Jay, when you mention the Merak not being an SS, someone checked the VIN and it was a legit SS. What's likely is the car was involved in a rear end collision and the badge was probably bought to replace the stuff that was damaged or destroyed. Also would explain the £10,000 the previous owner spent on the engine (only to get it working, Merak parts are not exactly mass produced or cheap). Doesn't really matter since it was turned into soup cans or something like that after it's engine grenaded itself.
Really appreciate you advising the original air date of the episode and a quick summary. Brings back memories. A lot of us in our early 30s (like myself) grew up on that era of Top Gear.
I've had a look what you could get nowadays for a couple of other challenges they did For the £1500 Rear Wheel Drive Coupe Challenge (£1500 in 2008 is around £2300 adjusted for inflation) Mays Capri MK3 2.8i would go for at least £10,000 now, Hammonds 300ZX Twin Turbo would be about £6000 at least and Jeremys high mileage 944 S2 would still be about £4000. All roadworthy, for £2300 nowadays you could buy: 1999 BMW 318is Coupe E36 for £1995, 2002 BMW 325ci E46 for £1300, 2005 Mercedes CLK320 3.2 Auto Avantgarde for £1995 (in quite good nick too), 2004 Chrysler Crossfire 3.2 for £1995, 2008 Mazda RX8 230 for £2295 (unreliable but only 47k miles), 2001 Jaguar XK8 for £2000 (a bit ropey with high miles but a lot of car for the money), 2008 BMW 120d M-Sport Coupe for £1795 (with very high miles), 2008 BMW 330i SE E92 for £2350 but could probably haggle 50 quid off, 1976 Reliant Scimitar GTE 3.0 for £2300, a bit tatty but I think road legal since its MOT exempt, 2002 Mercedes CL500 V8 for £2000 Honourable Mention: 1995 Ford Mustang 3.8 V6 Automatic but it failed its MOT on brakes For the hot hatch challenge in 2014, Mays Fiesta XR2i would be worth around £7000, Hammonds Nova SRi would be worth around £7000 also and Jeremys MK2 Golf GTI 8v would be worth around £4500. They all paid under £1000 for the three cars which would be £1250 in todays money, but I've rounded it to £1500 because theres not much variety, but that would get you: 2002 Ford Focus ST-170 for £1200 2007 Ford Fiesta ST for £1200 2005 Peugeot 206 GTI for £850 (The 138bhp model, absolute bargain it looks brand new) 1999 Volkswagen Golf GTI 1.8t MK4 for £1000 2003 MG ZR 160 VVC for £700 2002 Renault Clio Sport 172 for £1500 (Although pretty ropey) 2009 Vauxhall Corsa SRI 1.6 Turbo for £1415 2009 Alfa Romeo Mito 1.4TB Lusso for £1295 2004 Toyota Corolla T-Sport for £1500 2005 Toyota Yaris T-Sport for £1140 (If you count that as hot enough) 2002 Mini Cooper S for £1250 2002 Citroen Saxo VTS for £1640 (Slightly out of budget but too good to miss off) 2007 Citroen C2 VTS for £950 2007 Peugeot 207 GTI for £1495 Honourable Mention: 2005 Volkswagen Golf GTI MK5 for £1300 but its misfiring
would be a bit of a ropey ST-170 also for £1200 I think, or at least going off ebay and autotrader prices. Saw one in a classic car auction with a guide price of 800-1000 that ends in the new year
What a great bit of research this is, I could have read that all evening just to see what else was around. I've always wanted to do a cheap car tour with mates, over the channel and around europe, maybe one day !
I've got a st-170 for £1000. It's ropey with a millage discrepancy. Gave me 6 months and 4000 miles of cheap fun miles till the gearbox went. So it's a replacement gearbox for £50 and uprated clutch and single mass flywheel upgrade soon.
The cars that were cheap in the 2000s aren't so cheap now, but the cars that were new and expensive in the 2000s and now cheap. The 350Z is very affordable because they made so many, and it's still an incredible car. Great platform for making a drift build, a track weapon, or you could leave it alone and drive it sensibly. Any option is inexpensive.
I would just go 370z instead of 350, unless you adore the 350. Does everything the 350 does except better. Nc2 mx5s haven't gone up really here in Canada either. Don't know about the situation across the pond, but my nc2 might have gone up a grand or two in value since covid.
@@scottcolpitts8521 Obviously that is reflected in the price, a bit of a silly comment when the main point he was making is how affordable the 350z has become.
@Will_On2 In canada a decent 350z is about 7 to 9 thousand cheaper on average, your right about the 370 being double. When we are saying double price we are talking 10 grand max difference. It's not like a 50 grand car and a car that's double that at 100g. I still consider a 370z in good shape at 25 grand a decent deal. That's like 15 grand cheaper or more than the average brand new car sold in canada.
What appealing cars didn't they drive? Anything remotely fun to drive has risen in price sharply recently because there are barely (if) any new cars being made like that. It's not because they drove them: a Dacia Sandero has only become a bit more expensive, in line with the rest of the regular car market.
@@BodyDestruction it's double in price but that's because it's based on a new Reno Clio chassis and not the crap before I test drove the old one and it was crap
An interesting exercise. It further confirms what I thought. 18 or 20 years ago there were some breath taking bargains at ten a penny. Alas, as you mentioned, the scrappage scheme took away thousands of gorgeous useable classics, and destroyed them, which made absolutely no sense to the environment, because the carbon footprint to build the replacements was ridiculous. A tragic end to some cars that would now be worth a fortune, hence making it very hard to replicate the Top Gear exercises in modern times....😪
Agreed, the scrappage scheme really did cause a genocide of usable modern classics, i bet there are many people kicking themselves over their unfortunate timing of giving away a future fortune.
@@ScottyDnB It was an insane scheme that made very little sense in multiple ways, but yes, it was a massacre of 300,000 cars built before 1999. OK some would have been crap, but 300,000 cars taken out of circulation with very little benefit to any cause except a short term boost to car sales in 2009/10. Ouch. Even if only 10% were 'interesting' that is 30,000 potential classics trashed for nothing..... but maybe more.
@@irishwristwatch2487 They scrapped 300,000 cars, and they are not on an airfield ready to buy back. They were destroyed. However, if you know an airfield & how we buy them back, would love to know!
@@MrGman2804 theyre on an disused airfield indefinitely. They cant be bought back - the gov has said so after a few petitions. Theyve said they will eventually be crushed regardless
Growing up watching these cheap car challenges, I was always interested to know the history of the cars themselves, especially the ropey ones. As some have found out, their histories are often very different to what they were made out to be on TV - I didn't know until this video that May's Urraco was actually better than it looked, and I dread to think what kind of life Clarkson's 928, his Merak, or his Lancia Beta from the Botswana special had, prior to filming.
I always think about this, especially how cheap May’s Urraco was as I love the old Lamborghinis. I missed out on all this but I still have many classic car adventures to come if I choose the right ones in the market 😁
Would love to see you and the guys on the other Jayemm and friends channel do a cheap car challenge. Would be the perfect excuse to buy something like that Cayanne.
The classics... 👌👌 - £250 SUV Challenge - Drop-top coupe's in Iraq special - 4X4's in Bolivia special - Estates in Africa - Cheap Porche challenge - Police Car challenge - First car for a teenager challenge - Hatchback episode - GTI, 308, Nova - Sports cars for less than a golf membership & clubs
The reality is you can buy the equivalent more modern versions that have fallen to rock bottom values. But pretty much all the cars used in TG challenges are now classics.
Nice to be reminded of the 'Italian supercar for under £10, 000 challenge' - one of my all time favourite episodes - although in the case of Jeremy's Maserati, left the viewer wondering who checked the car over, before handing over a considerable amount of wedge, since the engine blew up so spectacularly!?
Even back then I thought they were a stretch. Having said that, I look at those cars from the European market, which has always been more expensive on those cars. None of the Italian cars could have been had for that money here in NL (believe me, I checked back then). Nowadays, you'd probably be a millionaire if you had all of the TG cars from the challenges. ;-)
Being a car guy of a similar age, I've often found myself wondering how much the Top Gear cheap cars would cost nowadays. Once I've recovered from the shock that 2004 is nearly 20 years ago that is! Thank you for answering those questions 😅
The Urraco from the £10k challenge lives in Australia now... Or has done up until I saw it a couple years ago. It's been painted red, or possibly orange, I can't remember. But it's been restored and was for sale not that long ago in Melbourne. Edit: it must have come to Australia relatively recently, if James saw it in the UK.
I bought the Golf GTI 1992 115 bhp in 04 for £950. It wasn’t fast at all but I loved it. It drive really nicely and I loved the interior. At the time I had a choice of quite a few at that price. So that would be £1500 today. I wonder how many 12 year old Golf GTI’s there are for £1500 now? Mine needed no work and passed its MOT with no major issues. Only repair I recall was a new wiper motor. Just checked and the cheapest even 16 year old GTi is £3000. Equivalent double what I paid and I had a choice. Times have definitely changed, also cars seem to last far better.
