Three Ways to Spend £20k: TVR Chimaera, Lotus Elan S2, Porsche Cayman S

Morning, you — Hattie here. Oh, and there you are. School run done, back seat finally quiet, sat at the lights doing that sum in your head again. What the sensible car's worth, and what you could have instead. I'm no better, mind. My flat white went stone cold first thing while I did the exact same sum over a red MX-5 I've no business looking at.

So, Thursday the twelfth of November, and for episode five of the Vertar Show, that sum is the feature. Three ways to spend twenty grand on something fun.

This one's for Paul in Norwich, who wrote in after episode two asking for fun cars under twenty grand, because, his words, some of us are still at the bottom of the ladder. Paul, I'm on the same rung. One tiny correction, said with love: in that episode it was thirty-one grand OFF a Ferrari, not a thirty-grand Ferrari. I wish.

Right. The first way is the loud way. A 1998 TVR Chimaera 4.0 at James Agger Autosport, about seventeen and a half grand, seventy-four thousand miles. Big V8 at the front, manual gearbox, roof off. I've wanted one since I was a teenager, when one went past us in the car park at Silverstone in the pouring rain with the roof down and the driver grinning anyway. There are eight Chimaeras with specialists at the moment, and that's the cheapest... the middle of the pack sits nearer twenty-one.

The second way is the clever one. And the slightly odd one. A 1995 Lotus Elan S2 at The Manor Garage, in white, just under sixteen grand. It's front-wheel drive, which from Lotus upset a lot of people at the time, with a little turbocharged Isuzu engine making a hundred and fifty-five horsepower. Then people actually drove one and changed their tune. The S2 was the last run, eight hundred of them, and this one's listed as number six hundred and sixty-four. Oh, and it's got pop-up headlights. Hold that thought.

And the third way is the one your sensible side would pick, if it's being honest. A 2008 Porsche Cayman S at MS Supercars, manual, a smidge under fourteen grand. It's done nearly a hundred thousand miles, which goes some way to explaining the price. But it's a mid-engined flat-six with a six-speed manual, and that's the noise I go a bit weak at the knees for. Twenty-seven Caymans with specialists at the moment, and three left a dealer in the last month.

If a friend asked me which of the three, I'd point them at the Cayman, honestly. It's the one you could drive every day of the week and still look forward to on a Sunday.

Right, from the bottom of the ladder to somewhere near the top. McLaren's had a busy week. Eleven left UK dealers in the last seven days, and twenty in the last month, out of a hundred and twenty-odd for sale. That's a lot of movement for November. My hunch is people are sorting next spring's car now, while it's quiet. The way in is a 2017 540C at The Carbon Collection, about seventy-two grand. Which is, uh... more than all three of today's cars added together, with the best part of twenty-five grand left over.

Mailbag. Jamie in Glasgow wants me to settle an argument with his brother. Brother says pop-up headlights were the best thing that ever happened to car design, Jamie says they were a gimmick, and they'll abide by my ruling. 'Probably.'

Jamie... I'm so sorry. Your brother wins. My first car was Dad's red MX-5, and I used to flick the pop-ups up and down at red lights just to watch them go. Still miss that car. And your brother's got fresh evidence, too: that Elan, number six hundred and sixty-four, with a pair of its own.

If it were me, out of today's three? The Chimaera. I know the Cayman's the grown-up answer, but I've loved a big V8 for far too long to start being sensible about it now.

That's your lot for this morning. A like and a subscribe honestly helps more than you'd think. If you've got a twenty-grand dilemma of your own, or a car you want me to dig into, write to me, it's hattie at vertar dot com. And on YouTube, stick it in the comments, they all get read, usually with a cup of tea. See you tomorrow.