RE: £100K Garage: Create your dream fleet
Wednesday 23rd April 2014
Name: Dan Trent
Previously owned: Fiat Cinquecento Sporting (mum's), Mercedes 190E 2.3-16 (work project car), Mercedes C43 AMG (company car), Subaru Impreza WRX JDM (MY1995), Renaultsport Clio 197 Cup (long-term test car), Renaultsport Clio 172 Cup
Currently owned: Mercedes C63 AMG Estate (long-term test car), Mazda Eunos Roadster JDM (MY1993), Ford Fiesta 1.4 Zetec shopping trolley
On the shortlist: "My car history contains a fair few begged and borrowed vehicles but no stolen ones, honest! Some hints to my tastes therein though. In considering how to spend 'my' £100K I wanted to reflect my real-world needs though. So I'd need a family car, and one big enough to carry mountain bikes as well as baby clobber. Audi's RS models were an obvious choice here but I remained loyal to my Mercedes roots in the end. From there I could get more creative and chose something with a mix of road and track ability as happy on a B-road blast as a track day and then something for just scratching about and generally having a laugh. If I'm allowed to keep my Eunos too this'd be my dream fleet sorted...
Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG estate
Cost: £40,305
Balance: £59,695
Why I chose it: "The love for 'my' C63 Editon 507 long-termer won't be in any doubt to those following the PH Fleet updates and general Twitter enthusing. It just ticks all the boxes for me as a family car, bike lugger, sideways hooligan and all-round feelgood motor vehicle. Plus I have a bit of a thing for Benzes. 507s are a bit dear at the moment (there's one wagon in the dealer network for £63K) but a post-MY11 facelift car with the faster Speedshift MCT gearbox and Performance Pack 487hp SLS engine internals is the next best. But the essential limited-slip diff was a £1,745 option box few seem to have ticked. This red one doesn't have it but it does have all the other bits and, hey, I'll leave a bit in the budget for a retro-fit diff. The colour is unusual for an AMG and rather different from the matt grey of 'my' 507 but I think it works, especially with the black wheels. Not that I'm a tart or anything..."
Porsche Boxster Spyder
Cost: £41,950
Balance: £17,745
Why I chose it: "I went into the classifieds looking for a 996 GT3 both because I love them and they've got to be a safe residual bet. But aside from a Comfort spec second-gen 996 there's precisely zip in the ads right now. And if I'm going for a GT3 I want a proper one, with the half cage Clubsport goodness. 997s would have blown the budget in one go. What to do? Then a lightbulb moment. The Boxster Spyder is, to my mind, one of the best modern-day Porsches built with a GT3 sharpness to its manners, the same kind of focused, minimalist mentality and a pitch-perfect performance/handling balance more relevant to both real world road and track. I also like the one in the eye aspect to those snobs who reckon a Boxster isn't a proper Porsche. This one is and ticks all the boxes of rarity, focus and a sense of the exotic. Sure, the roof is a gesture at best. But I'm a pretty militant roadster driver anyway and unless it's absolutely teeming down I'm not bothered. Wear a hat. And just go faster. This one looks perfect too - it's a manual and though white wouldn't be my first choice with the wheels refurbed to black it'd be pretty much my perfect Porsche."
Renaultsport Megane R26.R
Cost: £16,500
Balance: £1,245 (That'll go into the fund for the C63 diff or a titanium exhaust for the Megane!)
Why I chose it: "Previous car history includes two Renaultsports and my final car ticks this box, as well as providing the fleet with a proper track hack. But one that's viable to drive to the circuit too. I took an R out on a weekender to the 'ring and Spa a few years back and did a dozen laps of the Nordschleife on the Saturday, 70-odd of Spa on the Sunday and even the tedious hack back across Belgium couldn't wipe the grin off my face. OK, so I did a set of 888s to the canvas too but with no rear seats there's space in the back for tools and a spare road rubber if required and as a one-stop shop for track thrills the Megane nails it. It's also collectable, bloody brilliant to drive, a bit bonkers in its single-minded pursuit of hot hatch perfection and, though I know not to all tastes, I happen to think the design of the Megane 2 is one of the boldest and best ever applied to a mainstream hatch. The grey is cool, it's got the cage and though it lacks the titanium exhaust that would be a straightforward, if expensive, retrofit for a later date. Done."
£100K Garage: Create your dream fleet
In the first of a new regular feature Dan 'spends' £100K in the PH classifieds - your turn next!
