James Ruppert: what to buy to escape a work van on days off?

As breaking down shouldn’t be an option for someone who’s often treated like the fifth emergency service, the awkwardly styled Lexus SC430 is certainly in the running. When you’re inside it, you don’t have to see the outside, and it delivers fresh air along with V8 propulsion.

Paying a solid £10,000 gets you a one-owner 2002 model with 43,000 miles. It has one of those electric folding roofs: what could be more comforting or cosy?

While in-demand superminis go up in value, arguably these old open-topped prestige things deliver a surprising amount of real-world benefits for not very much money at all. Provided you have a plumber’s budget and toolbox, you will be fine.

Tales from Ruppert’s garage

Kia Optima, mileage - 73,563: Remember that left-hand-drive saloon oddity that’s sort of in my extended used car orbit? Well, it has come back into the fold for a while, and I took the opportunity to use my garage door touch-up paint to cover the alarming number of scrapes on its bodywork. We don’t think of saloons, even big ones, as being particularly practical, but this one swallowed a superking-size timber bed in CKD state. (Car manufacturing reference for you there.) These giant Kia Optimas are great, and ours has proved to be reliable and easy to live with. Clearly, previous owners had a problem with the left-hooker layout and manoeuvring. It’s in safer hands at the moment.

Readers’ ride

GP Spyder: Richard was right when he suggested I might love his latest buy. He says: “My Porsche 718 RSK replica isn’t quite Bangernomics, but with a real one worth half a million, maybe it is. This is a superb little car, unusually with a genuine 1960 Porsche 356 engine, so it goes as well as it looks. My garage is getting back to normal now and my pub has reopened, so here’s to a good summer and lots of classic car shows.”

Readers’ questions

Question: When I asked a used car dealer for a test drive, he asked if I was just trying before buying from Cazoo, as he claimed many do. Is this common? Petra Davies, via email

Answer: I recently had the same experience. I can understand that, as Cazoo and other online used car sellers gain traction, traditional dealers will worry they’re becoming unpaid demonstrators for them. However, discouraging test drives on the grounds that a customer might be a time waster isn’t the way forward. Dealers’ advantage is having cars that we can touch and drive, and they should be capitalising on that. JE