Peugeot 205 1.1 GL, VW Scirocco GTII, Toyota Celica GT-FOUR WRC UK, Toyota Celica GT-FOUR JDM, BMW E46 M3, Subaru Impreza WRX Wagon
Lotus Exige S, Subaru Forester STI Litchfield, '92 Audi Cabriolet 2.6 (SORN for winter maintenance currently)
"I've read loads of the £100K garages and looked at the laundry list of cars and thought, "You'd never actually drive them all." Instead, I have tried to hit as much variety and as many of the attributes I want in only three cars. This sudoku-like puzzle actually really limits what cars fit together to cover all the bases. My set of three achieves what I think is the best possible fit amongst cars that I like and want. The actual costs are only half that to buy but I've opted to spend the rest on a three-year plan for their use.
"Here's the puzzle set, I'd be interested to see what other solutions can be created that fulfil these conditions. Bonus marks if you can also fit in a supercharger!
- Four/six/eight cylinder
- Turbocharged, naturally aspirated
- Estate, coupe, convertible
- 4WD, FWD, RWD
- English, Japanese, German
- Daily, trackday, posh"
TVR Chimaera 500
Why I chose it: "I've always rather liked the lines, I think they have aged very gracefully, and you've got to love that noise. The concept of one being available at this age with a two-year warranty I find staggering given their reputation, but sign me up! Not as agile as the Exige I've got currently, but a capable grand tourer for Euro trips and something with sufficient class to keep its chin up in any company. It is also the key to completing the puzzle, ticking off the posh convertible RWD eight-cylinder English-ness from the list above."
All other Chimaeras for sale on PH here.
Subaru Forester STI
"Yes, I'm breaking the rules slightly in that I own one currently, but the other option would be an Audi, and I can't bring myself to be so conventional. The Forester is an amazing multi-tasker, with the speed and agility to make B-roads fun, but load space and enough creature comforts to be an excellent daily driver. MPG isn't brilliant obviously. This fine example would be treated to some modification, courtesy
of Litchfield
as well as uprated ARBs, fast road pads and a nice dash Defi gauge setup for boost/oil pressure/temperature."
See here for Foresters for sale (trying saying that in a hurry) on PH.
VW Corrado VR6
"Commonly reckoned to be one of the best front-wheel drive coupes ever, I can't imagine I need to make much justification here. The intention would be to buy a good example and slowly over time complete home maintenance and modification on it into a track day spec. Sticky tyres, brake upgrades, intake, exhaust, headers and cam, stripped interior with buckets and harness eventually. Maybe a cage. This one looks in good shape and isn't one of the limited edition Storms so I wouldn't feel too guilty messing with it."
Insurance, Tax, Servicing and Fuel
Cost: £36,420
Balance: £20,095
Why I chose it: "Well it's not optional is it? This figure is a very rough estimate of the cost of running these three for three years. If I've gone wrong I've gone wrong, sorry, man maths estimation in places. Total is about £9,800 per year, as well as about £7,000 for the mods listed above on the VW and Forester.
For TVR/VW/Subaru:
Mileage per year: 4,000/2,500/8,000
MPG: 16/25/26
Fuel: £1,525/£610/£1877
Insurance: £600/£500/£550
Tax: £230/£230/£485
Servicing & Consumables: £800/£1,200/£1,200"
Alfa Romeo 156
"This is an allowance to go do fun stuff: couple of track days in the UK per year, plus big trips to the Nurburgring, Spa, and Stelvio Pass. I've also got an ambition to do the Scumrun. This requires a ~£500 banger, so it seems sensible (!) to finish with something suitably ruinous and Italian for that purpose. They say that every true petrolhead should own an Alfa at some point. At least this way, I get that ticked with the breakages and failure written in up-front as a disposable purchase. Any left over money is a contingency fund for Nurburgring barrier repairs, engine rebuilds or other unexpected surprises that may arise. Yes, I could have squeezed another car in, but I honestly don't think I would need or want one with the three above."
Alfa 156s from £500 to £5K (and beyond!) here.