For when an Esprit is simply a bit on the reliable side;
A Venturi 400 Trophy. One of the 11 cars from the one make race series that was sufficiently unbent at the end of he season to be turned back into a road car. It’s POA HERE.
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Years ago, I saw one of them for sale at a car meet (Bicester Heritage) that was an unusual green colour and didn’t the optional windscreen. It turned out it was a competition prize that Nescafe had run on their Blend 37 instant coffee. I remember seeing the jars and not entering and it turns out that was the decision that everybody made as your odds of winning were in the region of 150/1 which is quite mad when you think about it.
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I want this
I’m a massive fan of this generation of BMW, I love an E38 and have had several E39’s myself. I’m even toying with yet another E39, but maybe its time for an E38 
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Why not treat yourself to the V12 LWB for Xmas?!
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I always liked the V8 personally. the V12 didn’t offer much performance gain, and it was a lot heavier and more expensive to maintain.
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Love an old Saab, General Motors really fucked that up
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Saab fucked themselves, GM tried to save that company a couple of times and each time Saab went batshit crazy to bankrupt themselves.
My Dad, a man with as much business sense as me, basically gave away a Saab 900 with about 3000 miles on the clock.
The reasons why he ended up buying it in the first place were similarly messed up.
The guy who answered the ad in the local paper couldn’t believe his luck. It turned out that he was a family man, on his uppers, needed something that you could pile on the miles and it would just keep going. So that was nice.
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heard/read differing stories over the years of GM blaming SAAB and vice versa.
Colleague had a 9-3 as a company car in early 2000’s and it was a mare. Had a key setup where you could only remove/release the key with it in park but it used to have tantrums and not let you put it in park. Frequently he had to leave the key in the car as he couldn’t remove it for days.
He was driving along the M25 when it suddenly decided it wanted to be in neutral and nothing he did could get it back into drive. Numerous trips to the dealer and the lease company took it back in the end.
He fucking hated that car 
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Yet one of the nicest / most reliable cars I ever owned was a Saab 900 Turbo. Ridiculously comfortable, moderately quick and never missed a beat.
One of my sons current cars is a convertible Saab 93 Turbo and that also has never missed a beat. Ridiculous value for money too.
Go figure.
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Basing the 9-3 on the Vecta platform was never going to end well.
I had 56’ plate 9-3 (lovely petrol turbo engine) it was reliable and ok to drive long as you NEVER attempted to push it. Show it a bend at anything approaching spirited driving it turned into a dangerous wobbling mess.
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Same anecdotes can be trotted out for any car.
People fucking hate Minis but I’m on my fourth (BMW ones) and have never had a single mechanical problem with them.
Does that mean they’re reliable, fuck no they’re up there with the worst for reliability scores but I’ve been very lucky/fortunate.
Yea of course, but you started with the anecdotes; I merely offered a counterpoint.
haha very true, I am biased though, have never been a fan of them or got their look.
… and I really luv 'em and, literally, felt betrayed when they sold out to GM. Vive la difference.
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Buy a Mini you’ll feel much better 