Mailbag Special: Where Supercars Start, NSX vs R34 Prices, and a V10 Estate for Claire

Good morning, car people, it's Hattie! My mum rang last night. She still thinks the cars are a phase, but she's listened to every episode so far, properly, start to finish, and she had two notes. One, I'd gone too fast through the Exige, which, fair. Two, people go to the trouble of writing in, and I only ever read out about one an episode. She's right on both counts.

So it's Saturday the fourteenth of November, this is episode seven of the Vertar Show, and Mum, this one's for you: the whole show is the post, and I'll take it slowly.

First up, Matt in Leeds, with a proper question. Where's the line between a sports car and a supercar these days, when a 911 GT3 laps quicker than supercars from ten years ago? Price, engine, doors? Mm. I've gone round in circles on this. I don't think it's pace. A GT3 is a sports car that happens to be ridiculously quick. A supercar, for my money, is the occasion: the engine behind your head, people stopping on the pavement, the undignified bit getting in. And never a four-cylinder. That's my rule, and I'm sticking to it.

There are over eighty GT3s at specialists today, the middle of them around a hundred and sixty grand, and fourteen of them went to new owners over the past month. The cheapest is a 2003 manual at The Classic Motor Hub, about seventy grand, with ninety thousand miles on it. I like that someone's actually used it.

Simon in Guildford wants some Japanese love, and asks if prices are still silly. I'll give you where they sit and let you decide. There are only eight NSXs for sale. The cheapest is a 1991 automatic at Torque GT, just under seventy grand. The dearest is a 1996 Type R at Drew Wheeler, about three hundred and fifty. That's quite a gap for the same shape. And I do get it, because the Type R was the lighter, stripped-out one people dreamt about.

Then there's an R34 GT-R V-Spec at Appreciating Classics asking about a hundred and forty grand. For anyone my age, that's the car you drove a thousand times on a PlayStation and never once in real life. Richard, who listens on the A21 on the run in, asked for more eighties and nineties too. Between you, that's an episode, and I'll do it soon.

Right, Mark in Swindon. Three estate cars in a row, and his wife, Claire, keeps asking when he's getting something exciting. Claire, hello. I drive one, and last time I said I'd point anyone at a fast estate, so you can guess where this goes.

There are about fifty RS6s at specialists, eleven found new homes in the last month, and the cheapest is a 2008 with the V10, at Blackline Motors, for about twenty-seven grand. A V10 that'll take the big shop. I rest my case, Claire, though I suspect you've heard it before, from Mark, in the kitchen.

Andy in Lincoln has tucked his TVR away till March. Conditioner on, tyres up, cover on, and now he's sad. Andy, after I went on about the Chimaera back in episode five, I'm mostly jealous you've got one to be sad about. The RS4's my only car, so no winter off. It does the salt, and by Christmas it's a sort of grey-brown.

And Neil in Harrogate, who had a B7 saloon in Sprint Blue, says mind the carbon build-up on the intakes and keep an eye on the chains. Neil, the carbon is the thing I already lie awake about, so thanks for that. While we're on the RS4... I have now looked up what a clutch costs. I closed the tab.

Quick one for the Pulse, and it's Matt's question again, because nobody would call this a sports car. Lamborghini Huracáns: nearly eighty for sale, and fourteen sold since the middle of October, which I mean, for this time of year, is brisk. And what made me look twice... H.R. Owen listed five Huracán STOs on the same day. There are about fifteen STOs on Vertar, so a third of them turned up at one dealer in one go, nearly all around three hundred and ninety grand. I'd have the green one, obviously.

If it were me, from today's post... the 1993 manual NSX at Redline, a shade under a hundred and twenty-five grand. A manual, a V6 that loves to rev, and the plainest cabin going. I'd just have to explain it to the RS4.

Mum, was that slow enough? If the show keeps you company on the way in, hitting like and subscribing really does help a small show. Write to me at hattie at vertar dot com: what you're driving, what you're hunting for, what I should look at next. And on YouTube, leave a comment, I read every one. See you tomorrow.