AUCTION WATCH
Volkswagen Beetle 2.0 TSI Turbo Price £ 9985
The last Beetle scuttled out of the Mexico factory recently, making this a good time to comb
the family album for promising derivatives. And lo, we found this: the 2.0 TSI Turbo with
197bhp and an impressive 206lb ft at just 1700rpm. Check out those 19in Tornado alloys,
rear spoiler, privacy glass and red, uprated brake calipers. True, it’s a stretch to imagine it
might one day achieve real classic status, but with looks, rarity and performance on its side,
it must stand a fairly good chance. And they don’t make them any more...
CLASH OF THE
CLASSIFIEDS
BRIEF
MAX ADAMS My Mercedes might not be American, but it has all
the correct ingredients of a proper muscle car: a huge 6.2-litre
V8 in an equally big vehicle, rear-wheel drive and a fantastic
soundtrack when you peel away from a stop light. What are your
wheels of choice, Mark?
MARK PEARSON A wonderful bahnstorming 1987 Porsche
928 S4, complete with that delightful 5.0-litre V8, wonderful
balance and, oh, those polar moments of inertia! It’s had £25k
spent on it and yet is just £10k to buy. Yours is a taxi, right?
MA Traditional muscle cars are based on saloons, so my
E-Class fits the brief. And, of course, they’ve had to spend so
much keeping your old crate going because it’s two decades
older than mine – which also explains the 200bhp deficit...
MP Mine oozes style, though, and no one complained that itlacked for power back then – it’ll see off 0-60mph in six seconds.
It has perfect weight distribution and much else besides, and I
should think its price can only go one way.
MA The E-Class wasn’t regarded as a minger at the time either,
but this AMG has the subtlety to surprise the uninitiated.
MP Too much of a Q-car, I think, whereas my iconoclastic
Porsche is very much a 2+2 luxury grand tourer that
can turn heads and flex its V8 muscles when you want
to play rough.
I want muscle – and that
AMG is ripped. JOHN EVANS
Find me a bona fide V8
muscle car for £12k.
VERDICT
USED CAR DESK DOES BATTLE
Porsche^928 S^4 £^10 ,^250
Mercedes-Benz E 63 AMG £ (^9995)
USED CARS
28 AUGUST 2019 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 75
FU
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CLA
SSI
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Proof that auctions are the place to go if you want a
bargain is this 150,000-mile, 1988-reg 928 that went
for £9056. A bargain? Not if it’s a bucket, but this one
has just been serviced, so there’s another stamp
to add to the 13 already in the file. It had an engine
rebuild in 1997 and since then has had £8000 spent
on it, with an aluminium radiator among the new
parts. We’d have been keen to check that belts,
tensioner and water pump had been changed at
intervals, that the gearbox isn’t leaking and that the
underside and window surrounds are free of rust.
PORSCHE 9 28 S 4 AUTO