Supercars for supermini money: 5 ageing exotics for under £20,000
Got £20,000 to spend on some new wheels but not worried about pesky practicalities like running costs and storage space? Then you too could own one of these used supercars. Feeling brave? Step this way.
We’re all familiar with the Matrix’s iconic blue pill / red pill scene. Just for a second, though, imagine Morpheus’s magic capsules actually decide your motoring fate.
On the one hand, swallowing the blue pill gets and you get a brand new, reliable, easy-to-run supermini like Skoda’s Fabia. On the other, the devilish red pill leads to a whopping great, 21-year-old, 5.9-litre, V12
Aston Martin — and potentially an eternity of headaches and pain. Would you take the safe and sensible option, or dare to explore what sort of exotic madness £20,000 can really buy?
If, like us, you’re ready to dive down the supercar rabbit hole head first, then this list of heavily depreciated high-performance machinery is for you. From snarling straight sixes to silky smooth W12’s, you won’t believe what £20,000 now buys on the used market. But be warned, once you take that red pill, there’s no going back…
(2007) Maserati Granturismo
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A 4.2-litre, 180-mph Maserati for the price of a Suzuki Swift? We told you there were no half measures with the red pill. Much like this Maserati’s predecessor, the Coupe — as featured in
5 modern classics for £10,000 — the Granturismo blends effortless long-legged grand touring ability with one of the most sonorous soundtracks in the entire automotive kingdom.
There’s a catch though… well more than one, actually. For starters, the big maser musters just 16.1 mpg on the combined cycle — so don’t be surprised if that figure drops to single digits on a spirted drive. Then, at £760 a year, the road tax will sting your wallet before you even get behind the wheel. And, of course, there’s the perennial question mark which floats above Maserati’s reliability record like an ominous halo. Will it leave you stranded in the pouring rain? Maybe, but you’ll adore every mile that it doesn’t.
(2004) Aston Martin DB9
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We’ll get the cliché out the way early doors: look, you can pretend to be James Bond for less than £20,000! But seriously, Aston Martin’s timeless DB9 is now an obscene amount of car for
Ford Fiesta cash. Yes, you can get other Astons for even less — chiefly DB7s, and maybe even a slightly ragged, categorised Vantage — but the early DB9 is where things start to get really interesting.
Designed as a clean-sheet overhaul of the then archaic DB7, when Gaydon’s V12 GT dropped in 2004 it blew audiences away. Now, 20 years on, that design is no less magical. As for the internals, well they haven’t proven quite as immune to the passing of two decades. The six-speed ZF gearbox, for one, isn’t as snappy as you might like, and some of the Ford-derived switchgear now feels dated. That said, the DB9’s 5.9-litre, 450-bhp V12, has a truly eternal appeal.
(2011) Bentley Continental GT 6.0 W12
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We recently showed you what the Continental’s latest and greatest evolution looks like in the shape of the fire-spitting, RWD Supersports. But, for less than a tenth of that car’s expected asking price, you could have one of these: a facelifted first-generation Continental W12.
Unlike the very earliest (and cheapest) used Conti’s on the market, the 2011 car’s refreshed styling stands up well today — to most people, it still looks like a six-figure coupe. And jumping inside won’t shatter that illusion. Sure, like the Aston, the Continental sports its fair share of borrowed VW-Audi Group buttons and screens, but the sumptuous leather and polished wood feel every bit as special as the £135,000 original asking price would suggest.
It won’t be cheap to run, though — spotting a theme here? To brim the Continental’s 90-litre fuel tank will cost at least £130, and you’ll drain that it in no time if you want to experience the W12’s incredible 198-mph potential. Oh, and don’t forget that rectifying common issues with the air suspension, turbochargers, and head gaskets, can run well into £10,000 territory. Yikes.
(2005) Porsche 911 Carrera S 997
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Ok, so many argue that Porsche’s 911 isn’t a fully-fledged supercar, and technically they’re right. However, you can’t ignore the 911’s 60-year pedigree — or the fact it drives better than many “proper” supercars.
Anyone familiar with the range knows there’s a head-spinning array of 911 models to choose from on the used market. But we reckon this, the 997 911 Carrera S, is the pick of the bunch for £20,000. Boasting a naturally aspirated and high-revving 3.8-litre flat six, this 911’s 350-bhp is plenty to enjoy on the public road. And, with a 0-60 mph time of just 4.8 seconds, it’ll keep up with Audi’s contemporary exotic (the V8 R8), for around £10,000 less.
It's even a little more frugal to keep on the road than some options on this list — it’s all relative, after all. An official 24.6 mpg is the highest in this group, while road tax is a more reasonable £430 a year on pre-2006 cars. Just don’t go Googling terms like IMS bearing failure, RMS leak, or bore score, and you’ll sleep easy.
(2002) TVR Tamora
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Ultra-low production numbers, outrageous looks, a bespoke interior, and a lurid paint finish? TVR’s Tamora ticks a lot of supercar boxes for surprisingly little cash.
However, just like the 911, many would say this baby TVR is more of a sports car, than a bonafide supercar. Until they’ve driven one, that is. Housed beneath those eccentric bonnet slashes is TVR’s in-house 3.6-litre straight six engine pumping out a Porsche-rivalling 350-bhp and 290 lb-ft. The difference is, the Tamora weighs just 1,060 kg — a whopping 400 kg less than the 997 Carrera S. As such, the TVR is the fastest accelerating machine on this list at just 4.4 seconds to 60 mph.
As you might expect, though, the Tamora also sports a less desirable supercar trait: it doesn’t suffer fools gladly. By which, we mean safety aids like traction control, stability control, ABS, and airbags, were but whacky notions to the Blackpool-based firm back in the early noughties — so it’ll put your driving skills to the test. And, of course, you may well need a healthy rainy-day fund to keep an ageing TVR in fine fettle.
Ultimately then, swapping the security of a manufacturer warranty for the howl of a V12 engine is, logically speaking, a terrible idea. But then when did we petrolheads ever listen to logic?
Let us know if you’d take the blue pill and sleep soundly with a sensible supermini, or the swallow the red one, and live out your wildest supercar dreams — or nightmares…
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