High-mile heroes | Six of The Best
Life begins at 150,000...
Mercedes-Maybach S650, 2018, 164k, £49,990
How to squash two motoring myths with 2.3 tonnes worth of German stone. We’ve all lusted over a big, twelve-cylinder luxo barge and one point or another, but there’s always a nagging voice of reason ready to dissuade you, especially one that’s knocking on the door of six-figure mileage. But look at this: 2018, twin-turbo V12 Mercedes-Maybach S650 that hasn’t just crossed the 100k threshold, it’s breezed past it. By 64,000 miles, no less. The chances it’s spent most of its short life on motorways ferrying around important people to business meetings is high, and with its one and only owner keeping on top of its service schedules you’d hope the 6.0-litre motor up front is in just as good a nick as the spotless interior. All that opulence will set you back £49,990, which is at least a quarter of the price of the original (the champagne flutes alone cost several thousand). Keep on top of those service internals and there’s surely many, many miles of chauffeuring left in it.
Audi Quattro, 1989, 183k, £56,950
It’s easy to dismiss the Audi Quattro as ‘just’ a rally special. True, it revolutionised the rallying world by popularising the all-wheel drive system, and was the first mass-produced performance car with both its axles driven, but it arguably also shaped Audi into the company it is today. Moreover, the Quattro had to be rugged enough to sustain the constant barrage of crests, ditches and rocks that drivers would encounter on a rally stage. As a result, the original Quattro is as tough as old boots and means a good number of them are still in great shape many decades and many miles on. Just look at the car we have here, which has accumulated an impressive 183,000 miles since 1989. Being a later model means it’s packing the punchier 20-valve 2.2-litre engine with 220hp, while a Milltek exhaust should amplify that iconic inline-five burble. Hand over £56,950 and this magnificent slice of automotive history is all yours.
Toyota Celica GT-Four (ST-205), 1996, 207k, PH Auction
From one rally special to another. Much like Audi, Toyota enjoyed its own period of WRC dominance, with the Japanese car giant clinching four out of a potential five driver’s titles between 1990 and 1994 with the Celica Turbo. And it likely would have gone on to score many more had the factory team not been banned for a year after for mucking about with the turbo restrictor on its ST-205 Celicas, like the one you see here. Well, sort of. This isn’t one of the homologation specials and so does with the anti-lag pipework (which was redundant on the road car anyway) and intercooler spray, but it’s powered by the same 2.0-litre turbo four with 242hp. Non-WRC cars also came with a leather interior, although admittedly the upholstery on this example has seen better days. It has covered 207,000 miles after all, but with no reserve there's a good chance you could grab yourself a deal on a 90s rally legend.
BMW 130i, 2005, 168k, £5,495
Rear-wheel drive hatchbacks don’t come about often, but when they do we often wonder why there aren’t more of them. That’s the exact effect the BMW 1 Series had on us back in 2005, and now Munich’s hatchback is bigger and less rear-wheel drive than ever, it makes the original cars look even more appealing. This 130i being very much one of them, with its rear axle driven by a 3.0-litre naturally aspirated straight-six with 265hp. That fabulous N52 engine is paired up with a six-speed manual on this car, with its previous (and only) owner tallying an impressive 168,000 miles over last two decades. A full BMW service history brings some extra piece of mind too, making the £5,495 asking price look really very tempting indeed.
Porsche 928 GT, 1991, 157k, £39,995
Any car designed to replace the Porsche 911 is going to have a hard time finding admirers. That’s precisely what happened to the 928 when it arrived in the 70s, with existing 911 buyers not keen on changing their rear-engined flat-six sports car for a front-engined V8 GT. Obviously, the 911 never went anywhere and that allowed the 928 to be appreciated for its own merits, which in this later GT meant 5.0 litres of rumbly eight-cylinder goodness and 330hp. GTs were also a touch sharper than the 928s that came before as well, with stiffer suspension coming as standard and a five-speed dogleg manual being your only choice of gearbox. This one should feel much fresher than its 157,000-mile tally suggests, with one of its previous owners forking out for an expensive engine rebuild at the 153k-mile mark, which included tweaking the ECUs to unlock an extra 20hp. The £39,995 asking price is on the high end, but the sheer amount of precautionary work that’s been done here suggests the only major bills you’ll be facing in the near future will be fuel-related.
Range Rover Holland & Holland, 2000, 177k, £11,995
Twenty six years. That’s how long the original Range Rover was on sale for, and in that time it established itself as one of the all-time off-roaders through its immense versatility. A tough act to follow for the P38, which had been developed on a shoestring budget and was mechanically closely linked to its predecessor as a result. But the P38 was arguably the luxury 4x4 Land Rover had intended the original to be, mixing a posh interior with go-anywhere off-road ability. This one-of-100 Holland & Holland edition jazzed things up further with dark brown leather seats and white piping, a walnut dash with metal inlays and those superb two-tone alloy wheels. Granted, it does show its 177,000-mile history in places with a few cosmetic blemishes, but you’re otherwise getting a tidy looking (and very rare) luxury SUV for a fiver shy of £12k.
tty EVs invading our way of life. The Audi would be my first choice and the Porsche which.looks very presentable is also winking at me. Apart from the obvious reasons does anyone know why Porsche put a dog eg gear box in the 928 l? It appears a somewhat odd choice given that such configurations where for rallying. Maserati did it as well if I recall.4... 500k but nothing on that list seems particularly "high" more so given the age of most of it. I get that they're not your run of the mill motorway sort of cars, but still. Maybe I'm of an era where 150k+ wasn't anything to get excited nor concerned about!
Just not sure what the use case is.
tty EVs invading our way of life.ks from wistec1 time and time again. It moved beyond tedious a long, long time ago.
tty EVs invading our way of life. The Audi would be my first choice and the Porsche which.looks very presentable is also winking at me. Apart from the obvious reasons does anyone know why Porsche put a dog eg gear box in the 928 l? It appears a somewhat odd choice given that such configurations where for rallying. Maserati did it as well if I recall.E30 M3 had one, as did the Ferrari 308/328.
It would be interesting to know where the 928s box came from.
tty EVs invading our way of life. The Audi would be my first choice and the Porsche which.looks very presentable is also winking at me. Apart from the obvious reasons does anyone know why Porsche put a dog eg gear box in the 928 l? It appears a somewhat odd choice given that such configurations where for rallying. Maserati did it as well if I recall.1st gear is used for setting off but never again in anger, and hence a slower change from first to second in dog leg configuration is offset by slicker changes between second and third. In a rally car or in a GT doing mountain passes this is an acceptable trade off.
Conversely in a hot hatch you want the first to second change to be as slick as possible because it’s all about nailing it away from the lights when you are 18.
Just not sure what the use case is.
Obviously the tree hugging lot would suggest that a battery powered car would be even better I'd imagine though, and it blows my mind that even Rolls-Royce do an EV now for example.
Just not sure what the use case is.
Probably a nice earner to be fair… I knew a retired chap who had a nice Jaguar who did driving work from time to time for local film company; said it paid well and he got to meet some very interesting people.
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