah, I really like that.
1.3 Austin Healy Sprite.
1960.
Yeah.
Wow.
That's cool.
Yeah.
I thought that.
You know, when you're flicking through auto-trading, you go...
Oh, wow.
Yeah, it's a bit different.
Yeah.
Yeah, there you go.
Like you said, Sunday fun day.
It's in your garage.
Yeah.
Never has a roof on it.
Especially down.
1275 TwinSU Carbs needs a little tune-up,
which means it doesn't run.
That's the way to sell my 9-12.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Clean and tidy car, always been garage.
New rear tyre.
I can see them now.
Do you know what the day trip would be?
If he...
What, to the MOT station or to the service?
They go out.
Go to the cafe, Goodwood.
Yeah.
A little thing there.
Then off to the seaside, fish and chips for lunch.
Oh, shit.
And then just poodle home, break down.
Look, it looks like it's smiling.
Tracy's fuming.
Yeah, it looks like it's smiling.
You know, ruined her day.
No, it's cool.
I like that.
There you go.
Especially down where you live.
On the page.
It's almost like...
You could drive it to Revival,
get in the forward parking at Revival.
It would be brilliant.
Oh, yes.
Oh, yes.
Because it's pre-66.
Perfect car.
Oh, yes.
Now, my next cast from 1982.
So we haven't gone too far forward into the future.
Were you born then?
No, it was 13 years before I was born.
No.
Yeah, because I was only three.
Oh, I keep forgetting that.
You were born the year after I graduated.
Anyway, so the whole, again, mentality for this
is not a car you can drive all the time.
And this one, I was like,
I think the big problem you have of these fun cars
that we get to experience or drive in
is that you only get really to have one passenger with you.
Maybe you can tuck two in the back.
Like you said, you've got that Michelin 911.
Like Alia can fit in the back of that quite comfortably.
But nobody else.
So like, I've had three people in that before.
That's quite cool.
But this, I think sensibly, you could get
one, two, three, four, five, seven of you at least.
It's a Defender.
Yes.
It's a Series 3 Defender Roll Top.
Wow.
Oh, cool.
With a canvas roof.
I thought they were much more expensive.
From my very basic research,
nobody cares about Series 3.
Series 1 and 2 expensive.
Defender, you know, the 90, the 110,
and then up to actual Defender.
Expensive.
This bit in the middle.
Oh, that's cool.
Now, I'm sure it's been painted with like a paintbrush.
But it's...
Well, most of them were.
Oh, that's cool.
It's your dark green with...
It's called Fatina.
Yeah, with roof.
It looks like it's been restored to a point.
You know, it's, it's very cool.
That's a very nice looking pub car.
Exactly.
Engine bay looks fine.
I'm sure it will break down.
But benches in the back.
So you can get two or three of you across each bench.
You can even be nine up.
Yeah, you don't drink so you can drive.
You get two sit on the floor as well.
You'd be nine up in that.
Absolutely safe as could be.
But I think for the summer,
roll off the top if it's, you know,
a really nice day and you're going out the daytime.
If you're going out at night, keep it on, you know, just in case.
You can make the pub.
Yeah.
So cool.
So I'm filming this week with guys in Chichester
called Squire Editions and the owner up until very recently,
had an armoured personnel carrier to take his mate to the pub.
Did you see him driving through Chichester
in an arm-trapped armoured personnel carrier
with all his mates in the back?
Yeah, I just thought I saw this photo.
The steel wheels, the greens.
That's very cool.
The top.
12,000.
Yeah, I would have thought that was like 30, 40 grand.
Again, what you're going to do is spend
three months using it on and off
and then you're going to spend nine months maintaining it
for the three months of use again.
And it's just this, you know,
cycle of cost for taking your mate's onto the pub.
I like it.
All right.
Okay.
Well, so we've gone from two cars that just wouldn't work.
What BMW have you chosen, Geoff?
No, I've actually gone for a 987 Porsche Box there.
Yeah.
I think that's the thinking man's choice.
Now, this one.
I looked at that advert.
Did you?
Yeah, it's amazing.
One, so 48, okay.
So it's a 2006.
It's a very early 987.
So a Gen 1.
It's the base one, which is a sweet spot,
2.7 litre, six cylinder.
It's done 48,000 miles.
Oh, wow.
It's a one owner car.
It's been garage its entire life,
and it's got a full Porsche service history.
12 and a half grand.
That's a lot of car for the money.
I mean, and it's a really nice.
It's silver with the optional larger S wheels,
blacks, black leather.
I mean, come on.
That's a lovely car, isn't it?
That is, that is.
Take my money.
Look at that.
Look at the interior.
Wow.
And it hasn't even got like a sports steering wheel,
which I know is the desirable steering wheel,
but then you think the sort of person that's own this.
Yeah, yeah.
On weekends and in the summer.
So yeah, that is, I saw that and I thought, oh my God.
That is a very sensible choice.
And that would be the best road trip car.
Yeah.
I think that would be the best option we've picked so far
to just have guaranteed funding.
And you've got two and a half.