Considering my daily is an E39 535i that I bought (via an eBay auction) for £595 eight years ago with an MoT, turned 100,000 miles on the way home, full history, no rust, it's now at about 150k (not sure exactly, it did a few weeks with a broken wheel sensor earlier this year) and, aside from a transmission rebuild and a water pump, it has cost me very little indeed and still refuses to rot despite being covered in mud... even post scrappage, it was possible to get some really decent cars for very little money. Now, I'm sure I could get £2k-2500 for that car, if I was going to sell it. Which I'm not.
@@R03333 I also have a 225,000-mile facelift 540i Touring, and a 270,000-mile E66 760Li. Neither are currently runners - the 540 blew its coolant header tank, and the 760 (which had 201k by its first MoT!) just fell out of use due to COVID and an intermittent misfire on all twelve... but all three are on their original timing chains, guides and tensioners, and none have given any trouble with VANOS (or in the 760's case, Valvetronic). If you want to risk it all on an M3, just set up a CZcams channel and make a video on your phone about how you have bought the CHEAPEST or WORST old M3 in the country... Chuck it up on CZcams with some appropriate tags so the algorithm picks it up and you should start to get some traction, and if you make a new video every time the car presents you with a big bill, eventually you'll be able to monetise it... after all, that's basically how Jayemm got started with his Evora. I'd do it myself with my cars, but I absolutely hate being on camera, there are virtually no photographs of me and not one video.
To put inflation and the rising car prices in perspective: In 2020 I got my mother a 1999 MX-5 NB 1.6 with 110 hp and 154.000 km on the clock. The car cost €2,400 and had been partially restored with new sills and new long beams, just had a slightly worn soft top. Now you can easily pay €4,500 for a comparable example. Because I like the car so much, I'm now looking for one for myself.... to be specific the 2001 - 2005 NB-FL with the same 1.6 and for a good low mileage example you easily pay 6,500 €.
IMO, the best 'all round ' non expensive 'drivers car' that ticks almost every box, is the BMW 123d M sport. Not expensive to buy, decent on fuel, decent on road tax, plenty of torque and performance, RWD and manual. Not sure if you have ever driven one (because you have driven so many cars). But if you haven't, would be good to see your thoughts on them, to see if you feel they really are the best all rounder in terms of value for money 'bang for buck' for driving enthusiasts.
The scrappage scheme killed off so many decent cars and has skewed the used car market since. There's an excellent video on CZcams listing the distruction. Just search '2009 scrappage scheme' for the raw date. As usual excellent content Jay👍
Inflation is a nightmare!!! We just found a 2008 550i that needes a clutch for 6 grand, the guy just got out of prison and needes the money. Its mint. Good video, as usual. The deals are out there, just be patient and ready to grab the opportunities as they come.
The first episode of top gear I watched was the cheap porsche challenge. Here in the USA the only way (that I know of) to watch the show back then was when it was randomly airing on BBC America some time after it originally aired in the UK. Even then I couldn't believe they were able to get a 944 for less than 1500 pounds. Maybe that's because cars have always been pretty expensive here in the states. Cool video and I hope your channel growth continues and you bring us more great videos next year and beyond. Merry Christmas!
Good to hear Mat Armstrong given a name check. Very modest guy and equally humble when I met him in person. Thx for all your entertaining stuff James and for featuring my Aston, and look forward to more content in 2023 👍
The student car was a interesting one. It was £2500 inc insurance. I did see in the epsiode they printed some option off. One of them being a citroen AX. Now it would be £3500 inc insurance. Average premium according to a comparison website gives you £1800 (so lets say £2000 to give some leeway). The golf is a yes. Found a Mk4 (not a Mk3) for £800 on marketplace which was a 1.4. Volvo you would end up going for a S40, did see one on ebay (1.8) in bradford for £900, the hyundai is pretty much as you said in the video.
your point on the scrappage scheme truly sounded like the exact argument ive made many a time. every time the government involve themselves in the car industry they fuck over the poorest people =
also it may just be my area but i got a vw polo 1.4 insured bought and insured for £2500 with no black box. i did have to put half my family on as named drivers but that's besides the point
I had a 2009 i30 with that 1.6D engine (was a mobility vehicle so at 3yrs it had 11k on the clock, and as recommended by top gear mag as the engine to get. Best car I've ever owned, fun round rtown due to the torque of hte diesel and huge boot for my old greyhound. Had it 10 years, nothing went wrong, daily driven 45 miles a day and I sold it to a friend last year for a grand at 84k miles. I'd bought an EP3 in 2020 for £3200, basically the shell was good and the bottom end had been rebuilt. The rest was questionable. It was restored and undersealed but the paintwork and inside was ropey. But with my COVID acquired detailing skills it looks great now inside and out. I've spent about the same on it as it had or developed a blown headgasket. That 3k ish budget spent included an upgraded £1200 piper exhaust front to back, and everything it needed including a custom remap which transformed it from a wheezy engine to a beast. Undertrays re-added, full refresh on all corners and bushings and many other little things - a three page invoice. It drives like new now and one I won't be getting rid of, just needs decent tyres. I've recently had the custom intake I bought changed and had a new Tegiwa fitted. Looks beautiful and does the same job. Bought a fiesta mk6 ST four years ago for £2600 (see your video for my essay on advice buying one of those) and did the same treatment on the outside (how i learned what I know now). Pieced together a full miltek exhaust fron to back in pi3eces for £504, the catback half being brand new. Learned paintwork touch up from YT video, full 2 stage restore to the paint and ceramic coated it, had the wheels trued, fixed and powdercoated gloss white. It looks fab, I've done 5k in it since buying it now (currently at 70k, about at 64500 2 previous owners in the same family) as I wfh (hence no i30 anymore). Have mountune cold air intake to fit and then get a custom remap, hopefully a task for next year via Jamsport (other side of town, local to me) then that's done. You couldn't get any of that now in only a couple of years, let alone buy it and get them to the level I have them now. Interesting video. Been meaning to contact you for ages in case you were interested in driving them both but not quite to the standard/level I want to make it worth your while from the videos you've already done on both models. And you said a remap won't change a car (S2000 you were talking about) and not worth doing. Absolutely disagree, it's night and day having VTEC at 4600rpm and revving to 8600, having done it. :)
Great video James.. My ears pricked up when you mentioned the scrappage scheme. when we were all told to buy Diesels... got me thinking as to how many years in the future EV owners will be stitched up in the same way. just a thought.
The £100 challenge is the hardest probably because of a few factors. 1) the government scrappage scheme that saw a lot of older cars disappear from the road forever. 2) changes to the MOT system that meant it was harder to get dodgy cars through a test (though not impossible. 3) more available car finance also saw lots of old, cheap motors disappear
Excellent content that highlights the declining status of our country mainly economically as the pound it losing value like the Zimbabwean Dollars. My follow Petrol heads, hedge your money in commodities, stocks, shares and other collectibles such as cars. Still on the topic, this content highlights that we can pick tomorrows classic today at an affordable price as he head into the new era of EV….Thanks JayEmm.
Hi! I bought not too long ago in October a retro 2000 CLK55 AMG on the w208 platform for £5k. Always loved them from the gran turismo days as a child. What a car for the money! Fast and rare too!
Well the problem is that by that time when Top Gear was buying these cars you simply couldn't fine one for same money in an open market. Their price estimations were unrealistic I would say it is just the show.
It's at least four times as hard in Australia too, half the choice and double the prices 😅😅 Hope you like 90s family saloons and Hyundai Getzs because that's most of the menu
I managed to snag a ex police 2007 BMW E60 m sport a year ago for £3000, which included a full tank of VPower! 140,000miles, used to train their new drivers in evasive and aggressive driving and it had a full BMW history. I still drive it to this day, I am slowly modernising it as it didn't have any speakers for music or creature comforts to speak of like ABS or power steering as these died while it was locked up since 2015 in a police garage. But it started on the button and drove from London to Portsmouth the very same day. Best car I have ever owned.
My uncle had a Maserati Merak…actually he had 3…all of them failed to start every time he tried to go to the golf club on a Sunday..we don’t know how lucky we are these days to actually have things that work..mostly 😊
I’m a mechanic who has worked primarily with European cars where I live in California. The Maserati Merak was a really great sports car, but it was a VERY complex car to work on unless you knew what you were doing. All of the Maserati Merak’s (and its V8 twin the Bora) that I worked on ran fine when maintained and fixed properly. Lots of garages tell you they’re “experts”, but you really have to be careful who you take the car to. My best advice to your uncle (or anyone else) who is going to buy a used European sports car is to join a club (Maserati Club Of America, or wherever you live) because it’s run by owners, so they can give you advice that’s VERY valuable, you can go to meets, and all the best cars get bought and sold between members who are knowledgeable. Clubs can recommend who to go to for service or repairs or restorations near where you live. There’s no reason your uncle should’ve had that much trouble with 3 different Merak’s (finding the cause of engine problems is not that hard, especially when it’s a car that Maserati mechanics have been familiar with since the early 70’s). I would bet that if your uncle were to talk to customers of the place(s) he got his Merak serviced, he would find that they have a lot of complaints.
