EPISODE 13  - BROMLEY & BRUNTINGTHORPE - NEWS, VIEWS, PICTURES & LINKS FROM THE SHOW

In this weeks show Penny and I travel down to Bromley in Kent for the for the UK’s largest 1-day car show the Bromley Pageant plus we meet up with buyer Mark Evans who needs a diesel hatchback to munch the motorway miles!

Filming was a little distracted at Bromley as England were still pursuing the World Cup dream as we filmed. Fortunately we managed a win on the day so there were no long faces to be seen.

I was also chuffed to bits to be reunited with one of my all time favourite Teenage Kicks the Lotus Sunbeam, arguably one of the first hot hatches on the road as it pre-dated the legendary VW Golf Gate. Penny hadn’t seen one before but soon saw the appeal when she realised it not only had a Lotus Twin can engine under the bonnet but rear wheel drive to boot. Not a bad combination if, like Penny, you fancy a bit of Rally Driving action.

We also took a look at a couple of cars that, depending on your view were either years ahead of there time or white elephants the day they hit the roads…….. the Renault Advantage and the Subaru SVX. I remember seeing my first Renault Avantime and being blown away by the styling but buyers were in short supply and the car never fulfilled its potential. A few years on it may become a bit of a classic and owners seem to agree, if you have one then my advice would be to hang on to it.

UCR Mascot - 'Monkey!'

Our buyer Mark Evans was on the hunt for a car that wouldn’t cost the earth to run but still had all the refinement that he needed as he thrashed up and down the countries motorways in his new job. Helped by a healthy budget and a pretty accurate brief Penny and I really enjoyed trying to find him the car of his dreams for a great price. Faced with a choice of a Ford Mondeo, Vauxhall Vectra or Saab 9-3 which one would you go for?

And for the first time in the series I revealed a LHD contender for Free Motoring, the Cadillac STS. With a monster V8 engine, auto gearbox and a list of equipment to rival a Lexus it’s a car that has done virtually all of its depreciating already. The market for used ones is pretty weak but as the owner confirmed once you’ve had one you can certainly see the appeal of so much car for so little money.

And we caught up with three cars that would be your perfect partner for a track day blast an Ariel Atom, A Lotus Elise and a Honda S2000. Rather like an Indian takeaway they each offer a spicy motoring dish with the Ariel Atom one of the hottest little cars money can buy. What would I buy? Hmm, good question, if it was a pure track day car I’d have to say the Ariel.

Once again a big thank you to all our contributors and to all the visitors that made filming at Bromley so much fun. If the powers at ITV give the green light for another series next year you can guarantee that Bromley will be on our filming calendar again.

Lovely Lotus!

Animal Ariel Atom

Hot Honda!

THIS EPISODE'S WEB LINKS:- To find out more about some of the great cars featured on the   show;

Bromley Pageant - www.bromleypageant.co.uk/

Bruntingthorpe - www.bruntingthorpe.com/
Subaru SVX, Renault Avantime owners club - www.matra-club.co.uk

Rover Streetwise - Kent Tdi Centre - www.kenttdicentre.co.uk

Ariel Atom - www.arielmotor.co.uk Lotus Elise  - Liscomb Lotus - www.liscomb.co.uk

Smart Alfa - www.smartalfa.co.uk

Honda S2000 owners club - www.s2ki.com

Sunbeam Lotus - www.sunbeamlotus.com

Ford Mondeo - Charnwood cars - www.charnwoodcars.co.uk/