RE: £100K Garage: Darren Batt

RE: £100K Garage: Darren Batt

Friday 23rd January 2015

£100K Garage: Darren Batt

Darren wanted a V6, a V8, a V10 and a V12 - here are his choices!



Name: Darren Batt
Previously owned: MG ZR 1.8
Currently owned: Mondeo ST220 Hatch, Panther Black with Red leather
On the shortlist: "My first thought for a £100K Garage was to cover each of the V6 to V12 engines, simply because that's what I would probably do if I came into money! There was nothing that I had in mind really, British sports cars probably hold the most sway with me but in the main I just wanted to stumble across things I like. Once I have covered those bases, any money left would just go on a nice old fast Ford and maybe something economical for when I didn't want to spend squillions getting somewhere!"



Alfa Romeo 147 GTA
Cost:
£5,989
Balance: £94,011
Why I chose it: "My first idea for a V6 was the beautiful 3.2 Alfa lump; to be honest there's no need to drive it as I could look at it all day! I decided it had to be a 147 rather than a 156, the mix of all that power in a small package is something I'd love to experience one day. A quick look through the available ones brought up this really nice example, all business with its black paint/black leather combination. It would also tick off the 'not a petrolhead until you've own an Alfa' box into the bargain!"

Prettiest hatchback ever made? Have a look through 147 GTAs here.


TVR Cerbera 4.2 V8
Cost:
£20,000
Balance: £74,011
Why I chose it: "TVR is one of those manufacturers that always features when I'm daydreaming about cars to own in the future. There used to be a sky blue Cerbera down our road, and the memory of the noise as it went past our house still makes me smile! I think the silver of this lovely example really highlights the no clutter approach to the exterior styling, while the low mileage and overall condition are definite plus points. I'm not 100 per cent convinced by the interior colours but with that much noise being made by the V8 I think I could get over it."

Every Cerbera for sale on PH is less than £20K. What's stopping you?


Dodge Ram SRT-10 Nightrunner
Cost:
£23,995
Balance: £50,016
Why I chose it: "Not really sure how this one will go down! For me, just sitting back and thinking 'this pick-up has an 8.3-litre V10 engine in it' is enough to speak to the eight year-old me that to this day finds that the greatest thing ever. I don't know when and where I would need to use such a thing, but to be honest cruising around in something that looks like it should be in a remake of Mad Max is enough of a lure to get it on the list in a heartbeat."

There are currently a dozen Rams for sale on PistonHeads. Yes, really. See them here.


Aston Martin DB7 Vantage
Cost:
£25,995
Balance: £24,021
Why I chose it: "Aston Martin are the marque that for me sit at the top of the food chain. Always my number one dream car, the V12 slot just had to be a DB7 Vantage, no question. I can just imagine walking over to it and jumping in for a blast on a Sunday afternoon, a thought which now won't leave my head while I sit looking mournfully at it during my lunch break! In obligatory silver this one looks the business. The interior may be a bit more 'flashy' than I would have expected but I actually really like it! One day Darren, one day..."

DB7 Vantages are now available from £20K. See here.


Ford Escort RS Cosworth
Cost:
£18,995
Balance: £5,026
Why I chose it: "I love fast Fords (indeed my current car is an attempt to join that group, Focus RSs and the like being impossible for me to insure!) and the Escort Cosworth is my favourite. Just to own anything with that Cosworth badge would be great, but there is something about the 90s Escort come supercar motif of this thing that gets me every time. This one is actually one of the cheaper ones available currently which is handy for my dwindling budget, but again it looks in really nice condition and seems to have pretty low mileage. I'm not sold on the alloys and would probably look to find an original set at some point, but aside from that it looks great."

Fast Ford fan like Darren? All Escort Cosworths on PH this way.


Skoda Fabia vRS SE
Cost:
£4,990
Balance: £36
Why I chose it: "There had to be a day to day diesel in the list after all that! Would be perfect for those days when you don't want to pop to Lidl in a Dodge Ram, or go and get Chinese in a V12 Aston! The 50-plus mpg was a strong deciding factor but a quoted 0-60 of seven seconds means it should be nippy enough and enjoyable to potter about in. The full leathers were also nice to find over the standard cloth interior of the vRS.

"The remaining £36 would probably go on some cleaning gear, keep my new babies nice and shiny!"

Cheap, fast and frugal. Search vRS Fabias here.

 





   
   
   
Author
Discussion

DanG355

Original Poster:

526 posts

200 months

Friday 23rd January 2015
quotequote all
Great cars! Like the idea of the different cylinder count. Covers all the great engine sounds and the neighbours would love/loathe it. Not sure about the maths in the feature though for remaining budget after buying each car?? Maybe spend the change on a calculator...

Edited by DanG355 on Friday 23 January 10:14

matbat

772 posts

244 months

Friday 23rd January 2015
quotequote all
Love that Aston! Pick of the bunch for me!

Sampaio

377 posts

137 months

Friday 23rd January 2015
quotequote all
Can't you go get Chinese in the Alfa? Non-car folk will barely notice you.

B'stard Child

28,321 posts

245 months

Friday 23rd January 2015
quotequote all
DanG355 said:
Great cars! Like the idea of the different cylinder count. Covers all the great engine sounds and the neighbours would love/loathe it. Not sure about the maths in the feature though for remaining budget after buying each car?? Maybe spend the change on a calculator...