For the part 2, please cover: - Build your own police car challenge (Fiat Coupe, Lexus LS, Suzuki Vitara) - Build your own ambulance (Chevrolet Van, Ford Scorpio, Porsche 944)
My favourite challenge was £1500 coupes that aren't Porsches. Veeery british episode - lots of rain, driving through Oxford and Millbrook test track, great background music. It's incredible when you realize that all 3 cars is the episode were just ~15 years old and looked very dated compared to the new cars being sold in 2005. BMW and Mitsubishi bodyworks were screaming angular 80s, while Jag with its EU-land barge style was even further, in deep 70s. While today, the notion of a 15-year old sports changed completely. It can be a Jaguar XK (X150), first gen Audi A5 or even Nissan GTR (R35) which is still being made! The only thing that differs them from today's new cars are simpler infotainment, smaller central screen and no safety assistants.
I would love it if you, and two of your friends, started doing challenges like that on this channel. Even if it was something stupid, I would still watch it. I would love a early 90s Japanese tuner episode
@@JayEmmOnCars but I think for the price point, it would be epic. I'm not going to speak about knowing how CZcams algorithms work, or on what I think you should spend your money on, but say you had a 500 pound budget, which I could afford just once, even though I live in America. But if you, and a couple of your buddies, sought to seek out 500 Asian imports with a manual trans, I imagine you could seek out cars like a Geo Storm, a really shitty Honda Civic saloon, and a Nissan Sentra. Even though that is the bottom of the barrel, I would still love to see people doing Old Top Gear challenges on CZcams. As an american, I have been watching every episode of Car Trek since it came out, but I would still prefer a bit of British flair, which I feel you are more than adequate for the part. You are a great host on all of your videos, and it would be something that I would like to see you do in the future. That's all I was saying. Keep up the good work, fellow James
2004, before the 'We buy any car' people it was easier to sell the car on than to scrap it. I remember trying to scrap my old rover around the time and the scrappy wanted 35 quid to take it off my hands. Little bit of MOT left, so sold it for 150 quid.
Liked your post very muchAn Austin Rover GTI was a twin cam and the Austin Rover GSI was a single cam so not quite the same and certainly fooled insurers as cover much less than GTI( I owned two GSIs and thats a bit of a story). Owning one already I only went to look at another cos my dad used to live nearby to it and i drive 600 miles a week. It had 42k miles on it selling for £995 in 2008 from its first owner. Got in it, it still smelt, new full of genuine rover extras such as mats etc too it was like going into a time warp! I didn't really want a car then but everytime I said it probably needed something doing to it to try to get the price down the elderly seller - who wouldn't let me drive it myself-brought out a bill showing it had been fixed already . Concluded I was discount it for the cost of a service it didn't need. it was just a brilliant car and bought it for the asking price My other GSI had been in the garage for an engine flush which it didn't need... which promptly caused the engine to blew up writing it off.. making my totally unnecessary purchase extremely timely!! In fact I was two days without a car as I'd arranged to go back to collect. It was a totally brilliant car and wished I'd looked after it a bit better . I liked that volvo/audi/rover episode because I had come close to owning all of the cars. Now drive a 25 year old celica which I maintain carefully . Bought a long time ago from another elderly seller with low 40k miles for then an expensive £2k. Just seen a lesser model now being offered for £7k. Let's hope clean air tax doesn't kill it!
I worked at a Fiat dealers 1980+ when the X19 was current…… smaller framed and naive, straight from school……. Loved them 🙂 perky, sporty loveliness….. only beaten by a bright Orange Mirafiori Sport, tuned…… ❤️🏁 Dad had a silver Mirafiori S, not as cool, but a solid weapon for the Essex lanes……. 🙂 Happy New Year 🥳
I spoke to a guy at a car show a few months back that said there is only 4 S-coupes on British roads, and he owns 2 of them. So I’m not surprised you didn’t find one.
I always loved the £1250 coupe challenge they did after the ropey Porsches. I actually used to own a ropey 635csi and I'm sure today you'd never find a e24, XJS or Starion for £1250, I'm sure you'd be able to pick up a decent coupe... Maybe..👀
A year or so ago I bought a mk1 KA for £200, found £3.30 under the seat.. Not bad for £196.70. Clutch release bearing was knackered and 5th gear didn't exist but still did a further 10,000 miles before being scrapped for £210. Cars you don't care about are the best fun
Would love to see you do an update of the British Leyland challenge. Dolly Sprints seem to be getting quite pricey now and rightly so, but it would be good to see this challenge updated.
When I was a kid I really enjoyed watching them smash up and modify old cars. Now, seeing all the cars of that era either valuable classics or long since scrapped, I can’t stand seeing those cars perish on the cheap car challenges.
I think the fair Ital exotic for 10k is a Maserati Coupe. Exotic coupes for 16k in general is still a bit of fun. Cayman S, Maserati GT, Alfa Brera, Peugeot RCZR, Mercedes SLK 55 AMG, If you are lucky a BMW M3. This is the category that is probably closest imho. What has changed is the italian sports car market. Lamborghini and Ferrari are much more up market brands than they were in the 1970s
the used car market is currently a pain in the butt. A bit more then 1 1/2 years ago prizes started to climb. As I sometimes flip a car I felt that directly. My gut told me that will also happen to new cars (somehow my mind didn't think about inflation) so I ordered a new car which is now almost 20% more expensive than when I bought it. Still kept my cheap car that I technically bought for 180€ in October of 2020. A 2007 Dacia Logan MCV with 1.6l and 87hp and 190.000km back then. Listed for 400€ and I was the first person that wrote that bloke in a decent manner so after taking a look at it I picked it up for 300€. It came on all season tyres and had a set of very good winter tyres on rims in the boot. Sold that when the first snow fell for 120€. Doesn't even have any oil consumption. Liked the car so much that I ordered a Dacia Jogger one year later. NEVER have I bought a new car as I always deemed that to be uneconomical. Well how times have changed and looking at new prices in 2017 and used prices for 2017 models now I would've been a very good deal to buy a new car in 2017 but well. Who could've known that.
The cheap SUV challenge in the very last episode was one of their best in my opinion, and a mixed bag of what's risen and fallen for those cars featured.
Its a shame that super cheap cars are so hard to find now. In about 4 years of buying and selling the odd car the best I’ve managed was a £100 lupo, a £100 Micra and then the gem was an £800 E30 Coupe. However, looking at old car mags and things you begin to realise how much the scrapage scheme killed the super cheap cars.
Chancer trying to sell the SS. 😂 I love these cars. The typical Top Gear trouncing (like that Stratos kit hit job) actually was a good thing, putting people off and lowing price expectations. You just had to put up with the knob in the pub quoting that episode.
Here in the US the Porsche challenge could still be done I got a 928 for 1500 in 2019 and 400$ in 2020 both running and driving, almost picked up a 924 with a missing hatch for 1200 about 6 months ago, and lastly an automatic 944 for 1600$ last winter
In the US, I would love to see a cheap Corvette challenge! $8000 USD will buy a really trashed C5 Corvette, a really nice C4 Corvette, or a decent C3 Corvette!
I actually did the £2500 car and Insurance earlier this year, got an '08 Skoda fabia for 1200 and the insurance cost the same. It is still very much possible to get a first car and Insurance for (fairly) cheap!
The Volvo @ 23.27 is NOT a 940 Turbo! It is a 740 GL. This is like comparing a BMW 320i with a 328i. I sold a 940 Turbo, B230FT engine in summer 2019 for £5500. Also JayEmm misses a fundamental point about cheap cars in the early noughties; around 2005/06 the value of scrap metal shot up by loads, so the rises were not just down to the scrappage scheme but basic market forces (value of scrap metal). In 2002/03 I was having to pay about £20 to have one scrap car removed, which seems crazy now. In about 05/06 a typical family car would weigh in for about £400 and scrap values have remained very positive since, we all know what an OEM cat can make for instance. This rise in scrap values has shifted the baseline value for cheap cars up in a big way. I fondly remember those days in the early noughties when I was able to buy an MOT'd, serviceable and reasonably presentable Sierra for £50 but I don't see these kind of prices ever returning.
308 GT4 is coming of age and still highly underappreciated. The Marcello Gandini styling will only be appreciated more over time, especially as Countach prices rise. So much of the Countach's design was carried over to the Dino when you stand them side by side you can easily tell they are from the pen of the same designer. The 246 and 308GT4, Dinos were not badged Ferraris as Enso stated very publically "A Ferrari will only ever have a 12 Cylinder engine" fast forward 50 years and 80% of Ferraris are V8s, exactly what the 308 gt4 is. How times have changed or should a F40 be badged, Dino?
A friend had a Volvo 740 GLE estate (he was given) for years. Very, very reliable. Very comfortable. I actually ran it for a while when we had a language school. A great car. But, they seem to get scrapped really easily, as do the 940 and 960. Shame...
Merry christmas to all, being a fan of this kind of content, why not do the challenges between you, all the other CZcamsrs adapted to nowadays? I've seen TG since the beginning and i miss good content such as the cheap car challenges! Cheers from Portugal!
If I remember correctly, Jeremy only paid £1 for his Volvo that he crashed into a concrete block! Recently looking for a cheap banger for a friend, we could not find anything useable with MOT for under £1000, he ended up with a rather scruffy 04 plate Fiat panda for £950.
