Bag of Sand = A grand = £1,000
Summer fun = A second car purchased for the sheer fun of it
So is it possible to buy a fun summer runaround for under £1,000? In the interests of intense scientific petrolhead research we decided to find out. Time, once again, to take to the pages of Autotrader. Here's what we came up with.
We've hit the jackpot first time out. 193bhp of rear wheel drive 3-series power. As long as it doesn't rain summer cannot fail to be fun in this Beemer. It's a manual so you can hit the revs, dump the clutch and power slide out of junctions to your hearts content, or until the tyres pop.
Another corker. Who would have thought you can buy an MGB GT for under a grand? Grow a moustache, stick a pipe in your mouth, pop a Julius Caesar on your loaf and head off for long Sunday drives around the back roads of the Shires. Or better still go for a track day round Oulton and pretend you're in the BTCC circa 1975.
Hot hatch hoonery for £994. Amazing value. Hang around Halford's car parks and amaze all your friends with this stiffly suspended, highly charged, whizzy tin-top. But with Renaultsport pixie-dust and 172 bhp we'd take to the back roads and fling it between the hedges on those long summer evenings. Just for the hell of it.
You ARE Richard Burns in this Impreza. Rallying doesn't only take place in wet, muddy forests. They also visit sunny places too. With this turbocharged, 4WD missile you too can get up some naughty back-road action in our short summer months. Just watch out for the rozzers. And make sure you keep those fog lights on all day long. Then you'll look like a real rally hero and everyone will flash their lights at you in appreciation of your skill and excellent choice of car.
It might be as slow as a slug with arthritis but at least you'll look cool in this open top Audi. Perfect for summer cruising - stick your shades on and feel great. Just don't expect to overtake anyone. The 2.0 is the worst engine VW/Audi ever made (apart from the old air cooled ones. They really were wheezy).
Sadly if our great British summer continues to be as rainy as it has been so far this is the only sensible choice. You'll be able to drive through the floodwater in style as all those sports car drivers look on enviously. And you'll easily be able to make your £995 back. Just turn up to our summer festivals and events and make £50 a time towing cars out of the mud.
Did we miss any out? Think you can spend your theoretical bag of sand on a better summer car? Let us know.
