£100K Garage: Lee Bracken
An Alpina, an Atom, a Mini and a Disco cover all the bases for Lee's fantasy garage
Previously owned: Loads... if it was front-wheel drive it was mostly French (two Citroen ZXs, four Peugeot 306s and one Peugeot 205), apart from the Fiat Punto Sporting I passed my test in and two recent Fiestas that have been company cars. If it was rear-wheel drive it was mostly BMWs (two E46 330is, one 323i and one 120d) apart from the facelift MR2 Roadster I bought brand new when I was young and daft(er). Four-wheel drive? Well it could only be Land Rover (one Freelander 1 TD4 and two Freelander 2s). There have then been two Westfields - one Megablade and one Megabird - the first of which stuck around for over 11 years and is still very much missed.
Currently owned: Land Rover Freelander 2 HSE
On the shortlist: "Something to give me the adrenalin buzz that's been missing since the departure of the Megablade, something a tiny bit over-engined to waft about in, something to carry the kids/dog/wife/luggage in much safety and comfort, and something hot hatchy for the mad dash to the takeaway on a Thursday night."
Ariel Atom 3.5 Supercharged
Cost: £45,950
Balance: £54,050
Why I Chose it: "Before ever driving one of these, I thought it would be the only thing that would tempt me out of the Caterfield type of thing after all the magazine, TV and Internet reviews I had read. Then I drove one in a monsoon at Elvington, where I couldn't see through my steamed up, rain speckled visor, and when the sun bouncing off the concrete was so bright I couldn't see which way the track went. It spun the wheels in fourth and fifth gears ALL the way down the back straight and the conditions were so bad it did nothing but splash and aquaplane through every apex. It was an animal. I drove it like a girl. I want one badly."
Cost: £30,999
Balance: £23,051
Why I Chose it: "I love Land Rovers, worked with them for years, and the Discovery 3/4 has always been my favourite. Yes, the Range Rover has a stiffer upper lip, the Sport has more bling and the Defender is cooler than Pingu eating a Rocket Lolly, but only the Discovery has that chunky Tonka toy, take-the-whole-family-up-a-mountain vibe about it. It had to be a facelifted, higher powered version with the newer gearbox. I also prefer the less-showy wheels and dark interior which should hide the inevitable kiddie sticky finger marks. Although I was aiming for less than £30K for this piece of the puzzle, it should be able to bat away everything the family can chuck at it as well as drag the Atom to every track I can think of without breaking a sweat."
Alpina B10 V8 E39
Cost: £15,995
Balance: £7,056
Why I chose it: "This came completely out of the blue... I'd narrowed this type of car down to either a post-03 Jag XJR or an E60 BMW 550i. But the XJR would have to be black (I don't normally bother with such frippery, but if it's an XJR it has to be sinister) and the 550i an SE, not an M Sport. Neither car existed in the PistonHeads classifieds when I was looking - which is lucky, 'cos this is awesome! More expensive than the equivalent M5 new and seemingly now also, its auto 'box and plush leather is much more in keeping with a super saloon of this age in my eyes - it's for wafting down the motorway pushing Audi TDis out of the outside line without making a fuss, not smoking around roundabouts; far too uncouth. One owner and just 30K miles you say? Modern classic."
Cost: £6,750
Balance: £306
Why I chose it: "When the New Mini was indeed new, I struggled to get a grip on why they were cleaning up so much in the magazine group tests. I remember road testing one after short listing it alongside the MR2 (a very different proposition, I know) back in 2004 and coming away shrugging my shoulders in a "What's all the fuss about?" fashion. The steering felt a bit stodgy and, although there was bags of four-square grip, the chassis seemed very effective but a bit one-dimensional. Plus there was bugger all room in it, so I was just as well off with the MR2... but oh, how wrong I was. I drove one a few weeks back for the first time in 10 years and it finally reeled me in; compared to more modern, electrically assisted, ESP controlled small hatches, it was gritty and twitchy and torquey and, oh, how the supercharger whine eggs you on!"
"£306 left over to go towards my first Atom track day. Bonus!"
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I am struggling with the Discovery issue right now. I am tempted to buy a Disco 3 to get the price to around £15k, but the 2.7 is noticeably crap compared to the later 3.0. That leaves me with the prospect of the 4.4 petrol which seems to be actually priced at what I want to pay.
I've driven the 5.0 V8 in the US - why can't we have them here!?
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