4 Things I'd Do Now With £10,000

When Land Rover revealed its Defender pedal car concept at the Frankfurt motor show, I thought 'cool, I want one of those!' I then saw that LR was asking £10,000 for it, which got me thinking: what would I buy instead?

Alex Kersten

15 Sep 2015

Wow, look at this Land Rover Defender pedal car concept. It really is amazing and I’d love to have one sitting in my imaginary three-car garage next to my 911 Singer, MX-5 and mad E30 Touring V8. Why would I love it, you ask? That’s easy: I’d ride around in it (let’s face it, I’d probably fit in nicely) when I was drunk at home in my mansion doing pedal-powered burnouts on my lawn.

The attention to detail with this hand-built toy is also mind-blowing. It’s got spring suspension and working brakes (including parking brake), a working horn, full leather interior and a rolled-edge aluminium frame.

The price for all this? An-eye watering £10,000! Even if I were stinking rich, however, I’d pass on this and would spend my money on other, far more appealing things. Like, for example, these items…

1. BMW E39 M5 + 1 year insurance

With a £10,000 budget and the wonderfully diverse UK used car market to pick through, my money would go on a manual MY 2000 E39 M5. An immaculate example with 102k miles would set me back just £8500, meaning that the remaining £1500 would be spent on a year’s worth of car insurance (I’m 30 now, so the car world is pretty much my oyster), and road tax at a cost of £230 per year. I might even have enough cash left over for a tank of fuel.

2. Used Pocket Classics Roadster

Why pedal my own £10,000 miniature car, when I can max it out at 38mph with a 110cc four-stroke air-cooled petrol engine? Pocket Classics cars are described as the best toys in the world, and after my go in an AC Cobra Pocekt Classics a few years ago, I’d be inclined to agree. Sure, they’re not road legal, but they are massive fun, feature independent coilover suspension, working lights, indicators and even horn.

To buy one of these things new, you’re looking at £12,995 inc VAT, which is why I’d get a used one for anywhere between £5000 and £10,000.

3. Three perfect-condition MX-5s

With £10,000 (and I feel really dirty for saying this), I’d think long-term. That’s why I’d buy three perfect-condition Mk1 MX-5s now and dry store them as a kind of pension plan. In 10 or so years, I’d be able to sell each car for around £15,000 each. With my £45,000, I’d then buy everything on this list.

4. 200 laps of the Nurburgring in the CT86

My £10,000 would get me 200 laps of the Nurburgring in the infamous CT86. The time to beat currently stands at 8:25.42 which was set last weekend by a very handy bloke called Renato Loberto.

Like Aimee Upson (pictured above), I’d make sure to purposefully spin out on track to get mad respect for my perfect 180.