I must say, I truly enjoyed this episode, thanks, Jay 😃👍🏻. I can tell you for a fact, that here in America, especially here in California, those challenges even back in the early 2000s seemed, well, how should I put it, unrealistic, and made me think the show was just simply scripted. The reason why, especially the Italian mid engine car episode, even back then those cars were expensive and today those three examples are astronomically expensive! Nonetheless, I am still a huge fan of the early Top Gear years and I will continue to watch those reruns for many years to come.
Not quite a cheap car challenge but JC did a piece about running a classic car as a daily and used a Mercedes Pagoda to prove his somewhat biased point. Think the feature was circa 2009 and he drove around in a Pagoda loaned from Chelsea Classics. At the end of the feature he shared that although these cars “can cost £30k for a nice one, the parts are cheap and easily available” Fast forward to today and a good Pagoda is easily north of £100k in RHD, parts are really difficult to obtain now for some major items and also extremely costly. As for restoration costs…dig deep and keep digging! 😎
Bought a mk1 Renault Laguna 1998 RT Sport 2.0 w/ 130k miles, for £299 5 years ago - and to date, it has been the most reliable car I have ever owned. Had it for a year and did plenty of miles on it, and not a single thing went wrong with it. The only reason I sold it was to try another car, which was a 1997 Ford Puma 1.7. I regret selling my Laguna... can't get anything for that price, in that condition today, such a shame.
I suspect all of the cars they bought for these challenges were all in need of fixing, and that wasn’t included in the original price. Obviously they didn’t attempt to make it 100% but they did make it road worthy. Also as much as we all talk about how expensive train tickets have got, it looks like a London to Manchester return is still about a hundred quid depending on when you go!
All the cheap car challenges were great , actually they were my favourite type of "specials" that they made... All were original, weird and crazy in their own way, I just loved it when they continued the spirit with the "old Jaguar" challenge in the "Grand Tour" show 🤣
9:30 To make matters worse for the challenge, if you used the parameters of 'the cost of a ticket from London to Manchester and back', the price of that ticket has not moved at all, so you really would still only have £100
Timing couldn't be better. I'm on Episode 3 of Series 7 atm. I think they've aged very well, though I do find the quirks of earlier episodes fascinating. Many different skits and segments were one and dones'
The beauty of Top Gear Challenges was that it actually was really informative: how good are some future (at the time) classics for an incredibly low budget? For example, for 1500£ you could get a good 924, a 944 for restoration, and about 928, forget about it. You could get a "spares or repairs only" back in the day, let alone now. Personal best Top Gear Challenges: - British Leyland Challenge: Fun but also factual, and I like how they give some respect to the Austin Princess, teaching that a BL car in good conditions is still a vehicle to be proud of. - The three 325i convertible Challenge: Again, fun and full of hilarious tests, but always factual. It teaches you how if you want a cheap 4 seater convertible for that price, you can only get a scrap 325i- - Honorable mention: Luxury cars for less than a Dacia Sandero. Doesn't have the 3 boys, but that's a good challenge. Personal Worst Top Gear Challenges: - Alfa Romeo Challenge: They do some laps on a circuit, but then the challenge runs out of ideas. Hammond acts too much like a moron, and the cars aren't really described. They could have said that May's Gtv is not a real Alfa, that Hammond's car is basically a scrap car, and Clarkson's roll looked staged to me. But no: just crash about and say nothing. Lame. - Hot hatchbacks Challenge: Had potential, but it's too juvenile, done with stereotypes and wasteful. They could have modified the cars, talked about how easy were they to steal, or how impractical they were. but no: just crash and destroy them. Not even Clarkson looked happy about them. Not bright. PS: Hammond says here that he liked the 80s, but in the C2 test he said he hated that decade. Dishonorable mention: - Classic car challenge. Full of recycled scenes and anticlimatic, with most of the times Hammond breaking down. Saved from being one of the worst because of the "fracas" story, but it looks bland and unfinished. - Cheap SUV challenge. Should be exciting, but it isn't. Shows that the three guys were really getting there. Oh, and those penis wheels... Clarkson & co.'s humour was becoming too gross and lame.
I grew up watching the old Top Gear shows. Jay, can you make a second part for this video? I would love to see if it is possible to do the cheap Alfa Romeo and classic car rally challenges. 😊
Remember when they went to the US (Florida) and expected to buy something usable for cheap and had to increase their budget massively to get anything at all ? US had gone through a similar 'cash for clunkers' scheme which removed lots of usable cars and jacked up the price of anything left. Sidenote , back in 2021 my car was worth £300 purely as scrap .
A Citroen c2 is a brilliant first car. Can pick one up for under a grand (the 1.1) and the insurance will be just over a grand. I had one as my first car a few years back and paid £1200 for the very nippy 1.6 and the insurance was only £1250 with a black box. So all in. Not too bad at all
This was a great look into the car market. I live in Finland, where cheap cars still exist to an extent, for example about a year or 2 ago I bought a 2002 Ford Ka for 300€ (listed price 350€ private seller) and kept it for 2 months, insurance for it cost around 400€ or so, and for example the 2000 Citroen Xsara I ended up trading it for, only cost me around 500€, which was at a dealer (dealer prices of course higher than private sellers), and the insurance was only a bit higher. But, used car prices have started going up and up even here, plenty of the cars you'd buy for the 300€ mark are now getting closer to 800€ even with short MOT periods. Luckily I am currently in possession of 1 car that works that cost 3400€ (1991 Chevy Caprice Classic) and I don't have to worry about buying a new car every year, which I have done for about 5 years or so, the reason why I have 5 cars just sitting, waiting to be touched.
Recently seen a Skoda Felicia and Peugeot 405 both for £150 with MOT and driving. Ad's have vanished now but do remember they where both in remote Scotland. Also saw last year an old Fiat Panda project for free, just wanted to give it to a young person who'd appreciate it and get it on the road again. Looking today the best I could do is the Renault 19 Chamade Project on CarandClassic. Also on there is a Porsche 924 for £2,500. For the £10K Italian Supercars you'd best bet is likely a Ferrari Mondial, there's project ones in budget and there is one that is being banger raced that sold significantly under budget but not much original is left of it. Best I could find is a 'front-mid' engined Maseratti Granturismo with running issues on Autotrader for £16,000. Student car challenge there's still plenty, I even found a Nissan Micra with light body damage but mechanically fine even low millage for £300 as they just wanted gone quick and that could be insured aswell under the original budget of £2,500 today.
The one that gets me is the £5000 sports saloons in Germany challenge- Jezza ends up with a Sapphire Cosworth for under 5k!
Love a Coss-eh! Harry showed one on his Silverstone auctions in burgundy. #goals!
Or when Hammond got the cheap Subaru in the African special
@@richboy900 I’m more impressed by James’ 850 R… they’re worth even sillier money now
there are currently 6 on sale in Germany- ranging between 19k€ and 59k€...
Remember James bought a 190e 2.3-16 for £2500 or something ridiculous, can’t get the bodykit for that money nowadays 🥲
100GBP challenge!!!
Couldn't fill up your tank with that nowadays.
Certainly can't fill the 83 litre tank on my Ford Explorer for that.....
They all got half decent running cars, especially James in the Audi 80, I was kinda pissed when they destroyed them in the end for no reason
@@christopherdean1326 It costs me 25ish quid to fill the tank on a 125cc motorcycle, which is mental.
@@elisorrells5314 They were rot boxes though, they weren't exactly "roadworthy"
Here in Portugal the government sells some cars through bids and some of them sell for lower than the actual value of petrol in the tank.
Jay, when you mention the Merak not being an SS, someone checked the VIN and it was a legit SS. What's likely is the car was involved in a rear end collision and the badge was probably bought to replace the stuff that was damaged or destroyed. Also would explain the £10,000 the previous owner spent on the engine (only to get it working, Merak parts are not exactly mass produced or cheap). Doesn't really matter since it was turned into soup cans or something like that after it's engine grenaded itself.
You answered one of my questions, although I did guess similarly on the query about the SS badge?
Really appreciate you advising the original air date of the episode and a quick summary. Brings back memories. A lot of us in our early 30s (like myself) grew up on that era of Top Gear.
I grew up dreaming I could buy an Urraco for £10k
Good times!
I've had a look what you could get nowadays for a couple of other challenges they did
For the £1500 Rear Wheel Drive Coupe Challenge (£1500 in 2008 is around £2300 adjusted for inflation)
Mays Capri MK3 2.8i would go for at least £10,000 now, Hammonds 300ZX Twin Turbo would be about £6000 at least and Jeremys high mileage 944 S2 would still be about £4000.
