5 Reasonably Priced Cars That Would Be Perfect For Top Gear
There’s been a bit of debate about what the next Top Gear Reasonably Priced Car could be. That’s assuming that the Mini hatchback, which I think we can all agree was too fashion-conscious to be right for the job, gets the old heave-ho.
Stay tuned until Monday for what Top Gear presenter and all-round top bloke Rory Reid has to say about the new series, but the rumour mill says that the rallycross course and the Mini are both gone. But before we find out what’s really going on with the RPC, and whether it really is a GT86 or not, we wanted to cast our net.
We’ve brainstormed what we think are the best options for the next RPC slot. It has to be cheap, it has to be spacious and it has to be, well, a bit crap. We’ve assumed that the series is going to revert to the proper Top Gear circuit, at least until Dunsfold Aerodrome, the home of Top Gear, is ripped up and replaced with housing.
Peugeot 308
Just look at all the lovely equipment you get on the entry-level 308. For a very reasonable £16,375 you get air conditioning, DAB radio, Bluetooth and cruise control. It’s definitely not powerful and it’s a bit roly-poly, but it actually handles quite well, making it a perfect fit for thrashing around a small track a few times. You could even add optional alloy wheels if you really felt like it.
Fiat Tipo
The cheapest Tipo Easy Plus is another gold mine of reasonably-priced car-ness. A wheezy 16-valve, 94bhp petrol motor is bang-on for the purpose, it has 16-inch alloy wheels, a digital instrument cluster, 440 litres of space in the boot, a five-inch touch-screen, air-con, and (prepare an ‘ooooooh’), standard floor mats. And all this comes for a exceptionally fair £14,345. Does it get any more reasonable than that?
Suzuki Baleno
If Top Gear wanted to keep the car on the smaller side, the Baleno is a mighty practical little beast for not a lot of cash. A mere £12,749 of your money buys an SZ-T model, with DAB radio, air-con, alloys, a leather steering wheel, sat-nav and a reversing camera. That’s unbelievable value.
For an extra £1000 you could jump to the oh-so-lavish SZ5, with its adaptive cruise control, climate control and automatic emergency braking, which maybe isn’t a bad idea given the abject lack of driver skill on display most weeks. Suzuki also has provenance on the RPC front, too.
Dacia Sandero
Good news! It’s the… you get the idea. If it’s cheap you want, the Dacia Sandero is king. The top-spec Laureate has front electric windows, power steering, rear parking sensors, cruise control and a seven-function (seven!) on-board computer. You also get DAB radio, air-con and a seven-inch touch-screen with navigation. Splendid. You’d expect a price of £15,000 for all this, but Dacia will relieve your wallet of just £8995.
Nissan Juke
The Juke sells by the bucketload. We’re not sure why. Anyway, its popularity makes it easy to identify with, and with an entry price of £14,520 it’s definitely a reasonable option. The breathless 93bhp 1.6 is ideal RPC fodder and celebs could have fun chasing down the times set in the old Astra. Or maybe it was this old Astra. Probably not, but still, it’d be fun to watch it try. Alloys are standard, as are four electric windows, and there’s an AUX port straight from the 1990s for plugging your Walkman into.
What other cars do you think would make the best Reasonably Priced Cars? Apart from the whole Dacia range, obviously.
Comments
The Smart ForFour?
Ayyyy
BBC wouldn’t use the Dacia, would remind them too much of James.
Just for you know, before the incident, a corner of the french top gear was nammed ‘le clarkson’. Now, each time they talk about it, they have to say “the corner of the man we can’t name anymore”. Sadly, stupids productors
If grand tour stops killing celebs maybe they can use it😂
nvm im a dumdum
Still think it better be the Toyota 86
It isn’t reasonably priced car
Sorry guys, it’s already here, in Top Gear France :P
in what?
Top Gear France is an actual thing ?!
GOOD NEWS!
They are all too boring even for a reasonably priced cars, also how does standard equipment matter if they are going to fit it with rollcage etc anyway
the only one which I agree with is the Dacia
I would prefer the GT86 over the others
I don’t know why most people don’t like the idea of the GT86. Its sporty enough to make this a bit more competitive, yet its fun and, importantly RWD. That means, especially with the skinny tyres this car has, there will be some sliding and spinning action, which is more fun that all these fwd hatchbacks.
Not every celebrity is talented enough to drive a RWD car steadily and fast. And I think the FWDs provide enough entertainment through slides and spins even for a newbie as it is.
GT86 is about 28k $…..
The gt86 isnt exaclty reasonably priced.
Do you even know what’s Reasonably priced car?
I guess cars are very cheap in UK…I mean,all of the above are very expensive in my country
20k is a reasonable priced car.
All new cars are expensive relatively, all of these cars are £9000-15000. Average yearly wage in UK is about £24000 (although this is skewed slightly as we are the most unequal country in Europe, many make 10-20k/year).
So these cars are the equivalent of 60-80% of average yearly income.
However our used market is the cheapest in Europe, mainly to do with the fact our steering wheels are on the wrong side :D
5 cars that you cant afford!
Why not a Caterham?
The cheapest Caterham, the 160 starts at 17k GBP (20k €). That doesn’t include luxury stuff like floor mats, a windscreen or a canopy yet. Not exactly cheap if you ask me.
Get The Baleno. its awesome