In case you haven't heard, the new James Bond adventure, Skyfall, is out and is said to be a return to form for the fifty-year-old franchise after the disappointment that was Quantum of Solace. Over his fifty year career the evergreen Bond has driven iconic cars such as the Lotus Esprit 'submarine', a convertible Toyota 2000GT (only because Sean Connery was too tall to fit into the coupé) and of course the iconic Aston Martin DB5 that will always be associated with Ian Fleming's most famous creation.
But what about us mere mortals who want a touch of Bond (ooer missus) without having to drop €250,000 or so on a DB5? We scoured Carzone and came up with five cars that have genuine Bond pedigree - without the price tag.
When Casino Royale was being filmed the current generation Mondeo had not even entered production, but that didn't stop Bond driving it. A hand-built example of the Mondeo was delivered to the Bahamas by Ford to be used in the film.
Bond's car was a 2.5-litre petrol model, which is as rare as rocking horse pooh in Ireland, so we will have to settle for this 197hp 2.2-litre diesel instead. I am sure Bond's paymasters would approve.
BMW 750i L - Tomorrow Never Dies
For Pierce Brosnan's second outing as 007 he traded in his insipid BMW Z3 for a much more fitting 750iL. The Q branch special was outfitted with stinger missiles, re-inflating tyres, bulletproof armour and the ability to be controlled from Bond's specially equipped Sony Ericsson phone.
The car we found has none of these additions but it does have a 5.4-litre V12 engine...
Triumph Stag - Diamonds are Forever
The Ford Mustang Mach 1 was the star (car wise) of Sean Connery's last Bond film but the 5.8-litre V8 powered car always seemed a tad uncouth for the quintessentially British secret agent. We reckon the Triumph Stag (built to compete with the Mercedes-Benz SL of the time), with its 3.0-litre V8, is much more fitting.
Range Rover Sport - Quantum of Solace
Bond has had a long association with Land Rover products, stretching back to 1983's Octopussy, where Roger Moore drove a Range Rover Classic. Daniel Craig's Bond is a little edgier than those that have come before and the Range Rover Sport suits this persona better. Most of the Sport models for sale are TD V6 or V8 models but we managed to track down this 'Bond-like' supercharged 4.2-litre petrol model.
Bizarrely, CompleteCar.ie was not on the list for advanced screenings of Skyfall so we cannot tell you about Q branch's latest gizmos as yet, but what we do know is that Bond drives a 3.0-litre V6 diesel Jaguar XJ, much like this one here.