No Time To Buy: We reveal which film characters could ACTUALLY afford their car – and Bond’s got some saving to do

The Aston Martin DB5 has become one of the most covetable and recognisable cars in the world, thanks to fictional agent James Bond.

But it turns out Bond wouldn’t be able to afford his DB5 –  in fact he’d be saving for several lifetimes in order to buy his ‘company car’, new figures show.

AA Car Finance has found out how long notorious on-screen characters would have to save to afford some of their most famous wheels.

Unfortunately 007 doesn’t fare as well financially as other legendary characters such as Bruce Wayne and the Italian Job’s Charlie Croker, with an MI6 income paling in comparison to Batman’s billions and Croker’s stolen cash.

It would take 007 almost 250 years on his £125,000 MI6 salary to have enough savings in the bank to buy the Aston Martin DB5 he drives in No Time To Die.

To work out each fictional character’s car spending, AA Car Finance experts suggest motorists spend between 10 per cent and 15 per cent of their net income on a car.  

If people are on average left with 69 per cent of their gross salary after tax and national insurance contributions, then a person spending 15 per cent of their net income would pay 9 per cent of their gross income on a car.

Based on paying 9 per cent of his income, if Bond was getting the average 00 secret agent MI6 estimated salary of £100,000 to £150,000 a year, he’d need to save for 244 years to buy the £2.75 million DB5 from No Time To Die.

Batman fans though will be relieved to find that billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne – aka Batman – would fare much better than Bond. 

Bruce would only need to use 11 days of interest on his £7bn fortune to pay for a new Batmobile, which would set him back a cool £7m million. 

The classic Barbie – played by Margot Robbie in the 2023 smash hit Barbie movie – drives a pink C1 Corvette likely to cost her £89,429.

If Barbie didn’t party, and instead sensibly saved 9 per cent a year from the average US women’s salary of £37,742, it would take the plastic sensation 26 years to buy her Corvette.

Other famous characters joining the savings car club include Doc Brown and Frank Bullitt.

Doc Brown’s DeLorean DMC-12 from Back To The Future is one of the most recognisable Hollywood vehicles. Back in 1985 it would have set Doc back around £19,725.

It’s impossible to know how much money the Libyans paid him to create a nuclear weapon, but even assuming that he earns £38,820 a year from either a university lecturing role or from selling on his inventions, it still would only take five years to afford the futuristic-looking vehicle.

The cinematic all-time great car chase accolade has to go to Steve McQueen’s Mustang scene in Bullitt. Frank Bullitt tore through the streets of San Francisco in his 1968 Ford Mustang GT 390 Fastback.

Yet it would take Mr Bullitt a more sedate three (2.9) years to save for his baddie-evading ride.

The A Team – a group of ex-Army Special Forces Vietnam vets – can combine their salaries, making it much faster to save for their GMC Vandura.

Hannibal (John ‘Hannibal’ Smith) may have earned $60,000- $100,000 per year for military advising and consulting, while Face (Templeton Peck) could have pulled in around $50,000- $80,000 as a skilled con man and scrounger.

Add tough guy B.A. Baracus’s likely mechanic salary of $40,000 – $70,000 and Murdock’s (H.M. Murdock) stunt performing pilot income of around $50,000 to $90,000, and the A-Team’s predicted annual combined income would range somewhere between $200,000 – $340,000 in the ’80s.

If the squad saved for 1.5 years, that Vandura would be owned outright.

For some characters, purchasing their vehicle is a piece of cake.

Charlie Croker from the classic 1969 film The Italian Job is estimated to earn £1.6 million from the gold heist he plans, which makes short work of affording three 1967 Austin Mini Cooper 1275 S costing £777 each. Charlie would need just four hours to pay for the Mini Cooper.

Even the Ghostbusters from the original 1984 film shouldn’t have any trouble buying Ecto-1 – a second-hand 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor limo that would only have cost them £3,383.

Based on the $5,000 fee they quote in the film, and assuming that they’re kept busy for a whole year, the team could earn £225,564 between them. 61 days isn’t long to wait for the three parapsychologists.

In contrast, the average UK motorist earning the national average salary of £34,963 would need to save for just under five years to afford a second-hand Nissan Qashqai costing £15,077 – one of the UK’s most popular cars.