Edited by DanG355 on Friday 23 January 10:14
I think it's an order thing

Start 100,000
Alfa 5,989
Bal 94,011
Cerb 20,000
Bal 74,011
Ram 23,995
Bal 50,016
DB7 25,995
Bal 24,021
Escort 18,995
Bal 5,026
Fabia 4,990
Bal 36



TheAllSeeingPie

865 posts

134 months

Friday 23rd January 2015
quotequote all
I love this garage, although I am now rather upset that the Alfa is so close to me and so cheap but I spent my "toy" money on something else already. Always really fancied one of the 147 GTA's ...

Bencolem

1,013 posts

238 months

Friday 23rd January 2015
quotequote all
Nice work

Turbobanana

6,160 posts

200 months

Friday 23rd January 2015
quotequote all
Fail.

You've missed out the obligatory (delete as appropriate: Audi / Mercedes / BMW) large estate with unfeasably powerful engine as the practical daily.

Great garage, one of the best yet wink

smilo996

2,754 posts

169 months

Friday 23rd January 2015
quotequote all
Cracking idea. Except the redneck veeehhhhiccle. I suppose there is no Bristol Fighter, Gallardo or Viper for sale at that price though and thus you have your V10.
Handy to put the Cerbera in when it needs some TLC though.
Would be tempted for the V12 to stretch to this instead:
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/a...
and for the four cylinder get a boxer Scooby and punt the rest on the Aston. The DB7 was really a Ford.

Good idea though.

breezer42

132 posts

150 months

Friday 23rd January 2015
quotequote all
smilo996 said:
Cracking idea. Except the redneck veeehhhhiccle. I suppose there is no Bristol Fighter, Gallardo or Viper for sale at that price though and thus you have your V10.
Handy to put the Cerbera in when it needs some TLC though.
Would be tempted for the V12 to stretch to this instead:
http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/a...
and for the four cylinder get a boxer Scooby and punt the rest on the Aston. The DB7 was really a Ford.

Good idea though.
Yawn, more ill-informed Ford comments. Sure it's a Ford V6 engine. Just with new and specifically designed block, crank, cylinder heads, camshafts, and lubrication system. I have a 500 year old broom to sell you...only had 100 new handles and 200 new heads but it's the same broom, honest guvn'r!

It looks and feels like a proper Aston - and it's the last one to do so sadly.

DB7 every time, because (i) DB9s are EVERYWHERE; (ii) DB9s feel like any other car inside; and (iii) there really are few better looking cars than the DB7V - not in silver though!

Edited by breezer42 on Friday 23 January 12:15

xRIEx

8,180 posts

147 months

Friday 23rd January 2015
quotequote all
smilo996 said:
Cracking idea. Except the redneck veeehhhhiccle. I suppose there is no Bristol Fighter, Gallardo or Viper for sale at that price though and thus you have your V10.
I'd plump for an S8 or RS6 to cover the V10 in that sort of price range.

ETA: Scratch that, it'd be an M6, without a doubt.

Edited by xRIEx on Friday 23 January 15:35

sideways sid

1,371 posts

214 months

Friday 23rd January 2015
quotequote all
Great selection!

In that list you can get away with the pick-up - an M5 would have been too conventional.

And yes, the DB7 Vantage would be the V12 for me too.

Martin_Hx

3,951 posts

197 months

Friday 23rd January 2015
quotequote all
Brilliant list sir! /cap

The Yank Pick-up is such a stupid thing how can you not want it?

neil1jnr

1,460 posts

154 months

Friday 23rd January 2015
quotequote all
Great list, apart from the Skoda, I really don't understand why any diesel hatch would be in a dream garage. Maybe it should be re-named £100K realistic garage...

Probably the best list I've seen actually, just if the Skoda was replaced with a petrol hot hatch.

WFL

64 posts

128 months

Friday 23rd January 2015
quotequote all
Nice choices! Bit confused as to why that Cossie is on a V plate though?

SturdyHSV

10,083 posts

166 months

Friday 23rd January 2015
quotequote all
Epic list. Owning an example of each decent engine configuration is my dream too.

My plans always go like this:

Impreza
850 T5 / Fiat Coupe 20V
Alfa GTV V6
Lots of V8s
Viper
Diablo

Gets a bit expensive at the top end though hehe

OleVix

1,438 posts

147 months

Friday 23rd January 2015
quotequote all
Skip the Skoda and upgrade the Cerb to a 4.5 in better condition smile

ecs0set

2,470 posts

283 months

Friday 23rd January 2015
quotequote all
No straight 5 in the list? Audi Quattro UR might blow the budget though.

Blanchie

394 posts

221 months

Friday 23rd January 2015
quotequote all
garage win!

Leins

9,416 posts

147 months

Friday 23rd January 2015
quotequote all
That's a very "PH"-friendly kind of list, and I can see a lot of people liking it. I can appreciate that, and if someone showed me their garage with all those in it then they would have my respect. But it actually does very little for me, the 147 probably being the highlight

Different strokes for folks I suppose, I'm possibly too into German metal biggrin

alpha channel

1,386 posts

161 months

Friday 23rd January 2015
quotequote all
Someone had one of those yank tanks around my way (once, I presume as I haven't seen it for a while, bankrupted them probably), I'm surprised you don't need a HGV licence to get behind the wheel of one made the buses it passed look a bit on the dinky side. Good selection though.