I drive a crap car, I paid £250 for it 12 months ago and It’s already taken me 25,000, pretty much the circumference of this planet we call Earth. It’s not missed a beat and I would jump in it tomorrow and drive it anywhere.

Why do it?

1: For the equivalent of one months payment a friend is paying on their lease car, I have bought, taxed and insured my car. The money I save each month pays my bills and what’s left over means I can afford to go sailing. Without cheap motoring I wouldn’t be able to live where I do, let alone enjoy my life.

2: It’s easy to work on, not that I’ve had to (apart from basic servicing) the car is basic. I can work on it, there’s no fancy electronics, no turbo, it just about has a heater!

3: It has keep fit windows, and no power steering this keeps my exercise regime in order…

4: I don’t need to worry about it. I can leave it anywhere and not have to worry about people damaging it, because it’s a shitter.

5: Nobody wants a lifts in it. Who really wants to be seen in a battered red French car apart from a tightarse.

6: People don’t get angry with you if you drive at 60mph on the motorway. They look at a small French car and think I’m going flat out.

7: It runs on fumes, honestly, this thing regularly does 70mpg, I’ve had 85mpg before. It’s so good on fuel I don’t even bother working out how efficient it is any more. Over my last car this thing actually pays be £150 a month to drive it.

8: Parts are cheap, thousands of 106’s have been built and are knocking about in scrap yards.

9: It’s easy to park, I can squeeze into spots you couldn’t in your generic, fake 4×4 that you’re paying a million pounds a month only to give back after 3 years. Even though it’s tiny, I managed to empty the boat, sails, cushions and everything else that comes home in the winter, drive to Southampton, sleep in it in a car park and attend a VHF course and drive back the next day!

10: I’m not keeping up with the Joneses… they can do one.