This year
is the Centenary of Ian Fleming’s birth; the man who created 007. And since Dr
No, in 1962, when he outmanoeuvred the baddies in a Sunbeam Alpine, Bond
cars have got bigger, faster and more fantastic. But even secret agents have to
pay for car insurance and fuel. So given his preference for driving
outrageously flash cars in ridiculously high-risk situations, the cost of
driving for 007 won’t come cheap.
The next
Bond movie has already hit the headlines – when the Aston Martin DBS, worth
more than £130,000, somehow careered
off the road, and plunged into Lake Garda. Ouch! Insurance for an Aston
Martin for the average person is anything up to £2,000 per year - and that’s
without the heatseeking missiles and submarine conversion kit. Then there’s the
petrol. In 2008, with the credit crunch, talk of recession and petrol
prices reaching a staggering fiver a gallon, maybe it’s time to reconsider
your mode of transport, Mr Bond.
The south
east is the hardest hit area, as The Daily Telegraph recently reported.
‘The South East is the most populated part of the country and one of the most
expensive regions for petrol,’ said a spokesman for the AA,
who have plenty of useful facts and figures to help calculate the cost of
running a car.
With a
maximum speed of 191mph, and 0-62mph in 4.3 seconds, and a tank capacity of 78
litres (17.2 gallons), the DBS is a lot
of car. Although it does have a boot-mounted umbrella, so at least 007 will
maintain his impeccable appearance. But, let’s face it, in these green and
eco-friendly days, an Aston Martin is hardly an economical car to be driving in
London. More than that, the congestion charge is £8 per day, so driving in and
out of the MI6 building is looking like an increasingly expensive option.
He could
always recommission the Venetian gondola that turned into a hovercraft from Moonraker
and whiz down the Thames into work. But this is the real world, so maybe the riverbus would be a better option. Or
what about a bike? A decent commuter model that wouldn’t embarrass the world’s
sexiest secret agent is around £500 www.ctc.org.uk
and insurance would cost from around £64 per annum – a lot cheaper than that
car insurance quote he’s likely to get for the DB.
However a
suave fellow like James Bond might find a bike would cramp his style a little.
So if he
had to be on four wheels, what are the best cars to be driving at the moment
for a city-dweller? Top of the
10 best as quoted by Green Motoring is the SEAT Ibiza Ecomotive. But the
Mini Clubman Cooper D is also on the list, so there’s no need to despair on the
style stakes, James. After all in For Your Eyes Only, he was seen in a
Citroën 2CV.
And he can
always give MORE TH>N Car Insurance a
call for a reasonable car insurance quote. You can find out what Bond movies
are showing on the small screen in TV Guide’s Upcoming Films
section. For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond, is on from
April 17th-March 1 2009 at the
Imperial War Museum; but be careful - it’s within the Congestion Zone.
Nearest Tube? Waterloo.
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