Cheap Thrills
Cheap Thrills
Rob Hartman
Cheap Thrills is the podcast for people who love cars but don’t like spending money. From bargain performance cars and future classics to market place scams, bad-buys and brilliant sleepers. We hunt down the most fun you can have on four wheels for the least cash. If it’s a cheap, questionable, underrated or probably a bad idea.. it belongs here. 
The Mazda MX-5: Hairdresser’s Car? Or the Best Cheap Car Ever Made?
Send us Fan Mail 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 ...
Apr 20
9 min
Ring Run #4: We Fixed The RCZ, Then It Broke.
Send us Fan Mail 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 af...
Apr 13
8 min
They Turned Up in a Van… and Tried to Rob Me: Buyer Beware
Send us Fan Mail 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, ...
Apr 7
9 min
Porsche Boxster: The Porsche Everyone Got Wrong… Better Than a 911?
Send us Fan Mail 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 FiestaWhat the Boxster actually shares with the Porsche 911Why it might be better to drive on real British B-roadsAnd whether it quietly embarrasses cars like the Mazda MX-5 and BMW Z4This...
Mar 29
7 min
Ring Run #3: My £1,600 Nürburgring Car Is Already Leaking Oil
Send us Fan Mail 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 whee...
Mar 16
7 min
Buyer Beware - The 10 Biggest Car Scams in Britain Right Now
Send us Fan Mail 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.
Mar 9
9 min
Carpark Confessions - The Polite and the Furious
Send us Fan Mail 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 th...
Mar 4
7 min
Buyer Beware - I Clicked The DVLA Refund Email.
Send us Fan Mail 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.
Feb 23
5 min
The Ring Run #2: 4 Warning Lights and a Bulldog Sticker
Send us Fan Mail 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, ...
Feb 16
10 min
Carpark Confessions - Everyone At a Car Meet Is Like This.
Send us Fan Mail 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 tha...
Feb 9
4 min
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