Ranking: 20
Year of release: 1981.
The car: Citroen 2CV.
Why it’s special: It’s great fun to see 007 reduced to escaping in such a lame old sh*tbox after his Esprit explodes. The 2CV mysteriously does a sterling job of keeping two pursuing Peugeot 504s at bay in a chase involving switchback roads through steep-sloping olive groves.
Best bit: The Citroen gets tipped on its side during the chase, but a bus keeps the baddies at bay while Bond gets the car pushed back onto its wheels and then swaps into the driver’s seat for further wheelwork, in which he holds off his pursuers while in reverse, charges down a hillside and manages to punt one of the Peugeots into the top branches of an olive tree.
Pub fact: Maybe the 2CV’s performance is less surprising when you know they junked the two-pot engine in favour of a four-cylinder boxer from a GS.
Plot overview: After a British spy ship is sunk, its top secret encryption device used to launch the Polaris missile is found to be missing. If it has fallen into enemy hands the results could be catastrophic. So 007 is sent to investigate and his snooping leads him to Greece.
For: ‘I love a drive in the country. Don’t you?’
Against: ‘I think you’re wonderful, Bibi… but your uncle wouldn’t approve.’ (Nor would the police, 007).
CAR verdict: Vintagely cheesy Roger Moore, but one of the most epically funny chases.
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