5 Cheap Cars Top Gear Wrecked That Are Now Massively Sought After

Over the years, the Top Gear team has killed loads of cheap cars which have since become rather sought after and valuable. Here are a few of the motors we wish they hadn't wrecked...
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The BiTurbo is something of a low point in Maserati’s history, and as a consequence only a few years ago you could pick one up for as little as £1000. The example used - and killed - for the intro to this MC12 segment from the sixth series of Top Gear probably didn’t cost the production crew much more than that.

Even if it’s probably the worst car Maserati ever made, it still seems a shame to have given it such a violent end, especially since they’re now scarce and sought after. You’ll now struggle to find one for much below £10,000.

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Did you know are just 44 road licensed 3.0-litre V6 Alfa Romeo 75s left in the UK? They’re shockingly hard to find for sale, and when they do go up, you’re looking at around £5000 or more, but back in series 11 of Top Gear the production crew managed to get hold of one for under £1000.

It didn’t have a particularly pleasant time on the show, with a track day crash seeing the poor car roll onto its side. After that, it was fixed up with gaffer tape (obviously) and badly painted in ‘Skoda Green’. The silver lining is that the car was sold on in its sorry state and is still used to this day, as far as we can tell. And it’s still green…

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While the 75 may have survived (ish), this Alfa wasn’t quite so lucky, ending up hacked in half and grafted onto a Saab 9000. Oh, and it was the rare Cloverleaf model, of which under 30 are registered for road use in the UK. Sad face.

We haven’t been able to find any Cloverleafs for sale in the UK, but there are a few V6s out there with (potentially ambitious) price tags approaching £10,000…

4. BMW 635csi (twice)

5 Cheap Cars Top Gear Wrecked That Are Now Massively Sought After

The first 635csi death came on the same episode Jeremy Clarkson dropped a skip on the Maserati Biturbo, as part of one of the trio’s early cheap car challenges. The ‘non-Porsche cheap coupe’ challenge culminated in the BMW taking on an endurance race on grass along with a Jaguar XJS and a Mitsubishi Starion. The BMW - and the others - were all bought for under £1500 and were in plentiful supply back then, but they’re now thin on the ground with the best examples commanding five figure prices.

635csi fatality number two came in series 14 with the TG boys’ take on BMW’s art cars. The 635 in question ended up in a ditch, but it looked to have ended up in better condition than the one used for the cheap coupe challenge a few years earlier…

5. Jaguar XJS V12

5 Cheap Cars Top Gear Wrecked That Are Now Massively Sought After

That XJS we mentioned earlier? That didn’t end up in a particularly good way either. And like the 6-series, few XJSs are now left, particularly in V12 form. You’ll need at least £5000 to buy one now, with the best ones going for over £10,000.

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Despite what the YouTube video title claims, this is actually from an old Clarkson DVD rather than Top Gear. And while A610 values haven’t really shot up much from the £8250 purchase price mentioned here, getting hold of one in the UK is now incredibly difficult. Sure, the A610 has its faults, but I’m not sure this one deserved to by ploughed into a concrete barrier…

What cars do you wish would had survived the Top Gear experience? Let us know in the comments!

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Comments

Deadpool (Cam's much sexier twin) (Official Demon Fangirl)

All these cars destroyed for the sake of television yet…

11/03/2016 - 17:32 |
578 | 2

Seeing all these italian cars dying, and yet Toyota is busy being Toyota.

11/03/2016 - 17:47 |
84 | 4

Have you tried buying a fecking Hilux since they ran that episode? The new ones arnt even that good compared to the competition yet still demand best in class residual values simply because top gear said they where bulletproof! :D. Ill stick to my L200 thanks.

11/03/2016 - 20:12 |
26 | 0

My auntie has a Toyota and they are really reliable

11/04/2016 - 15:26 |
0 | 0
Mahendra M

Top Gear seems to have a thing against Alfa Romeos

11/03/2016 - 17:32 |
0 | 6

Yet Clarkson seems to love them

11/03/2016 - 17:43 |
0 | 0

And yet he says “you can only be a true petrolhead until you own an Alfa”.

11/03/2016 - 18:22 |
0 | 0
Joshua Lue
11/03/2016 - 17:32 |
16 | 0
agdfgdfsg
11/03/2016 - 17:33 |
12 | 2
Anonymous

If there is something, I diskliked at Top Gear, it’s this (but I like TG in general). That just isn’t love to cars, when you destroy them. Not only sometimes, but often. I know, some of them were just “normal cars” and you could easily buy one cheap, some were junks or wrecks. But lot of them were still good or could be transformed with a bit love into something cool and interesting and some are rare and hard to find nowasays…

11/03/2016 - 17:36 |
62 | 2
German Perfectionist

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

The producers just didn’t care at all about cars, they just wanted a spectacular show and destroyed some of the coolest cars just because they were cheap. The guys did nothing wrong, they had to crash them, blame the producers!

11/03/2016 - 18:15 |
28 | 2
Anonymous

I’m a member of The Renault Alpine owners club and the chairman has an apology letter from TG for destroying it - the car they used had been kept in a carpeted garage for years and was nearly factory condition. I still wince watching that clip…

11/03/2016 - 17:37 |
124 | 0
Steve Buscemi

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

That apology letter better be good…

11/03/2016 - 17:49 |
62 | 0
therenaultguy

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Poor Alpine

11/03/2016 - 18:11 |
6 | 0
GunMax

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

So a factory conditioned car that is kept in a carpeted garage for years only worth….8250 UKP?

11/07/2016 - 02:06 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

Look on the bright side! They only crashed one Dacia sandero

11/03/2016 - 17:39 |
12 | 2
Anonymous

Missing the Mazda Furia 😢 RIP Furia

11/03/2016 - 17:42 |
12 | 2
German Perfectionist

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

And the Zenvo ST1

11/03/2016 - 18:15 |
8 | 0
Dzonny the e36 maniaq

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

I’m pretty sure it’s called Furai

11/03/2016 - 20:15 |
10 | 0
Josh Briggs

This 2.8i Capri didnt last long either, the 2.8i’s are very sought after these days

11/03/2016 - 17:46 |
44 | 0
Anonymous

Would love a capri

11/03/2016 - 17:48 |
0 | 0