Cheap Thrills

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Everyone knows the Mazda MX-5. 

Small. Cute. “Hairdresser’s car.”

But where did that reputation come from… and is it completely wrong?

In this episode of Cheap Thrills, we dig into one of the most misunderstood cars ever made.

From the Clarkson-era stigma to the reality of what it’s actually like to drive, and ultimately.. why if you haven’t driven one properly roof down, revved out and on a great road, then you might not fully understand what makes the car fun.

🎙 Cheap cars. Big opinions. No snobbery.

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We thought we’d fixed it.

After everything, the oil leak, the stress, the near disaster, the RCZ was finally right.

So we took it to Dartmoor National Park to prove it. And for a while… it was perfect.

Clean. Smooth. Effortless. The kind of drive that makes you believe you’ve turned a corner.

So we stopped.

A rainbow behind the car.
One of those rare moments where everything just feels… right.

Then it changed.

Stranded again with a car that had just decided it wasn’t fixed after all.

What followed was a roadside repair that shouldn’t have worked… but somehow did.

And just when we thought we’d regained control…

A Honda Jazz appeared out of nowhere, driven like it was qualifying for Le Mans—and completely stole the moment.

The RCZ lives.

For now.

Next stop: the Nürburgring.

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BUYER BEWARE is the series where we expose the scams, tricks and tactics nobody tells you about when buying or selling cars.

This episode?

They don’t message.
They don’t email.

👉 They turn up.

In this episode of Cheap Thrills, I break down the in-person buyer scams that can cost you thousands  from coordinated callers, to groups arriving on your driveway, to the psychological tricks that make a perfectly good car suddenly sound broken.

If you’re selling a car privately, this is the stuff that catches people out.

👉 Multiple buyers, one agenda
👉 The “inspection” designed to shake your confidence
👉 Fake faults, real pressure
👉 And how a £3,000 car becomes a £1,200 “deal”

It’s funny… until it’s your car.

 Follow Cheap Thrills for:

• More Buyer Beware episodes
• Marketplace scams & survival tips
• And the ongoing attempt to take a £1,600 Peugeot RCZ to the Nürburgring…

…which is either brave…

…or completely stupid.

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Everyone says the Porsche Boxster is the poor man’s 911… but I think it might actually be better.

In this episode of Car Park Confessions, we take a brutally honest (and slightly unhinged) look at one of the most underrated sports cars ever made.

• How you can buy a Porsche for the price of a Fiesta
• What the Boxster actually shares with the Porsche 911
• Why it might be better to drive on real British B-roads
• And whether it quietly embarrasses cars like the Mazda MX-5 and BMW Z4

This isn’t about badge snobbery…
It’s about whether the “cheap” Porsche is actually the smartest one.

Because once you drive one properly…
you start to realise…

this might be the Porsche everyone got wrong.

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The £1,600 Peugeot RCZ Nürburgring project hits its first real crisis.

What starts as a simple warning light quickly turns into a dashboard Christmas tree with faults ranging from turbo pressure issues and camshaft timing errors to a completely unrelated driver’s door control panel that has apparently decided it’s also involved.

After clearing the codes and enjoying a few weeks of false confidence, the car suddenly throws itself into limp mode thanks to a front wheel speed sensor fault, taking ABS and traction control with it.

But the real problem appears when the car goes on the lift.

Fresh oil.

And lots of it.

The culprit looks like a rear main seal leak - one of the most awkward and expensive repairs on the engine, potentially costing half the value of the car.

So now the Ring Run faces its first real dilemma.

Do you spend £800 fixing a £1,600 car…
or gamble and drive it across Europe anyway?

Because the last thing anyone wants is to drive all the way to Germany…

only to spill oil all over the Nürburgring.

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In this episode of Cheap Thrills, Rob breaks down the 10 biggest car scams happening in Britain right now- from Facebook Marketplace deposit traps to cloned cars and ghost traders.

If you’ve ever seen a car that looks too cheap to be true… this episode might save you thousands of pounds.

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The Polite and the Furious

We don’t shout.
We don’t beep.
We don’t confront.

We just sit there… politely furious.

This week on Carpark Confessions, we’re heading to the most emotionally unstable square of tarmac in Britain - the petrol station forecourt.

Six pumps.
One queue.
Zero logic.

We talk about the cars spilling into the road because nobody wants to “go round.”
Fuel FOMO triggered by a Facebook post from someone’s uncle.
The national fear of the long reach hose.
And the quiet judgement inside the shop when someone just wants ten Lambert & Butler and a paper.

It’s not road rage.
It’s queue rage.

This is about ego, etiquette, and the silent war of Pump 3.

Because in Britain, we don’t lose our temper.

We just grip the steering wheel a little tighter… and wait.

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You get an email from the DVLA saying you’re owed £47.81.

It looks official. It feels boring. And that’s exactly why it works.

In this Buyer Beware episode, we break down how the DVLA tax phishing scam works, who it really targets, and how to protect yourself in five simple steps.

If you own a car in the UK, this one’s for you.

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It had zero miles of fuel.

Four warning lights.

A parking sensor that wouldn’t shut up.

A clutch with anger issues.

And, for reasons still unclear, a bulldog sticker on the back window.

This episode is the real first test — not the Nürburgring… just getting it home.

No cinematic reveal. No dramatic music.

Just me, an empty fuel tank, a dashboard that looks like a Christmas tree, and the growing suspicion that I may have made a mistake.

Cheap Thrills is about real cars, real money, and real risk.

And this drive? This is where the story actually starts.

Will it make it to Germany?

At this point… I’m not even sure it’ll make it past Tesco.

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Every car meet has that guy.

The one whose car is “nearly finished.”
The wheels are temporary.
The bumper’s coming off again.
The map is booked.
Always next week.

In this episode of Cheap Thrills, we break down the unspoken rules of car meets, from anoraks who know more about your car than you do, to wannabe Clarksons, over-enthusiastic car bloggers, and the sudden appearance of the police that ends all fun.

It’s a survival guide for talking to car people without becoming that guy yourself.

Cheap cars. Free opinions. Absolutely nothing finished.