Motoring

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Wednesday, 21st March 2007

‘Good neighbours I have had, and I have met with bad; and in trust I have found treason.’

I liked the pretty 1935 Austin 7 in racing green at £6,000, and would like the year-old Aston Martin V8 Vantage (black, 7,000 miles, a useable everyday supercar) but they’d have to sharpen their pencils on the asking price of £75,000. The 2003 Volvo XC90 D5 sounds expensive at £17,000, but they are, and you can easily pay more. The 2004 Ford Mondeo Zetec TDCi 130 estate, however, is a good car in anybody’s money (reliable, reasonable maintenance, six feet of load space and up to 50mpg); at £6,500 ono you shouldn’t go wrong. If it makes you feel safer, haggle and spend the difference on an extended warranty from Warranty Direct. Or you could forget the family and go for a classic Triumph TR6 at £9,850. Or, more exotic still, the TR4 rally car at a thought-provoking £28,000. And there’s a predictable spattering of 4WDs.

One thing you won’t be able to buy there — at least, not for a while — is Aston Martin itself. Ford has now accepted £479 million from a consortium largely owned by two Kuwaiti investors who are also part-owners of London’s Grosvenor House. They’re making the right noises — more investment for new models and more of the charismatic and capable chief executive, Dr Ulrich Bez. And they’ll definitely build the Rapide, the four-door sports coupe first displayed at Geneva last year. A thing of grace and beauty, it is one of those rare cars the image of which stays with you long after you’ve seen it. Dr Bez’s engineering background with Porsche should help it go a bit, too.