I reckon you could secure that for 11 and a half grand.
And the number plate is CN06.
Anyway, yeah, of course it's a manual as well.
I think it's only a five.
Is it a five in that speed?
Or I don't know, a six speed.
Also, I just want to correct myself earlier on.
I said that the Ford had a 2.3 litre, if I said it.
It's 2.5 litre.
That's all right.
I'm sure the Ford are actually already on the forum post
somewhere on Facebook and everything else.
Yeah.
No, as soon as I said that, I was like, wait a second.
The 2.3 was the fourth in the, what do you call it?
Anyway, next, let's move it on.
That's nice.
We're nearly an hour.
We haven't done that.
Right, 30 grand now.
30 grand.
So I've gone for another convertible.
Okay, surprise, surprise.
This convertible has 552 horsepower.
Does 195 miles an hour and 0 to 60 in 4.8 seconds.
4.8.
And this particular car only has 26,000 miles on the clock.
Got it.
It's a 2008 car.
Is it an RS5?
No.
No.
Now what is it?
Oh, it's got a W12 engine.
Oh, it's a Bentley.
Continental, look at you and your Cheshire mansion.
Yeah, baby.
That's got seats in the back as well.
I mean, come on.
I mean, you need 30 grand a year just to keep it on the road.
How much did you say that was?
30 grand.
Right.
So where's the maintenance budget coming from?
Well, I know that is the problem,
because all the petrol budget as well.
It's the house to keep that.
I mean, I think it's a good looking car, though.
To a point, if you're Cheshire's wives or a footballer,
the interior is nice, look.
What?
You've picked a bad, you've not picked the best,
because I think in a dark blue...
I only had 30 grand.
Yeah, but you can buy one of those for 10.
Yeah, but would you want to buy one of those for 10?
No, I didn't say that.
I said you could.
I do like the premise.
When it's working.
That's a lot of performance for the month.
And I think in the right for spare.
30 grand, come on.
I mean, we talked about...
What year is that one?
2008.
Okay.
I mean, I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole, but...
I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole,
but that's where my 30 grand would go.
Well, yeah, you know, you know.
I mean, I just thought, I wonder what you can get for 30 grand.
Yeah.
Just how stupid can you go?
And that, that's a lot.
I mean, I don't know what that would have been.
I knew that would have been 100 and something.
Yeah.
Probably 130 or so.
Yeah, yeah.
It's scary.
Scary money.
Anyway, there we go.
Yeah, okay.
Four people.
I think you could pick a better version of the same thing
for that money, but I think...
Could you get a V8 one for that?
Yeah, I think you could probably get a newer V8 one,
which is probably...
You might even get one when it's facelift, like 2011 or something.
I mean, you probably get about six miles to the gallon we're at.
I mean, you're just going to...
Yeah, yeah, at best.
But you look lovely in the south of France.
Yeah.
At the side of the road.
Right, I've gone for...
I've gone for the exact same spec as my Spart Roadster.
Actually, I hadn't even realised.
I actually have picked three convertible cars.
Okay.
Even though I didn't think...
You haven't realised?
Did you not spot them?
No, no, because I didn't...
I didn't...
No, but it wasn't like normal convertible.
Like, Targa, this is also, I guess, technically,
and then the Series 3.
So, this is £28,000.
So, I've got £2,000 left over to do...
They're probably a track deal, too, isn't it?
I think it would be nice.
Okay.
2004 again, 24,000 miles, one owner car.
I nearly bought one of these before I bought my Alfa Romeo 4C,
because I really, really like them.
I love the ethos.
I love the look.
I love everything about it.
It is the Lotus Elise 111R.
Oh, yes.
Yeah, yeah.
So, you get the R because it has a 2.0-litre engine,
rather than the one that has the engine air.
That is...
That is unbelievable.
Yes.
How much is that?
£30,000.
£28,000.
Flipping, eh?
And they were...
When I was looking at them,
they were like 18 to 20s,
depending on mileage and spec.
This is a really lovely one.
Yeah, it is.
That's a lot of car.
That is a Sunday-Funday car.
Yeah, and you could do a few track days,
like I said.
You wouldn't do anything crazy in it,
but like, it's a lovely place to be.
How did they go from that to the Electron?
Like, it's got nice,
bit different in the seats.
I quite like it.
Nice, yeah.
Really nice.
They are pretty small,
but you are like an action man,
so you'd fit in it.
Yeah, I'm fine in that.
But that, for me,
I don't know, like I said,
the second I saw 111R,
I was like, that's...
Because you don't want the S,
because the S has the same engine
out of the MGS.
It's got the exhaust at the back as well.
Yeah, and this is the one to have.
And when I saw 24,000 miles,
one owner, I was like, this is perfect.
That's fantastic.
Wow.
That's like...
That's a good one.
I want to look at that.
And I bet your maintenance on this
wouldn't be insane as well,
given it's Toyota engine in it.
Yeah.
Like, I'm sure it wouldn't be like,
insane money to keep it maintained.
Less serious.
Yeah.
Lots of trouble, usually serious,
but at slightly cheaper rates,
because it's got a Toyota engine in it.
