One of my mates showed me his new ride the other day: a rather wonderful Bentley Continental GT. He had picked up this 2006 example with some issues and no service history, so full marks for bravery.
Except that he found the service books and sorted out the problems, because he’s a proper mechanic, and effectively doubled its value overnight. He’s going to keep it, but he’s fully aware of the future implications. Luckily, he owns a garage – a proper one with hydraulic lifts in it. Even so, if the carbon-fibre brake discs need replacing, that’s £7000 each. Which makes me think: what could we buy that’s equally interesting? It might not have 12 cylinders, but it must deliver some kind of unique experience.
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There are a lot of coupés that will do pretty much the same job as a Continental but rather differently. It would be so easy to go for the default appeal of a 2009 BMW 320i Coupé M Sport Highline with an automatic gearbox and just 60,000 miles, which seems like the perfectly reasonable two-door to get for £6995.
The thing is, I just remembered that Renault made a Mégane Coupé, which everyone else has forgotten, too. It’s not a bad-looking thing, and on our £7000 budget I was rather taken with a 2011 2.0 dCi GT Line TomTom. It has old-fashioned sat-nav and 70,000 miles under its wheels. Public enthusiasm is fading for diesels, but these cars are great and economical, and you will rarely see another – unlike a Continental GT.
There are a lot of Bentley-related Volkswagen Group products, and if you look not too hard enough, you will find Golf switchgear and Audi A8 underpinnings.
The Audi TT remains one of the most charismatic and distinctive coupés, and the choice is diesel or petrol at the £7000 price point.
For that, you can get a 2009 S Line Edition 2 with 87,000 miles, four previous owners, a fresh MOT and all the history. It’s ULEZ-friendly, while a 2009 2.0 TD S Line – with a similar mileage, price and spec – isn’t.
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My Nissan PuLsar 1.2 bLacK aLLoy wheeLs, £6.5k.
Yes they do! Until they find out the cost of the conversion. If you want a battery powered Golf, you can buy a used e-Golf more cheaply, and it's a much newer model!