Hold your horses fella's. I think you may have got the wrong end of the stick here. What I originally said was I'm looking for something desirable, that would in my view become a future classic. That covers a whole spectrum of cars but none of the above fall into it.

My idea is that I buy something that is either rare, or by virtue of its looks/design will in my opinion become a classic. I could of course just buy a cheap £400 hack to run around in as you seem to be suggesting, but I don't want to. I want something that I'll actually want to clean and polish, something that will make me glance backwards in the car park as I'm walking away from it. A BX is more likely to avert my gaze, ditto Berlingo's and the like.

I know I've muddied the waters a bit earlier by saying that perhaps it should be low key, but that was hours ago -I've changed my mind since then. I'll tell you what I've been seriously considering so far. I've chosen these based on style, and the likelihood that if well kept they will become 'classics' in a few years time. After each photo I'll tell you why I chose them. Some of them haven't bottomed out yet value wise so there is still the possibility of losing money on them before they start to level off, but that's the way it goes.

You'll also notice from my choices that I'm not necessarily going for cheap. I mentioned the Rover 75 as an example of how a lot of car (albeit troublesome) can be had for sod-all money, but that doesn't mean they all need cost next to nowt. So here we go....



Ford Cougar.

Not everyone's cup of tea I know. On Wednesday I saw a pristine, and I mean flawless V6 version with very low genuine miles, one owner and unmarked go for under a grand. Just think about that. A practically new V6 engined car, fast comfortable and some might think stylish - for nine hundred quid! How could you not?





S-Type Shag-uar.
Beautiful to my eyes, classic lines, modern underpinnings. Reliable and these are cheap. One like this went on ebay last night for £1500 and the seller didn't pull it or bogus bid it up either. A lot of car for a little money.



Toyota Celica VVTi.

fast, smooth, relatively economical 1.8 engine. Cool looks, two door coupe styling, Toyota reliability. You too can be Tom Cruise. Every owners report I've read on these things says buy one! Again, some are as low as £1500 now.



Chrysler Crossfire.

Just look at it! This just has to be a future classic.
3.2 V6 Mercedes engine, superb finish, and super cool interior. They're rare too, so this is my current number one. On all the above the issue isn't really cost, but petrol consumption, which makes the Toyota the most sensible... but sometimes I don't do sensible.

O/N,I agree with you on the Celica,a lovely car,fast,reliable,cheap! but the Chrysler,oh no,its a pile of American crap
Maybe my years of working on outboards has slightly blinkered me because Chrysler outboards were the biggest load of crap on the water
Ask any marine engineer who was working on engines in the 70s and 80s.(you could ask James I now hate with avengance the Chrysler name.

But it has a Mercedes V6 in there. Engine, gearbox and running gear are the same as those Merc compressors I think. And the styling is top dollar, maybe the build quality isn't though?

Porsche 944, you can get an ridiculous amount of car for pocket money.

The whole floorpan/running gear is Mercedes, it's just had a different body dropped on it.

No question, O-N, that is a future classic.

Just found out the Crossfire is group 44 insurance! 2cv's are 4.

Didn't even know there was a 44. That's probably £1000 per year for that. The Chrysler has just slipped down in the rankings. It is a beautiful car though, not as chavvy as the 300.

Spoke to cousin shifty this evening, he's had a jag S-type for four years and 58k miles now. He said the only thing it's ever needed is a headlamp bulb, but having said that the replacing of that bulb cost £300 in labour as the front has to come off. He rates them very highly, usually changes cars every three years but wants to keep the jag for longer. Jag's gone up in the ratings.

Ford Cougar... No, too ghey.




S-Type Shag-uar. YES YES YES, love these.



Toyota Celica VVTi... probably a good car, but you would have to buy a dolex, and lots of hair gel.




Chrysler Crossfire... It just wishes it was a bentley

Omg.....all these pictures of those cars and the talk about them, makes me love my 2CV's even more....

Jaguar or crossfire anyday.