PH Service History: Bargain exotica

You might think buying an exotic for a reasonable sum would be off the menu these days. Not so, as Scrof explains

Like it or not, we live in the age of the £100,000 Ford Sierra. Granted, that's £100,000 for a very special Ford Sierra, but still, it's a self-evident fact that prices of certain cars have reached rather laughable levels. With that in mind, it's very easy to assume that everything's gone up in value to such an extent as to make it unattainable.

You'd be forgiven for thinking, then, that the time for getting one's hands on a relatively inexpensive piece of performance exotica is over and done with. But I don't think it is - not just yet, anyway. There are still a few supercar bargains out there to be had.

Of course, all of these come with two caveats: they're still exotics, which means while they're relatively cheap compared with contemporaries or rivals, you won't be finding one for a few grand down at your local car supermarket. And of course, they still come with the running costs you'd associate therewith - so don't buy one expecting to look after it on a shoestring.

And so, with those warnings ringing in our ears, to my first tip for this week: the Aston Martin DB9. I mean, just look at it. It could be dire to drive and you'd still want one, wouldn't you? Which is handy, because it wasn't exactly the last word in dynamic prowess. Still, there are few big GTs that waft quite so well, or look quite so special - especially for less than £30,000 which, believe it or not, is how little you can now pick one up for. This one, on a private sale, has done a very respectable mileage, looks well in restrained grey over black leather, and comes with a full history. Deeply tempting.

Too new for you? How about a classic Italian bit of exotica with a thumping American V8? Of course, you're thinking De Tomaso, but where on earth are you going to find a Pantera for less than £50k? You're not, is the simple answer. But you can find your way into this rather lovely Iso Lele.

If you've not heard of the Lele, you're not alone. It's a four-seat super-GT with a beautiful interior and long, low coupe lines. Somewhat in the vein of the Lamborghini Espada, I'd contend - although again, an Espada will set you back around three times as much to buy, which is what makes this Lele such a bargain in my book. Power - 325hp, to be precise - comes from a 5.7-litre Ford V8. In my book, that's an awful lot of hyper-rare Italian exotic for the cash.

For not much more, though, how about something genuinely, face-meltingly quick? It isn't all that often that the words 'Porsche' and 'bargain' go together, but I can't help but feel the 997 911 Turbo is starting to feel that way. Sure, a good one like this will cost you north of £50,000, but not by much - and given that 996 Turbos, supposedly the 911 Turbo bargain of the moment, are barely any cheaper, I can't help but feel a 997 is where my money would go right now.

For that money, you get a genuine, bona fide supercar with performance to match, and a very modern iteration of one of the most iconic cars around. Throw in the sort of robustness that means you could use it every day, and I think £50k starts to look like quite sensible money - especially with 930 and 993 Turbos costing around twice that now.

But I've saved the best till last. If you're a child of the 1980s, there are few supercars out there that will loom larger than the Ferrari Testarossa. Believe it or not, Testarossas are still comparatively commonplace, which means that while there was some rampant activity around them when one example fetched big money at auction a while back, the market's cooled off since, and prices haven't inflated along with other cars of their era.

This silver example, selling at a well-regarded Ferrari specialist, has done a reasonable 29,000 miles, comes with a full service history, and has had its current owner for the last 15 years. Granted, the blue interior isn't as appealing as black or cream, but it's still a bona-fide, right-hand-drive, UK-spec Testarossa. And it'll set you back less than £100,000.

Referring back to our £100,000 Sierra of earlier, or indeed, some of the other mad prices being asked for cars of its ilk, I think that's actually very reasonable money, given we're talking about a 12-pot Ferrari that was once every schoolboy's dream car. Compare it with that other Italian supercar hero of the 1980s, the Lamborghini Countach, too - a good one of those will set you back around three times that figure.

There you have it, then: an Aston, a Porsche and a Ferrari, and even an Iso, and none of them will set you back as much as you might think. Proof positive that bonkers prices haven't yet spoiled our fun entirely.