This Guy Bought A Problematic BMW M3, Then Saw His Car Had Been Abused By Top Gear

After buying a BMW M3, 27-year-old Rob Willis had nothing but trouble with his car. Then, one day while watching a Top Gear rerun, he realised his car had been abused on the Top Gear test track
This Guy Bought A Problematic BMW M3, Then Saw His Car Had Been Abused By Top Gear

No matter how careful you are when checking a used car’s history, it’s impossible to know exactly how difficult its life has been. For example, just because your car has been regularly serviced, it doesn’t mean it was never drifted around an airfield by a bloke who had literally no interest in being careful since he got to give the keys back at the end of the day. At least, that would be impossible to know, unless, say, it was drifted around an airfield by the bloke who hosts the world’s most watched television show.

Rob Willis, 27, encountered exactly this problem recently, after buying himself a lovely looking Yas Marina Blue BMW M3. The IT operations manager told The Sun:

“When I bought it, I was told it was an ex-demo which one of the managers had been driving. The brakes were constantly squeaking and the steering wheel made a clunking noise every time I came off the motorway.”

Then, about a month after picking up the car, Rob was watching an old episode of Top Gear, when his girlfriend spotted that the M3 being hooned by Clarkson was wearing the same number plate as the car he’d just bought. Obviously unimpressed by the fact he’d been sold a car that had been abused in such a way without disclosure of that fact, Willis took his M3 back to his local dealership: “The dealers told me it was a mistake and the car should never have been sold as it was unfit for the road.”

This Guy Bought A Problematic BMW M3, Then Saw His Car Had Been Abused By Top Gear

The life of a press car is a rough one. The cars are handed around from publication to publication, and driven by people who grow no sense of attachment to the car. Most of us are careful to treat cars properly, but there will always be those who use and abuse their privilege. Furthermore, making cool content often involves driving these cars hard, repeatedly for the camera; no matter how careful you are, that’ll take its toll - and occasionally these cars come with delivery mileage, and we simply don’t have time to get the engines run in before enjoying them. So when these cars exit service and are sold off, it’s no surprise that occasionally they might seem a little rough around the edges.

Fortunately the cars are looked after and serviced by dedicated teams, so there’s very little chance of people encountering an issue like Rob has. Still, I’m not entirely sure I’d want to drop big money on a car the likes of Chris Harris or Jeremy Clarkson have had on camera, no matter how carefully it’s been serviced in the meantime.

Comments

Ashley Black

Yeah, I know the feeling!
I bought a brand new Toyota GT86 just to find out it had been hooned around by me!
C’mon guys, use spirited cars for spirited driving. Don’t be a wuss haha

12/10/2015 - 21:02 |
8 | 0
Alcaponed

I would be upset if I received a car like that, but an M3 should be able to handle driving like this. IT’s a performance for for Pete’s sake. Either it was REALLY abused, or this car is just too damn delicate.

12/10/2015 - 21:58 |
6 | 0
Anonymous

Could be worse, could’ve been Chris Harris’ Audi..

12/10/2015 - 23:19 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

I was lucky enough to own the Lotus Exige that faced off an Apache helicopter.

Never missed a beat and I’d buy it back tomorrow if I could…

12/11/2015 - 00:01 |
0 | 0
Bone

On that Bombshell!

12/11/2015 - 01:56 |
0 | 0
humdizzle

lol dude is a moron for buying a demo car. only reason you would buy a demo car is because you can’t afford a clean, used, 1 owner car.

12/11/2015 - 02:42 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

tbh…lots of brand new cars (not only high performance ones) are abused b4 getting into customer’s hands, i work in a dealership…i know

12/11/2015 - 03:05 |
0 | 0
suchdoge

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Very true, my dad was general sales manager for 5 dealers over a 25 year period, he never had to pay for Petrol. Every time he got a new demo we would test how fast the traction control initiated by Drifting the vehicle off a parking lot.
BTW Honda’s have better TC than Toyota’s

12/11/2015 - 11:06 |
2 | 0
Dominic Angelico

Even if it’s been somewhat abused, you have gotten the chance to sit your a** in a car that Jermemy Clarkson, THE Jeremy Clarkson has also sat his arse in

Maybe that was the wrong way to put it, but come on!

12/11/2015 - 03:14 |
2 | 0
Anonymous

Lesson 1. Buy Mercedes AMG

12/11/2015 - 04:47 |
0 | 0

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