The cheapest new car on the UK market at the moment is the Toyota Auris 1.6VVTi TR 5 door hatchback. It costs £5,590 and, to be honest, is not a bad little car. It'll do 40mpg and 0.60mph in 10.4 seconds and thousands of people will buy one.
But not us. With £5,590 we'd get something much better than that. For those of us of a certain age that insurance doesn't cost more than the price of the car and for whom rising petrol costs are slightly less of a factor than how it goes then the second hand market offers a positive wealth of glamourous and highly specced sports cars.
For the simple fact that eBay is an auction site we took a look at www.autotrader.co.uk to find the choicest Jags, Porsches and whatever else we could find for less than £5590.
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First up is a real surprise. Fancy a 6.8 litre turbocharged V8? Granted it will only return about 15mpg but the value of used 80's Bentley's has plummeted as fast as petrol prices have rocketed. This silver beauty - a 1983 Mulsanne Turbo - only has 104,000 miles on the clock and comes with 12 months MoT and 6 months tax. It can be yours for £5,450.
Bentley Mulsanne Turbo
If you'd rather go for a thoroughbred sports machine but with seats for the kids and a decent boot then look no further than this 2001 BMW M3. All you have to do is haggle £5 off the asking price and you have a 3.2 litre, 343bhp M3 for Auris money. Whilst the seller quite obviously isn't much of a photographer he or she does have good taste in cars. This is a serious car for just over five grand.
BMW M3
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If a Jaguar is more your thing then for this money you can afford a 4 litre, 1998 convertible XK. This one has a service history, 1 former owner and 11 months MoT. Another example of high fuel prices bringing precious metal prices down. Only a couple of years ago you couldn't pick up an XK for less than 10 grand. This one's advertised at £5,500. It's also a worthwhile investment. The XK is a classic piece of British design which has aged well. Within a few years they'll start to appreciate in price.
Jaguar XK
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And so to the fabled Porsche. Sadly you can't get a 911 for anywhere near this money. There are plenty of Boxsters for five grand but what caught our eye was this 1992 968, which is priced at £5,500. The 968 was a continuation of the 944 and for a few years was Porsche's entry level model. Nonetheless it was rated much higher than the 944 and is considered by many to be a proper Porsche, unlike it's predecessor. This one is in guards red and is the performance car to buy for our budget.
Porsche 968
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But there is one more car to consider. Speedmonkey is quite a fan of fast Audis and S models in particular. You'll have to haggle £200 off the asking price but who wouldn't want a 4.2 litre V8 S4 in silver with 344bhp and 0-60 in 5.6 seconds. For £5750 this 2003 S4 is a whopper of a bargain. It's got a new clutch and steering rack and 12 months MoT. For the price of a brand new Toyota Auris we'd much rather park an Audi S4 on our drive than anything else.
Audi S4