All roadworthy, for £2300 nowadays you could buy:
1999 BMW 318is Coupe E36 for £1995,
2002 BMW 325ci E46 for £1300,
2005 Mercedes CLK320 3.2 Auto Avantgarde for £1995 (in quite good nick too),
2004 Chrysler Crossfire 3.2 for £1995,
2008 Mazda RX8 230 for £2295 (unreliable but only 47k miles),
2001 Jaguar XK8 for £2000 (a bit ropey with high miles but a lot of car for the money),
2008 BMW 120d M-Sport Coupe for £1795 (with very high miles),
2008 BMW 330i SE E92 for £2350 but could probably haggle 50 quid off,
1976 Reliant Scimitar GTE 3.0 for £2300, a bit tatty but I think road legal since its MOT exempt,
2002 Mercedes CL500 V8 for £2000
Honourable Mention: 1995 Ford Mustang 3.8 V6 Automatic but it failed its MOT on brakes
For the hot hatch challenge in 2014, Mays Fiesta XR2i would be worth around £7000, Hammonds Nova SRi would be worth around £7000 also and Jeremys MK2 Golf GTI 8v would be worth around £4500.
They all paid under £1000 for the three cars which would be £1250 in todays money, but I've rounded it to £1500 because theres not much variety, but that would get you:
2002 Ford Focus ST-170 for £1200
2007 Ford Fiesta ST for £1200
2005 Peugeot 206 GTI for £850 (The 138bhp model, absolute bargain it looks brand new)
1999 Volkswagen Golf GTI 1.8t MK4 for £1000
2003 MG ZR 160 VVC for £700
2002 Renault Clio Sport 172 for £1500 (Although pretty ropey)
2009 Vauxhall Corsa SRI 1.6 Turbo for £1415
2009 Alfa Romeo Mito 1.4TB Lusso for £1295
2004 Toyota Corolla T-Sport for £1500
2005 Toyota Yaris T-Sport for £1140 (If you count that as hot enough)
2002 Mini Cooper S for £1250
2002 Citroen Saxo VTS for £1640 (Slightly out of budget but too good to miss off)
2007 Citroen C2 VTS for £950
2007 Peugeot 207 GTI for £1495
Honourable Mention: 2005 Volkswagen Golf GTI MK5 for £1300 but its misfiring
would be a bit of a ropey ST-170 also for £1200 I think, or at least going off ebay and autotrader prices. Saw one in a classic car auction with a guide price of 800-1000 that ends in the new year
What a great bit of research this is, I could have read that all evening just to see what else was around. I've always wanted to do a cheap car tour with mates, over the channel and around europe, maybe one day !
I've got a st-170 for £1000. It's ropey with a millage discrepancy. Gave me 6 months and 4000 miles of cheap fun miles till the gearbox went. So it's a replacement gearbox for £50 and uprated clutch and single mass flywheel upgrade soon.
Nice comparison. However, within 40 miles from Cambridge you can easily double the prices for the above cars.
Some proper research there! Good work!
The cars that were cheap in the 2000s aren't so cheap now, but the cars that were new and expensive in the 2000s and now cheap. The 350Z is very affordable because they made so many, and it's still an incredible car. Great platform for making a drift build, a track weapon, or you could leave it alone and drive it sensibly. Any option is inexpensive.
I would just go 370z instead of 350, unless you adore the 350. Does everything the 350 does except better. Nc2 mx5s haven't gone up really here in Canada either. Don't know about the situation across the pond, but my nc2 might have gone up a grand or two in value since covid.
It's an American car pretending to be Japanese, this is proven by the handbrake location was clearly designed with left-hand drive cars in mind.
@@scottcolpitts8521 Obviously that is reflected in the price, a bit of a silly comment when the main point he was making is how affordable the 350z has become.
@@scottcolpitts8521 Yeah it does everything better, but a 370 double the price of a 350.
@Will_On2 In canada a decent 350z is about 7 to 9 thousand cheaper on average, your right about the 370 being double. When we are saying double price we are talking 10 grand max difference. It's not like a 50 grand car and a car that's double that at 100g. I still consider a 370z in good shape at 25 grand a decent deal. That's like 15 grand cheaper or more than the average brand new car sold in canada.
I think the fact that Jeremy, James and Richard actually drove these cars instantly boosts their appeal and as a coincidence, boosts their sale price
But how long does that last
@@gingernutpreacher how long is a piece of string? All it takes is a rerun of an episode and you start searching cars for sale
3ft long but I get your point
What appealing cars didn't they drive?
Anything remotely fun to drive has risen in price sharply recently because there are barely (if) any new cars being made like that. It's not because they drove them: a Dacia Sandero has only become a bit more expensive, in line with the rest of the regular car market.
@@BodyDestruction it's double in price but that's because it's based on a new Reno Clio chassis and not the crap before I test drove the old one and it was crap
Top Gear and their cheap car challenges helped me to learn the English language, and made me fall in love with it.
Me too bro! me too!
I vaguely remember the very first cheap car challenge where Jeremy drove a volvo into a wall and bought it for £1
An interesting exercise. It further confirms what I thought. 18 or 20 years ago there were some breath taking bargains at ten a penny. Alas, as you mentioned, the scrappage scheme took away thousands of gorgeous useable classics, and destroyed them, which made absolutely no sense to the environment, because the carbon footprint to build the replacements was ridiculous. A tragic end to some cars that would now be worth a fortune, hence making it very hard to replicate the Top Gear exercises in modern times....😪
Agreed, the scrappage scheme really did cause a genocide of usable modern classics, i bet there are many people kicking themselves over their unfortunate timing of giving away a future fortune.
@@ScottyDnB It was an insane scheme that made very little sense in multiple ways, but yes, it was a massacre of 300,000 cars built before 1999. OK some would have been crap, but 300,000 cars taken out of circulation with very little benefit to any cause except a short term boost to car sales in 2009/10. Ouch. Even if only 10% were 'interesting' that is 30,000 potential classics trashed for nothing..... but maybe more.
They didnt scrap huge scores of them, theyre still sat on a disused airfield and cant be bought back
@@irishwristwatch2487 They scrapped 300,000 cars, and they are not on an airfield ready to buy back. They were destroyed. However, if you know an airfield & how we buy them back, would love to know!
@@MrGman2804 theyre on an disused airfield indefinitely. They cant be bought back - the gov has said so after a few petitions. Theyve said they will eventually be crushed regardless
Growing up watching these cheap car challenges, I was always interested to know the history of the cars themselves, especially the ropey ones. As some have found out, their histories are often very different to what they were made out to be on TV - I didn't know until this video that May's Urraco was actually better than it looked, and I dread to think what kind of life Clarkson's 928, his Merak, or his Lancia Beta from the Botswana special had, prior to filming.
I always think about this, especially how cheap May’s Urraco was as I love the old Lamborghinis. I missed out on all this but I still have many classic car adventures to come if I choose the right ones in the market 😁
Would love to see you and the guys on the other Jayemm and friends channel do a cheap car challenge. Would be the perfect excuse to buy something like that Cayanne.
Oooh, I like that idea!
The Cayenne has nothing going for it other than the badge.
There's Cartrek, where the US youtubers buy and drive cheap exotics. It's exactly that.
What's a "Cayanne"?
@@AdminAbuse misspelling of Cayenne
The classics... 👌👌
- £250 SUV Challenge
- Drop-top coupe's in Iraq special
- 4X4's in Bolivia special
- Estates in Africa
- Cheap Porche challenge
- Police Car challenge
- First car for a teenager challenge
- Hatchback episode - GTI, 308, Nova
- Sports cars for less than a golf membership & clubs
The reality is you can buy the equivalent more modern versions that have fallen to rock bottom values. But pretty much all the cars used in TG challenges are now classics.
Nice to be reminded of the 'Italian supercar for under £10, 000 challenge' - one of my all time favourite episodes - although in the case of Jeremy's Maserati, left the viewer wondering who checked the car over, before handing over a considerable amount of wedge, since the engine blew up so spectacularly!?
It's scripted, not actually real .
@@matthewstrange3778 wow no way
It is television. They are making a show. It isn't real.
I'd also argue that the scrappage scheme probably killed off a lot of the original cheap cars featured on Top Gear, hence their higher prices
Even back then I thought they were a stretch. Having said that, I look at those cars from the European market, which has always been more expensive on those cars. None of the Italian cars could have been had for that money here in NL (believe me, I checked back then). Nowadays, you'd probably be a millionaire if you had all of the TG cars from the challenges. ;-)
Being a car guy of a similar age, I've often found myself wondering how much the Top Gear cheap cars would cost nowadays. Once I've recovered from the shock that 2004 is nearly 20 years ago that is!
Thank you for answering those questions 😅
The Urraco from the £10k challenge lives in Australia now... Or has done up until I saw it a couple years ago. It's been painted red, or possibly orange, I can't remember. But it's been restored and was for sale not that long ago in Melbourne.
Edit: it must have come to Australia relatively recently, if James saw it in the UK.
I bought the Golf GTI 1992 115 bhp in 04 for £950. It wasn’t fast at all but I loved it. It drive really nicely and I loved the interior. At the time I had a choice of quite a few at that price.
So that would be £1500 today. I wonder how many 12 year old Golf GTI’s there are for £1500 now? Mine needed no work and passed its MOT with no major issues. Only repair I recall was a new wiper motor.
Just checked and the cheapest even 16 year old GTi is £3000. Equivalent double what I paid and I had a choice. Times have definitely changed, also cars seem to last far better.
