It would cost you more than £5million a year to drive Doc Brown’s iconic DeLorean from “Back to the Future”, according to experts. Stuart Masson, editor of car advice website The Car Expert, has investigated the real-world costs, admin and paperwork needed to get the top 10 best-loved on-screen cars road-ready.
But it’s not just a high financial cost, as it also emerged it will need 45 days spent on road-related admin – from signing contracts and NDAs, and filling in government paperwork at MI6, to contracting lawyers. Meanwhile, James Bond’s Lotus Esprit, which featured in “The Spy Who Loved Me”, would have running costs of £370,000 a year – including recruiting specialist engineers from MI6 to maintain the vehicle – as well as 30 days of mundane admin to make it operate underwater.
A spokesman for SIXT+, which carried out the research and partnered with Stuart Masson, said: “It may be fun to daydream about owning one of these amazing vehicles, but the real-world strain would probably see the novelty wear off quite quickly. Who’s got the time to hire nuclear scientists or MI6 mechanics to make sure you don’t blow up?”
The top admin tasks sitting on drivers’ “to-do” lists include arranging their car’s MOT or service, renewing its insurance, or arranging a visit to the car workshop. And among their excuses for procrastination include finding these chores boring to complete, struggling to find the time – and simply not being able to face dealing with it.