Previously owned: Fiat Cinquecento Sporting (mum's), Mercedes 190E 2.3-16 (work project car), Mercedes C43 AMG (company car), Subaru Impreza WRX JDM (MY1995), Renaultsport Clio 197 Cup (long-term test car), Renaultsport Clio 172 Cup
Currently owned: Mercedes C63 AMG Estate (long-term test car), Mazda Eunos Roadster JDM (MY1993), Ford Fiesta 1.4 Zetec shopping trolley
On the shortlist: "My car history contains a fair few begged and borrowed vehicles but no stolen ones, honest! Some hints to my tastes therein though. In considering how to spend 'my' £100K I wanted to reflect my real-world needs though. So I'd need a family car, and one big enough to carry mountain bikes as well as baby clobber. Audi's RS models were an obvious choice here but I remained loyal to my Mercedes roots in the end. From there I could get more creative and chose something with a mix of road and track ability as happy on a B-road blast as a track day and then something for just scratching about and generally having a laugh. If I'm allowed to keep my Eunos too this'd be my dream fleet sorted...
"Time to spend that £100K!"
Cost: £40,305
Balance: £59,695
Why I chose it: "The love for 'my' C63 Editon 507 long-termer won't be in any doubt to those following the PH Fleet updates and general Twitter enthusing. It just ticks all the boxes for me as a family car, bike lugger, sideways hooligan and all-round feelgood motor vehicle. Plus I have a bit of a thing for Benzes. 507s are a bit dear at the moment (there's one wagon in the dealer network for £63K) but a post-MY11 facelift car with the faster Speedshift MCT gearbox and Performance Pack 487hp SLS engine internals is the next best. But the essential limited-slip diff was a £1,745 option box few seem to have ticked. This red one doesn't have it but it does have all the other bits and, hey, I'll leave a bit in the budget for a retro-fit diff. The colour is unusual for an AMG and rather different from the matt grey of 'my' 507 but I think it works, especially with the black wheels. Not that I'm a tart or anything..."
Cost: £41,950
Balance: £17,745
Why I chose it: "I went into the classifieds looking for a 996 GT3 both because I love them and they've got to be a safe residual bet. But aside from a Comfort spec second-gen 996 there's precisely zip in the ads right now. And if I'm going for a GT3 I want a proper one, with the half cage Clubsport goodness. 997s would have blown the budget in one go. What to do? Then a lightbulb moment. The Boxster Spyder is, to my mind, one of the best modern-day Porsches built with a GT3 sharpness to its manners, the same kind of focused, minimalist mentality and a pitch-perfect performance/handling balance more relevant to both real world road and track. I also like the one in the eye aspect to those snobs who reckon a Boxster isn't a proper Porsche. This one is and ticks all the boxes of rarity, focus and a sense of the exotic. Sure, the roof is a gesture at best. But I'm a pretty militant roadster driver anyway and unless it's absolutely teeming down I'm not bothered. Wear a hat. And just go faster. This one looks perfect too - it's a manual and though white wouldn't be my first choice with the wheels refurbed to black it'd be pretty much my perfect Porsche."
Cost: £16,500
Balance: £1,245 (That'll go into the fund for the C63 diff or a titanium exhaust for the Megane!)
Why I chose it: "Previous car history includes two Renaultsports and my final car ticks this box, as well as providing the fleet with a proper track hack. But one that's viable to drive to the circuit too. I took an R out on a weekender to the 'ring and Spa a few years back and did a dozen laps of the Nordschleife on the Saturday, 70-odd of Spa on the Sunday and even the tedious hack back across Belgium couldn't wipe the grin off my face. OK, so I did a set of 888s to the canvas too but with no rear seats there's space in the back for tools and a spare road rubber if required and as a one-stop shop for track thrills the Megane nails it. It's also collectable, bloody brilliant to drive, a bit bonkers in its single-minded pursuit of hot hatch perfection and, though I know not to all tastes, I happen to think the design of the Megane 2 is one of the boldest and best ever applied to a mainstream hatch. The grey is cool, it's got the cage and though it lacks the titanium exhaust that would be a straightforward, if expensive, retrofit for a later date. Done."
We've had a fantastic response to the invitation to submit your own £100K Garage to run on the homepage and will be publishing these in due course - if you want to send one in best hold your horses for a little bit while we process the ones we've got and we'll open the floor again once we've made our way through them. Thanks to everyone who's submitted their list so far too!
Discussion
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