Yes, you can still buy cars for £100

AN expensive shirt, a half-decent hi-fi system, an iPod Nano, a bottle of single malt or a really good night out in any big city.

If you had the princely sum of £100 you could blow it on any of these and still be smiling about it this time next week, but I've got a much better idea. Why not spend it on a set of wheels instead?

That's how a Renault 5 for the price of a first class rail ticket has ended up outside my house, and despite costing almost nothing in car terms it's still smoking its way around Southport more than fifteen years after rolling out of a car showroom in Birkdale. Commuting really doesn't come much cheaper.

What did I get for my fistful of dollars? A 15-year-old hatchback with a slightly wonky driver's door, 116,000 alleged miles on the clock, an interior lined with cheap seat covers and suspicious amounts of hay and loose screws, and door mirrors tinted green with a thin layer of moss. It has literally some service history. I was also pleased to discover that it's red, although I only found this out recently because I bought it without even going to look at it first.

But its ancient engine still pulls you out of junctions not only quickly, and very quietly too for such a cheap car, while absolutely everything still works on it. I can also boast - and I didn't spend hours looking this up, I promise - that my £100 steed was designed by the same chap who did the Lamborghini Diablo. How many M-registered Ford Fiestas can you say that about?

It's amazing how many cars are out there for next to nothing, as long as you're not being choosy and know where to look. My girlfriend, the car's co-owner, is also impressed, as you can find out here.

For the price of Britain's most expensive rail ticket - that's £1000 between Newquay and the Kyle of Lochalsh - you could have bought a whole fleet of these, and still have enough left over for fuel and road tax.

Now that's what I call motoring.