Author: John-Joe Vollans
Photography: Manufacturers
The cars of the James Bond franchise are all characters in themselves, however, for every lover of an Aston Martin DB5 or Lotus Esprit, there are many thousands more who prefer something a little friendlier on the wallet.
The ‘hero’ Bond cars of this famous franchise have all ballooned in value. Simply, if James drove it, it’s too expensive – with the exception of the likes of the BMW Z3, 750iL or Ford Mondeo. So where does that leave the Bond fan on a budget? What we need to do is look at the machines chasing our hero, and here things open up nicely. Bond’s been hunted down by machinery from makers as diverse as Ferrari and Ford, and yet we think our following five franchise favourites will offer you the best bang for your buck…
Jaguar XKR – Tomorrow Never Dies
The Pierce Brosnan era of Bond has its detractors, even though everyone surely loves Goldeneye? For millennial fans of Ian Fleming’s particular take on toxic masculinity – in his defence, he wrote the first Bond novel over 70 years ago – the immediately pre-Craig era featured some of the best Bond cars in the business (Aston Martin ‘Vanish’ aside). On that note, viewers were wowed by arguably the only redeeming sequence in 2001’s Bond outing Die Another Day, when the aforementioned Aston struggled to get away from the baddie (Zao, played by Rick Yune) in a green Jaguar XKR.
The chase takes place on an icy lake (or the surface of the sea), which does negate much of the performance differential between the two cars. With rockets behind its grille, a pop-up minigun in the back and thermal imaging, this Bond baddie wagon could easily have emerged from Q Branch. Best of all, today a great condition Die Another Day-contemporary first-generation XKR will only set you back between £7-£10k.
Alfa Romeo 159 – Quantum of Solace
Fast forward to 2008 – and the second of five Daniel Craig Bond films – is one of the most petrolhead prickling of all car chases in the franchise. The scene that had a million car fans boring their friends and families with ‘there’s no way they’d keep up’ jibes, was the dash around the Italian lakes at the beginning of Quantum of Solace.
Suspending disbelief for a moment – the fact Bond’s Aston Martin DBS struggled to lose a pair of Alfa Romeo 159s – this chase has some great tension and action. Racing through the tunnels and busy routes around Lake Garda, dodging trucks and traffic – shout out to the first-generation Renault Clio – before diving into a local quarry, it all sparkles with the old-school glamour and action that’s made the Bond franchise last as long as it has.
Many might have winced at the catastrophic damage done to Bond’s Aston, but what really had us spitting out our popcorn was the local Carabinieri keeping up in a Land Rover Defender! Back to those Alfas though, you can bag a great one for between £6k-£9k.
Peugeot 504 – For Your Eyes Only
In a total reversal of roles from our former entry, the random henchman in this 1981 Bond outing definitely had a performance advantage. After she’s assassinated her families’ nemesis Hector Gonzales, Melina Havelock leads James to a concealed Citroen 2CV – after our hero’s Lotus Esprit Turbo takes an explosive approach to punishing car theft. Escaping the baddie’s manor, the pair in their unlikely getaway vehicle, dash down some Greek island routes, pursued by a pair of Peugeot 504 saloons. Bond even alludes to the lack of horsepower during the chase, leading to the pair taking advantage of the diminutive proportions of the Citroen to escape. After the inevitably misogynist driver swap, James also fails to lose the Peugeots on tarmac, taking to the turf instead.
Far from the flashiest chase in Bond history, the excellent camera and car choreography work in tandem here to create one of the more believable escape scenes during the slightly slapstick Roger Moore era. The famously indestructible reputation of the 504 means you’ll need at least £5k-£7k to get a decent example of one of these saloons today.
Maserati Biturbo – Licence to Kill
This one doesn’t even technically count as a ‘car’ chase as our titular hero – played by Timothy Dalton in the 1989 film Licence to Kill – begins the scene hanging from a plane. Bond then proceeds to dive onto the top of a fuel tanker, before taking the wheel of said big rig.
All the while the convoy, of which this truck is a part, is flanked by South American drug kingpin Franz Sanchez in a suitably menacing Maserati Biturbo 425i. Sanchez, played by Robert Davi, proceeds to pepper Bond’s truck with lead from his micro Uzi 9mm, as the driver of his Maserati has no trouble catching up and overtaking. With one simple instruction ‘rapido’ the Maser hares off down the route ahead, providing more waiting henchman with rocket launchers from its boot, before bugging out with a suitable squeal from its tortured rear rubber.
Although more of a guest appearance, the welcome sight of this suitably mean Maser is to be applauded in a franchise that tends to favour home-grown machinery. If you want to replicate the late-1980s drug lord vibe, you’ll need at least £10k-£13k for a contemporary Biturbo.
Ford Cortina MkIV – The Spy Who Loved Me
If you’re a fan of seeing family machines on the silver screen then the Bond franchise often delivers. One such occasion was when a Ford Cortina (Taunus to our foreign friends) prominently starred in the 1977 Bond outing The Spy Who Loved Me. For much of its production life, the Cortina was simply street furniture which, ironically, allows the black MkIV in this encounter to stand out.
Full of henchmen, including Jaws, this four-up family Ford somehow manages to keep pace with Bond’s Esprit S1. After taking pot shots at our hero and his heroin passenger, Bond manages to befuddle the Ford’s driver with an oil spray from concealed cannons behind the rear licence plate. The Cortina then careens over a cliff and yet Jaws, somehow, survives…
A little less known as an antagonist chariot among Bond fans, and made in vast numbers (600k MkIVs), this Cortina hasn’t seen a stellar rise in value, which means you can bag one – and satisfy your Bond villain fantasies at the same time – for just £7k-£10k.
Got a favourite bond car we missed? Or did we just help you find your next baddie ride? Drop your thoughts, tips, or villainous picks in the comments below!