Considering my daily is an E39 535i that I bought (via an eBay auction) for £595 eight years ago with an MoT, turned 100,000 miles on the way home, full history, no rust, it's now at about 150k (not sure exactly, it did a few weeks with a broken wheel sensor earlier this year) and, aside from a transmission rebuild and a water pump, it has cost me very little indeed and still refuses to rot despite being covered in mud... even post scrappage, it was possible to get some really decent cars for very little money. Now, I'm sure I could get £2k-2500 for that car, if I was going to sell it. Which I'm not.
Love these stories, they help me reinforce the "im sure everything will be fine" belief when I'm looking at very high mileage M3's...
@@R03333 I also have a 225,000-mile facelift 540i Touring, and a 270,000-mile E66 760Li. Neither are currently runners - the 540 blew its coolant header tank, and the 760 (which had 201k by its first MoT!) just fell out of use due to COVID and an intermittent misfire on all twelve... but all three are on their original timing chains, guides and tensioners, and none have given any trouble with VANOS (or in the 760's case, Valvetronic). If you want to risk it all on an M3, just set up a CZcams channel and make a video on your phone about how you have bought the CHEAPEST or WORST old M3 in the country... Chuck it up on CZcams with some appropriate tags so the algorithm picks it up and you should start to get some traction, and if you make a new video every time the car presents you with a big bill, eventually you'll be able to monetise it... after all, that's basically how Jayemm got started with his Evora. I'd do it myself with my cars, but I absolutely hate being on camera, there are virtually no photographs of me and not one video.
To put inflation and the rising car prices in perspective: In 2020 I got my mother a 1999 MX-5 NB 1.6 with 110 hp and 154.000 km on the clock. The car cost €2,400 and had been partially restored with new sills and new long beams, just had a slightly worn soft top. Now you can easily pay €4,500 for a comparable example.
Because I like the car so much, I'm now looking for one for myself.... to be specific the 2001 - 2005 NB-FL with the same 1.6 and for a good low mileage example you easily pay 6,500 €.
they cost even more in the U.S.
This is incredibly interesting and I think that the changes indicate how certain cars are appreciated.
Its amazing how they managed to get a hold of some of the cars they mentioned. Would love a Part 2 to this.
IMO, the best 'all round ' non expensive 'drivers car' that ticks almost every box, is the BMW 123d M sport. Not expensive to buy, decent on fuel, decent on road tax, plenty of torque and performance, RWD and manual. Not sure if you have ever driven one (because you have driven so many cars). But if you haven't, would be good to see your thoughts on them, to see if you feel they really are the best all rounder in terms of value for money 'bang for buck' for driving enthusiasts.
'plenty of words... I like this' That sums up JayEmm perfectly.
It does
The British Leyland one was one of my favourite ones 😂. Surely you could get them cars for not a lot
The scrappage scheme killed off so many decent cars and has skewed the used car market since. There's an excellent video on CZcams listing the distruction. Just search '2009 scrappage scheme' for the raw date.
As usual excellent content Jay👍
Inflation is a nightmare!!! We just found a 2008 550i that needes a clutch for 6 grand, the guy just got out of prison and needes the money. Its mint. Good video, as usual. The deals are out there, just be patient and ready to grab the opportunities as they come.
The first episode of top gear I watched was the cheap porsche challenge. Here in the USA the only way (that I know of) to watch the show back then was when it was randomly airing on BBC America some time after it originally aired in the UK. Even then I couldn't believe they were able to get a 944 for less than 1500 pounds. Maybe that's because cars have always been pretty expensive here in the states.
Cool video and I hope your channel growth continues and you bring us more great videos next year and beyond. Merry Christmas!
Good to hear Mat Armstrong given a name check. Very modest guy and equally humble when I met him in person. Thx for all your entertaining stuff James and for featuring my Aston, and look forward to more content in 2023 👍
The Scrappage Scheme needs a full video.
Absolutely criminal.
I love the Dino GT4. Unfortunately it's a great design on bad proportions, but if you put that on an Esprit (same body style) you'd get a stunner
The student car was a interesting one. It was £2500 inc insurance. I did see in the epsiode they printed some option off. One of them being a citroen AX. Now it would be £3500 inc insurance. Average premium according to a comparison website gives you £1800 (so lets say £2000 to give some leeway). The golf is a yes. Found a Mk4 (not a Mk3) for £800 on marketplace which was a 1.4. Volvo you would end up going for a S40, did see one on ebay (1.8) in bradford for £900, the hyundai is pretty much as you said in the video.
your point on the scrappage scheme truly sounded like the exact argument ive made many a time. every time the government involve themselves in the car industry they fuck over the poorest people =
also it may just be my area but i got a vw polo 1.4 insured bought and insured for £2500 with no black box. i did have to put half my family on as named drivers but that's besides the point
I had a 2009 i30 with that 1.6D engine (was a mobility vehicle so at 3yrs it had 11k on the clock, and as recommended by top gear mag as the engine to get. Best car I've ever owned, fun round rtown due to the torque of hte diesel and huge boot for my old greyhound. Had it 10 years, nothing went wrong, daily driven 45 miles a day and I sold it to a friend last year for a grand at 84k miles. I'd bought an EP3 in 2020 for £3200, basically the shell was good and the bottom end had been rebuilt. The rest was questionable. It was restored and undersealed but the paintwork and inside was ropey. But with my COVID acquired detailing skills it looks great now inside and out. I've spent about the same on it as it had or developed a blown headgasket. That 3k ish budget spent included an upgraded £1200 piper exhaust front to back, and everything it needed including a custom remap which transformed it from a wheezy engine to a beast. Undertrays re-added, full refresh on all corners and bushings and many other little things - a three page invoice. It drives like new now and one I won't be getting rid of, just needs decent tyres. I've recently had the custom intake I bought changed and had a new Tegiwa fitted. Looks beautiful and does the same job. Bought a fiesta mk6 ST four years ago for £2600 (see your video for my essay on advice buying one of those) and did the same treatment on the outside (how i learned what I know now). Pieced together a full miltek exhaust fron to back in pi3eces for £504, the catback half being brand new. Learned paintwork touch up from YT video, full 2 stage restore to the paint and ceramic coated it, had the wheels trued, fixed and powdercoated gloss white. It looks fab, I've done 5k in it since buying it now (currently at 70k, about at 64500 2 previous owners in the same family) as I wfh (hence no i30 anymore). Have mountune cold air intake to fit and then get a custom remap, hopefully a task for next year via Jamsport (other side of town, local to me) then that's done. You couldn't get any of that now in only a couple of years, let alone buy it and get them to the level I have them now. Interesting video. Been meaning to contact you for ages in case you were interested in driving them both but not quite to the standard/level I want to make it worth your while from the videos you've already done on both models. And you said a remap won't change a car (S2000 you were talking about) and not worth doing. Absolutely disagree, it's night and day having VTEC at 4600rpm and revving to 8600, having done it. :)
Great video James.. My ears pricked up when you mentioned the scrappage scheme. when we were all told to buy Diesels... got me thinking as to how many years in the future EV owners will be stitched up in the same way. just a thought.
The £100 challenge is the hardest probably because of a few factors.
1) the government scrappage scheme that saw a lot of older cars disappear from the road forever.
2) changes to the MOT system that meant it was harder to get dodgy cars through a test (though not impossible.
3) more available car finance also saw lots of old, cheap motors disappear
Excellent content that highlights the declining status of our country mainly economically as the pound it losing value like the Zimbabwean Dollars. My follow Petrol heads, hedge your money in commodities, stocks, shares and other collectibles such as cars. Still on the topic, this content highlights that we can pick tomorrows classic today at an affordable price as he head into the new era of EV….Thanks JayEmm.
Hi! I bought not too long ago in October a retro 2000 CLK55 AMG on the w208 platform for £5k. Always loved them from the gran turismo days as a child. What a car for the money! Fast and rare too!
Just picked up a 2001 for about the same price.
Well the problem is that by that time when Top Gear was buying these cars you simply couldn't fine one for same money in an open market. Their price estimations were unrealistic I would say it is just the show.
It's at least four times as hard in Australia too, half the choice and double the prices 😅😅
Hope you like 90s family saloons and Hyundai Getzs because that's most of the menu
I managed to snag a ex police 2007 BMW E60 m sport a year ago for £3000, which included a full tank of VPower!
140,000miles, used to train their new drivers in evasive and aggressive driving and it had a full BMW history. I still drive it to this day, I am slowly modernising it as it didn't have any speakers for music or creature comforts to speak of like ABS or power steering as these died while it was locked up since 2015 in a police garage. But it started on the button and drove from London to Portsmouth the very same day. Best car I have ever owned.
My uncle had a Maserati Merak…actually he had 3…all of them failed to start every time he tried to go to the golf club on a Sunday..we don’t know how lucky we are these days to actually have things that work..mostly 😊
I’m a mechanic who has worked primarily with European cars where I live in California. The Maserati Merak was a really great sports car, but it was a VERY complex car to work on unless you knew what you were doing. All of the Maserati Merak’s (and its V8 twin the Bora) that I worked on ran fine when maintained and fixed properly. Lots of garages tell you they’re “experts”, but you really have to be careful who you take the car to. My best advice to your uncle (or anyone else) who is going to buy a used European sports car is to join a club (Maserati Club Of America, or wherever you live) because it’s run by owners, so they can give you advice that’s VERY valuable, you can go to meets, and all the best cars get bought and sold between members who are knowledgeable. Clubs can recommend who to go to for service or repairs or restorations near where you live. There’s no reason your uncle should’ve had that much trouble with 3 different Merak’s (finding the cause of engine problems is not that hard, especially when it’s a car that Maserati mechanics have been familiar with since the early 70’s). I would bet that if your uncle were to talk to customers of the place(s) he got his Merak serviced, he would find that they have a lot of complaints.