Yeah.
Right.
What's yours?
Um, so this one's quite funny.
Well, I thought it was quite funny.
Here we go.
No, so I'm very aware of this car
and its price point,
because I have talked about selling mine
a few times over the years.
My 30 grand.
You are your own car.
How can I have silver M2 comp
with a sunroof,
although this one doesn't have one,
to be honest,
but, um,
but I was just an example.
I found DCT fairly modern sports car.
That's mega.
Yeah.
For 30 grand, you can get
sensible...
You can get M2, really?
Yeah.
M2 competition.
Comp as well.
Yeah.
M2 comp.
How many miles is that?
Like 50,000 or something?
Yeah.
Because it's...
Two owners.
It's got the M Sport Pro Pack.
It's Michelin tires.
I mean, it's a full service history.
Really nice condition.
That's a lot of car for the money, is it?
Yeah.
For 30 grand, I think...
Yeah.
I mean, there's a little sports car
that you could take to the Alps
occasionally and enjoy in the summer months.
Yeah.
I know I was talking to Holly,
actually, last night,
and she really misses hers.
But I don't...
Yeah.
I don't know if...
No, I mean...
Maybe she's got something else coming.
Yeah.
Anyway, hi, Holly.
I'm not going to let the cat out of the bag
or whatever the saying is.
Yeah, that's a mega thing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Really nice.
So, not bad for 30 grand.
Yeah, that's good.
Very good.
Right, unlimited.
Right, quick spin.
This will have to be quick
because we're running out of time.
Right, I'll go first because mine's up on my phone.
I've got a 425,000 euro 1964 Porsche 911,
one of the first 232 911s ever built.
17,000 kilometres on it,
and it's in a light blue.
Oh, look at that.
I mean, if I could have the perfect version of my car,
I'd try to quickly look for like a singer,
but I actually think, just again,
you're not going fast in this,
you're just bumbling around.
Yeah.
But like that is perfect,
and you probably retain a lot of the value
because it's one of the first 232 911s ever made.
Yeah, it is.
Good one.
Absolutely stunning.
Joe, me, I did have an example here.
I don't know where it's gone,
but it actually doesn't really matter.
It'd be a GT3 touring.
Yeah.
I was thinking ST, but even Money Now Object,
it's like GT3 touring.
And probably a Gen 1,
and actually the car I'd found
was a really nice example at RPM Technic.
It was a black car with yellow belts,
and stitching, and buckets, and yeah, really nice.
That's kind of, that's like my dreams.
Manual.
Manual.
Yeah, but I wouldn't be displeased with a PDK.
Yeah.
But yeah, that's mine.
Ped.
Well, my dream car was only announced last week.
And they have not done one up until now.
Very similar to Joe's.
New MG?
No, it's the 911 GT3 Sport Cabriolet.
Oh, no, they're making that.
They are.
Oh dear.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
They are indeed making a GT3 with a canvas roof.
Wow.
But not a speedster.
Why would they not call it a speedster?
Because it's not a speedster.
Well, I know, but why would they not?
I don't think they're doing the speedster.
I think, well, they haven't said they're not doing the speedster,
but I think chance.
We'll see how the sales on this one gets first.
I kind of know someone who had the nod
that you might be getting a speedster,
and now he's like, fuck, maybe there isn't a speedster coming.
But yeah.
Wow.
I mean, that, yeah, I'd rather that be a GT3.
At least it's got room in the back for the dog.
You wouldn't have a speedster.
But I'd rather that be a target and not be called a GT3
and just be like a spicy target.
Yeah.
It's like why they don't do a turbo target.
Yeah, like a turbo target, perfect.
Like give me that and just let me have like,
I don't know, GT suspension or something like that.
We'll take it to RPM or someone and have that.
Yeah.
So all of our dream, like every podcast on the planet
and any car channel in the world.
Oh, my dream car, be a Porsche.
Oh, they've all gone for Porsches.
It's like awesome.
It's a surprise, surprise.
But what would your cars be for those price brackets
put in the comments below?
Give us a follow, give us a rating, keep an eye on socials.
And we'll see you on the next podcast
because our room we're going to get kicked out of here
in 20 minutes.
I know.
You have to get our final coffee for the road.
The carports.
Empty.
Empty, surprising.
Oh, yeah.
Because then Clare's at four o'clock.
We'll see you on the next one, guys.
He's an owl.
He's an owl.
About this episode
BMW’s iX3 gets a surprisingly glowing review: Joe praises its cabin quality, the “panoramic eye” HUD tech, strong real-world range (over 300 miles from a big 108.9 kWh usable battery), and smoother EV throttle calibration. The hosts then swap stories—factory filming for a new M3 Touring in Munich, Porsche GT3 Touring test impressions, and a Spider update—before launching a “summer car” budget battle: £5k, £15k, £30k, plus an unlimited dream. Choices range from left-field classics and oddball convertibles to sensible road-trip picks and Porsche daydreams.
Original notes
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Drive Torque Podcast
Joe Achilles and Peter Greaves (Petrol Ped)
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