Saturday 5th September 2015

£100K Garage: Ryan Thomas

A Radical for track, a Range Rover to pull it, a pair of V8s and a cheeky little hot hatch for Ryan's £100,000

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Name: Ryan Thomas
Previously owned: Vauxhall Corsa SRI, Vauxhall Vectra 2.0 DTI (awful), Mercedes 230E, VW Golf V5, BMW 120d.
Currently owned: 2012 Chevrolet Camaro since I moved to America
On the shortlist: "My first car to me was amazing, but in essence it was rubbish. 85hp when it was new - a fair few years before I got it! - but I had so much fun with it. My point is, I moved onto what I thought would be a sensible choice, a diesel Vectra. It was awful, awful to drive, awful to look at, and constantly broke down. After university, I stopped trying to be sensible and bought a Mercedes 230E W124. It was 20 years old and had a fair few miles on it too. However, my two friends and I loaded it up and went on a three-week European road trip in this car; it didn't let us down, was comfortable and could still do 125mph on the autobahn without a fuss.

"After this I tried to compromise between sensible and fun and ended up with a Mk4 Golf V5 as it was a bit of a bargain, had loads of options on it and was a good motorway cruiser to work and back.

"So on this basis the shortlist is something fun, something for when fun goes wrong and something sensible for everything else!"

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Mercedes S500 W140
Cost: £5,995
Balance: £94,005
Why I chose it: "After I bought the 230E, I fell in love with this era of Mercs. When they engineered them properly! Obviously the only one that could possibly replace my 230E would be the S500. It's big, it's spacious and it has a V8; people who don't know cars would not look twice and I like that as well. It could be left anywhere, my mates could fit in comfortably and I could pick my grandmother up and she would think I had made it!"

Radical SR3
Cost: £42,500 with its trailer
Balance: £51,505
Why I chose it: "Because I have never done a track day, and desperately want to! And in if you are going to do it, you have to do it properly. This would involve something that isn't road legal, in my mind. I have been to a track and seen some of these and they sounded great, with just enough fear factor too! That makes this is the not so sensible option. The deal-clincher for me is it comes with its own trailer. As let's face it, who wants to go shopping for a trailer?"

Range Rover Vogue TDV6
Cost: £10,000
Balance: £41,505
Why I chose it: "I need something to pull the Radical! I love the look of these Range Rovers; they are incredibly comfortable and there's plenty of space for Radical parts when I inevitably run out of luck/talent. My dad had a Range Rover Sport TDV6 and it was a great car despite breaking down a few times... He liked it so much he now has the new Sport, petrol this time though. The TDV6 is a good enough engine, though I'm slightly concerned it may struggle with the extra bulk of the full fat Range Rover. But the idea is to pull stuff that is faster and more interesting so performance isn't that important! This one has low miles for its age and seems well looked after, even if they don't mention the service history."

Aston Martin Vantage
Cost: £29,750
Balance: £11,755
Why I chose it: "Just look at it. Can these really be £30K now?! It looks fantastic, has the V8 with a glorious exhaust bellow, and it's a manual. A proper British sports car in my mind. Nothing more to say, I have wanted one of these for a long time now so it was most definitely going into my £100K Garage. My current car here in the States is a Chevrolet Camaro and it is fantastic fun so I am thinking along the same lines."

Fiat 500 Abarth
Cost: £10,000
Balance: £1,755
Why I chose it: "My brother currently has one of these and they are great little cars. Something good fun to drive, easy to park and a little different to bridge the gap between my other choices. This one has the paint I like, leather, xenons, subwoofer (why not?), plus an engine upgrade to 160bhp. Finally, I like that it doesn't have the Abarth decals all over it; sometimes it's better to be a touch understated."

"The remaining balance I would spend on a trailer hitch for the Range Rover and a helmet for driving the Radical."

[Itsallicanafford]

these are some great choices but could i suggest maybe parking up the radical for about 5 years and using the fiat on track instead...its abit like buying the fastest superbike as your first bike and expecting not to kill yourself. But hey, its a fantasy garage so i suppose it doesn't really matter.

[Itsallicanafford]

pirategaz said:

I understand your point but the Radical is used in most of the race schools as is one of if not the best car to learn in...Or so I´ve been told

It's a fair point, but I assume in a race school there will always be an instructor with you? I'm sure you would get instruction but pretty soon you will be on track on your own, in the fastest car on track as a novice, IMO you would have alot on your plate to deal with!