For the part 2, please cover:
- Build your own police car challenge (Fiat Coupe, Lexus LS, Suzuki Vitara)
- Build your own ambulance (Chevrolet Van, Ford Scorpio, Porsche 944)
Awesome car. The Porsche is the only one i remember all that well. Nice video. Keep up the good work.
My favourite challenge was £1500 coupes that aren't Porsches. Veeery british episode - lots of rain, driving through Oxford and Millbrook test track, great background music. It's incredible when you realize that all 3 cars is the episode were just ~15 years old and looked very dated compared to the new cars being sold in 2005. BMW and Mitsubishi bodyworks were screaming angular 80s, while Jag with its EU-land barge style was even further, in deep 70s.
While today, the notion of a 15-year old sports changed completely. It can be a Jaguar XK (X150), first gen Audi A5 or even Nissan GTR (R35) which is still being made! The only thing that differs them from today's new cars are simpler infotainment, smaller central screen and no safety assistants.
I would love it if you, and two of your friends, started doing challenges like that on this channel. Even if it was something stupid, I would still watch it. I would love a early 90s Japanese tuner episode
You seen the price of 90s JDM stuff? Also doing these challenges requires huge effort for sadly little reward - the views don't justify it.
@@JayEmmOnCars but I think for the price point, it would be epic. I'm not going to speak about knowing how CZcams algorithms work, or on what I think you should spend your money on, but say you had a 500 pound budget, which I could afford just once, even though I live in America. But if you, and a couple of your buddies, sought to seek out 500 Asian imports with a manual trans, I imagine you could seek out cars like a Geo Storm, a really shitty Honda Civic saloon, and a Nissan Sentra. Even though that is the bottom of the barrel, I would still love to see people doing Old Top Gear challenges on CZcams. As an american, I have been watching every episode of Car Trek since it came out, but I would still prefer a bit of British flair, which I feel you are more than adequate for the part. You are a great host on all of your videos, and it would be something that I would like to see you do in the future. That's all I was saying. Keep up the good work, fellow James
Is that a wall mounted PC in the background?
No, it's a ceiling mounted Mac.
2004, before the 'We buy any car' people it was easier to sell the car on than to scrap it. I remember trying to scrap my old rover around the time and the scrappy wanted 35 quid to take it off my hands. Little bit of MOT left, so sold it for 150 quid.
The Alfa Romeo challenge was my favorite! Having owned a Milano and Spider, I could relate. After covid every thing went up, great video!
Loved that James. Real nostalgia meets 2022. Appreciate the effort!
the scrappage scheme really did a number on cars of this era
Gone are the days of great sub-2k fun cars. You used to get Clio 182s, MX-5s and all kinds of things. Now theyre like twice that
Liked your post very muchAn Austin Rover GTI was a twin cam and the Austin Rover GSI was a single cam so not quite the same and certainly fooled insurers as cover much less than GTI( I owned two GSIs and thats a bit of a story). Owning one already I only went to look at another cos my dad used to live nearby to it and i drive 600 miles a week. It had 42k miles on it selling for £995 in 2008 from its first owner. Got in it, it still smelt, new full of genuine rover extras such as mats etc too it was like going into a time warp! I didn't really want a car then but everytime I said it probably needed something doing to it to try to get the price down the elderly seller - who wouldn't let me drive it myself-brought out a bill showing it had been fixed already . Concluded I was discount it for the cost of a service it didn't need. it was just a brilliant car and bought it for the asking price My other GSI had been in the garage for an engine flush which it didn't need... which promptly caused the engine to blew up writing it off.. making my totally unnecessary purchase extremely timely!! In fact I was two days without a car as I'd arranged to go back to collect. It was a totally brilliant car and wished I'd looked after it a bit better . I liked that volvo/audi/rover episode because I had come close to owning all of the cars. Now drive a 25 year old celica which I maintain carefully . Bought a long time ago from another elderly seller with low 40k miles for then an expensive £2k. Just seen a lesser model now being offered for £7k. Let's hope clean air tax doesn't kill it!
I worked at a Fiat dealers 1980+ when the X19 was current…… smaller framed and naive, straight from school……. Loved them 🙂 perky, sporty loveliness….. only beaten by a bright Orange Mirafiori Sport, tuned…… ❤️🏁
Dad had a silver Mirafiori S, not as cool, but a solid weapon for the Essex lanes……. 🙂
Happy New Year 🥳
I spoke to a guy at a car show a few months back that said there is only 4 S-coupes on British roads, and he owns 2 of them. So I’m not surprised you didn’t find one.
I tried to buy an emergency car for £500 over this Xmas and it was virtually impossible.
I always loved the £1250 coupe challenge they did after the ropey Porsches. I actually used to own a ropey 635csi and I'm sure today you'd never find a e24, XJS or Starion for £1250, I'm sure you'd be able to pick up a decent coupe... Maybe..👀
A year or so ago I bought a mk1 KA for £200, found £3.30 under the seat.. Not bad for £196.70. Clutch release bearing was knackered and 5th gear didn't exist but still did a further 10,000 miles before being scrapped for £210. Cars you don't care about are the best fun
Agreed I had a similar story to this I bought a 206 with no exhaust for £100 just before lock down, it was great fun and still did 90 mph 😂
Would love to see you do an update of the British Leyland challenge. Dolly Sprints seem to be getting quite pricey now and rightly so, but it would be good to see this challenge updated.
When I was a kid I really enjoyed watching them smash up and modify old cars.
Now, seeing all the cars of that era either valuable classics or long since scrapped, I can’t stand seeing those cars perish on the cheap car challenges.
I think the fair Ital exotic for 10k is a Maserati Coupe. Exotic coupes for 16k in general is still a bit of fun. Cayman S, Maserati GT, Alfa Brera, Peugeot RCZR, Mercedes SLK 55 AMG, If you are lucky a BMW M3. This is the category that is probably closest imho. What has changed is the italian sports car market. Lamborghini and Ferrari are much more up market brands than they were in the 1970s
the used car market is currently a pain in the butt.
A bit more then 1 1/2 years ago prizes started to climb.
As I sometimes flip a car I felt that directly.
My gut told me that will also happen to new cars (somehow my mind didn't think about inflation) so I ordered a new car which is now almost 20% more expensive than when I bought it.
Still kept my cheap car that I technically bought for 180€ in October of 2020. A 2007 Dacia Logan MCV with 1.6l and 87hp and 190.000km back then.
Listed for 400€ and I was the first person that wrote that bloke in a decent manner so after taking a look at it I picked it up for 300€.
It came on all season tyres and had a set of very good winter tyres on rims in the boot. Sold that when the first snow fell for 120€. Doesn't even have any oil consumption.
Liked the car so much that I ordered a Dacia Jogger one year later.
NEVER have I bought a new car as I always deemed that to be uneconomical. Well how times have changed and looking at new prices in 2017 and used prices for 2017 models now I would've been a very good deal to buy a new car in 2017 but well. Who could've known that.
Great video. Love to see another one like this. Remarkable how it's impossible to buy a decent, cheap car.
The cheap SUV challenge in the very last episode was one of their best in my opinion, and a mixed bag of what's risen and fallen for those cars featured.
Its a shame that super cheap cars are so hard to find now. In about 4 years of buying and selling the odd car the best I’ve managed was a £100 lupo, a £100 Micra and then the gem was an £800 E30 Coupe. However, looking at old car mags and things you begin to realise how much the scrapage scheme killed the super cheap cars.
Chancer trying to sell the SS. 😂 I love these cars. The typical Top Gear trouncing (like that Stratos kit hit job) actually was a good thing, putting people off and lowing price expectations. You just had to put up with the knob in the pub quoting that episode.
Here in the US the Porsche challenge could still be done I got a 928 for 1500 in 2019 and 400$ in 2020 both running and driving, almost picked up a 924 with a missing hatch for 1200 about 6 months ago, and lastly an automatic 944 for 1600$ last winter
if you can find a running and driving manual one for that price, let me know.....
@@fortheloveofnoise probably not a manual most of them cheap are autos
In the US, I would love to see a cheap Corvette challenge! $8000 USD will buy a really trashed C5 Corvette, a really nice C4 Corvette, or a decent C3 Corvette!
