THE Top Gear team are well known for doing very silly and very entertaining things, usually including wanton destruction and lots of shouting.

Occasionally though, they will do their job. As they did the other day when addressing the issue of what you could pick up second-hand for the price of a Nissan Pixo, the cheapest car on sale in the UK today, retailing at a miserly £6,995.

This is UsedCarExpert territory. As Clarkson and Co were making their show they went with a couple of maximum impact cars, namely a classic BMW 850 and a ten year old Merc CL600.

But we know that you can do much, much better and we've had an enjoyable trawl through our pages to prove it.

Firstly, and this is crucial, don't spend all the money you have on the car. If you are going to buy something silly then put a couple of grand away for maintenance.

Secondly, don't buy a car that will write itself off with one or (most likely) two big failures (like a CL600) and thirdly, don't assume you have to take a risk - modern machinery is available for that money as well, and it's far from dull.

Just look at the first of these three options below.

This car is a real wolf in sheep's clothing. The mighty 3.0-litre in-line-six delivers 245bhp and powers this subtle saloon to 60mph in six seconds dead. True, you'll get less than 25mpg in town but the Subaru is unlikely to cost you much to maintain as most of the depreciation has already taken place and they are famously bullet proof. Also if you can pick up an early, pre 2006 model you avoid the big tax hike that hits later cars.

We found a 2004, 54 plate car with 74,000 miles on the clock and a full service history for £5,490.

Not quite as mad as it sounds. Later XJs are pretty reliable and, as long as you can get one cheap enough to set a bit aside for repairs you can get a proper gentleman's express for half the price of a Pixo. Buy carefully and don't settle for less than a full service history.

A 61,000 mile, gold XJ with a full service history can be had for £3,390 - you can either be Terry Thomas or Phil Mitchell, it's up to you.

If you want a full-size luxury car that won't be an utter nightmare to run but will be fast, quiet, reliable and won't lose much in depreciation then get a 7 series. Built for interstellar mileage the 7 series cost insane money new and really is the ultimate second-hand car. The big V8 will eat fuel but it's very strong. If you take depreciation into account and combine that with cheap specialist servicing the 7 is actually a very sensible car. Honest¦

 A 75,000 mile 735i in ‘retired dentist' maroon with a full service history can be picked up for £3,500