I actually did the £2500 car and Insurance earlier this year, got an '08 Skoda fabia for 1200 and the insurance cost the same. It is still very much possible to get a first car and Insurance for (fairly) cheap!
that wall mounted PC is FIRE!! 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
The Volvo @ 23.27 is NOT a 940 Turbo! It is a 740 GL. This is like comparing a BMW 320i with a 328i. I sold a 940 Turbo, B230FT engine in summer 2019 for £5500. Also JayEmm misses a fundamental point about cheap cars in the early noughties; around 2005/06 the value of scrap metal shot up by loads, so the rises were not just down to the scrappage scheme but basic market forces (value of scrap metal). In 2002/03 I was having to pay about £20 to have one scrap car removed, which seems crazy now. In about 05/06 a typical family car would weigh in for about £400 and scrap values have remained very positive since, we all know what an OEM cat can make for instance. This rise in scrap values has shifted the baseline value for cheap cars up in a big way. I fondly remember those days in the early noughties when I was able to buy an MOT'd, serviceable and reasonably presentable Sierra for £50 but I don't see these kind of prices ever returning.
308 GT4 is coming of age and still highly underappreciated. The Marcello Gandini styling will only be appreciated more over time, especially as Countach prices rise. So much of the Countach's design was carried over to the Dino when you stand them side by side you can easily tell they are from the pen of the same designer.
The 246 and 308GT4, Dinos were not badged Ferraris as Enso stated very publically "A Ferrari will only ever have a 12 Cylinder engine" fast forward 50 years and 80% of Ferraris are V8s, exactly what the 308 gt4 is. How times have changed or should a F40 be badged, Dino?
Great episode! Please do the other cheap car challenges!
A friend had a Volvo 740 GLE estate (he was given) for years. Very, very reliable. Very comfortable. I actually ran it for a while when we had a language school. A great car. But, they seem to get scrapped really easily, as do the 940 and 960. Shame...
Merry christmas to all, being a fan of this kind of content, why not do the challenges between you, all the other CZcamsrs adapted to nowadays? I've seen TG since the beginning and i miss good content such as the cheap car challenges! Cheers from Portugal!
Not enough people watch - the effort Vs reward ratio is way off
If I remember correctly, Jeremy only paid £1 for his Volvo that he crashed into a concrete block!
Recently looking for a cheap banger for a friend, we could not find anything useable with MOT for under £1000, he ended up with a rather scruffy 04 plate Fiat panda for £950.
I must say, I truly enjoyed this episode, thanks, Jay 😃👍🏻. I can tell you for a fact, that here in America, especially here in California, those challenges even back in the early 2000s seemed, well, how should I put it, unrealistic, and made me think the show was just simply scripted. The reason why, especially the Italian mid engine car episode, even back then those cars were expensive and today those three examples are astronomically expensive! Nonetheless, I am still a huge fan of the early Top Gear years and I will continue to watch those reruns for many years to come.
Not quite a cheap car challenge but JC did a piece about running a classic car as a daily and used a Mercedes Pagoda to prove his somewhat biased point. Think the feature was circa 2009 and he drove around in a Pagoda loaned from Chelsea Classics. At the end of the feature he shared that although these cars “can cost £30k for a nice one, the parts are cheap and easily available”
Fast forward to today and a good Pagoda is easily north of £100k in RHD, parts are really difficult to obtain now for some major items and also extremely costly. As for restoration costs…dig deep and keep digging! 😎
Definitely need a part 2 to this. I still can't believe Hammond got a 850ci for under £7k. Most cost a fortune now.
The GTI actually got along surprisingly well with 115 hp, due to its weight.
Early 04/05 seems like ystrday, LFC winning the UCL in Turkey. I was in my early 30s. Missed the Boxing Day tsunami by luck. Excellent content mate
Same! Just watched the Bolivia Special, what a gem! Also the America special!
Bought a mk1 Renault Laguna 1998 RT Sport 2.0 w/ 130k miles, for £299 5 years ago - and to date, it has been the most reliable car I have ever owned. Had it for a year and did plenty of miles on it, and not a single thing went wrong with it. The only reason I sold it was to try another car, which was a 1997 Ford Puma 1.7. I regret selling my Laguna... can't get anything for that price, in that condition today, such a shame.
I suspect all of the cars they bought for these challenges were all in need of fixing, and that wasn’t included in the original price. Obviously they didn’t attempt to make it 100% but they did make it road worthy.
Also as much as we all talk about how expensive train tickets have got, it looks like a London to Manchester return is still about a hundred quid depending on when you go!
All the cheap car challenges were great , actually they were my favourite type of "specials" that they made... All were original, weird and crazy in their own way, I just loved it when they continued the spirit with the "old Jaguar" challenge in the "Grand Tour" show 🤣
9:30 To make matters worse for the challenge, if you used the parameters of 'the cost of a ticket from London to Manchester and back', the price of that ticket has not moved at all, so you really would still only have £100
Timing couldn't be better. I'm on Episode 3 of Series 7 atm.
I think they've aged very well, though I do find the quirks of earlier episodes fascinating. Many different skits and segments were one and dones'
The beauty of Top Gear Challenges was that it actually was really informative: how good are some future (at the time) classics for an incredibly low budget? For example, for 1500£ you could get a good 924, a 944 for restoration, and about 928, forget about it. You could get a "spares or repairs only" back in the day, let alone now.
Personal best Top Gear Challenges:
- British Leyland Challenge: Fun but also factual, and I like how they give some respect to the Austin Princess, teaching that a BL car in good conditions is still a vehicle to be proud of.
- The three 325i convertible Challenge: Again, fun and full of hilarious tests, but always factual. It teaches you how if you want a cheap 4 seater convertible for that price, you can only get a scrap 325i-
- Honorable mention: Luxury cars for less than a Dacia Sandero. Doesn't have the 3 boys, but that's a good challenge.
Personal Worst Top Gear Challenges:
- Alfa Romeo Challenge: They do some laps on a circuit, but then the challenge runs out of ideas. Hammond acts too much like a moron, and the cars aren't really described. They could have said that May's Gtv is not a real Alfa, that Hammond's car is basically a scrap car, and Clarkson's roll looked staged to me. But no: just crash about and say nothing. Lame.
- Hot hatchbacks Challenge: Had potential, but it's too juvenile, done with stereotypes and wasteful. They could have modified the cars, talked about how easy were they to steal, or how impractical they were. but no: just crash and destroy them. Not even Clarkson looked happy about them. Not bright. PS: Hammond says here that he liked the 80s, but in the C2 test he said he hated that decade.
Dishonorable mention:
- Classic car challenge. Full of recycled scenes and anticlimatic, with most of the times Hammond breaking down. Saved from being one of the worst because of the "fracas" story, but it looks bland and unfinished.
- Cheap SUV challenge. Should be exciting, but it isn't. Shows that the three guys were really getting there. Oh, and those penis wheels... Clarkson & co.'s humour was becoming too gross and lame.
I grew up watching the old Top Gear shows. Jay, can you make a second part for this video? I would love to see if it is possible to do the cheap Alfa Romeo and classic car rally challenges. 😊
I like the Hyundai, funnily enough. For a young person, that coupé looks very good, very cool!
Remember when they went to the US (Florida) and expected to buy something usable for cheap and had to increase their budget massively to get anything at all ? US had gone through a similar 'cash for clunkers' scheme which removed lots of usable cars and jacked up the price of anything left. Sidenote , back in 2021 my car was worth £300 purely as scrap .
A Citroen c2 is a brilliant first car. Can pick one up for under a grand (the 1.1) and the insurance will be just over a grand. I had one as my first car a few years back and paid £1200 for the very nippy 1.6 and the insurance was only £1250 with a black box. So all in. Not too bad at all
This was a great look into the car market. I live in Finland, where cheap cars still exist to an extent, for example about a year or 2 ago I bought a 2002 Ford Ka for 300€ (listed price 350€ private seller) and kept it for 2 months, insurance for it cost around 400€ or so, and for example the 2000 Citroen Xsara I ended up trading it for, only cost me around 500€, which was at a dealer (dealer prices of course higher than private sellers), and the insurance was only a bit higher. But, used car prices have started going up and up even here, plenty of the cars you'd buy for the 300€ mark are now getting closer to 800€ even with short MOT periods. Luckily I am currently in possession of 1 car that works that cost 3400€ (1991 Chevy Caprice Classic) and I don't have to worry about buying a new car every year, which I have done for about 5 years or so, the reason why I have 5 cars just sitting, waiting to be touched.
Even the scrap value is way up so it would be hard to find working cars with mot for £100
Recently seen a Skoda Felicia and Peugeot 405 both for £150 with MOT and driving. Ad's have vanished now but do remember they where both in remote Scotland. Also saw last year an old Fiat Panda project for free, just wanted to give it to a young person who'd appreciate it and get it on the road again. Looking today the best I could do is the Renault 19 Chamade Project on CarandClassic. Also on there is a Porsche 924 for £2,500. For the £10K Italian Supercars you'd best bet is likely a Ferrari Mondial, there's project ones in budget and there is one that is being banger raced that sold significantly under budget but not much original is left of it. Best I could find is a 'front-mid' engined Maseratti Granturismo with running issues on Autotrader for £16,000. Student car challenge there's still plenty, I even found a Nissan Micra with light body damage but mechanically fine even low millage for £300 as they just wanted gone quick and that could be insured aswell under the original budget of £2,500 today.
308 GT4s are such pretty cars. They don't photograph well easily, though. In person, elegant, and subtle, but very pretty.
From personal experience Those 1.6 CRDI Hyundai diesels are quite peppy and good to drive