Ronaldo’s cars: the ultimate guide

Over the past 12 months Cristiano Ronaldo has been appearing on Auto Trader almost as often as he’s appeared on Sky Sports News thanks to one car event after another.

With Ronaldo looking like leaving Old Trafford, we couldn’t resist giving you the lowdown on the World Player of the Year’s colourful car history.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s cars

When Ronaldo was a little-known teenager at Sporting Lisbon, he travelled to and from training in a Seat Ibiza. But when Sir Alex Ferguson forked out £12.6 million on the 18-year-old in 2003, his cars went from superminis to supercars – in turn putting a smile on the face of Cheshire’s luxury car dealers.

He’s been spotted behind the wheel of:

• Audi R8
• Porsche 911
• BMW M6
• Two Porsche Cayenne Turbos
• Bentley Continental GTC

His current method of transport is a Bentley Continental GT Speed, although we imagine he’d rather be behind the wheel of his Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano, but in January the Fezza was involved in an incident in a Manchester tunnel.

That crash

On January 8 Ronaldo was driving to training in his flash Ferrari 599 unbeknown he was about to cause the BREAKING NEWS bar to light up on Sky News.

According to the Press Association, Ronaldo was driving on the A538 which takes traffic under the Manchester Airport runways between Wilmslow and Hale when his red Ferrari struck a metal hand-rail which guards an emergency exit door in the tunnel.

Skid marks were clearly visible at the scene of the crash and one of the wheels came off. As a result the road was temporarily closed.

Racing a Bugatti Veyron

Ronaldo has appeared in various adverts for Nike, showing off his silky skills against fellow professionals but in January 2008 he went up against his biggest challenge yet – the Bugatti Veyron.

The Man United ace, who raced the £850,000 hypercar to display his new football boots, was reportedly so impressed with the Veyron that he put his name down on the waiting list for the 253mph supercar. However, Bugatti won’t comment on personal customers so we’ll have to wait and see if he has bought one.

£80 million in numbers

Real Madrid has offered Man United a world record £80m for Ronaldo. This is what it could have bought in the automotive world:

• An £850,000 Bugatti Veyron for each of the 92 football clubs in the top four English leagues
• A Chevrolet Matiz for the 18,600 Wigan Athletic fans who attend Latics games on average if they trade in their old bangers under the scrappage scheme
• A grid of F1 cars
• 3,200 of the 4,000 Ford Focus RS which are coming to the UK
• All of the 7,400 Ford Fiestas bought in May
• A 13.5% stake in Opel/Vauxhall
• Or if you make Mike Ashley the right offer, Newcastle United

What next for Ron?

While the deal isn’t done and dusted, Man United released the following statement:

‘At the request of Cristiano - who has again expressed his desire to leave - and after discussion with the player's representatives, United have agreed to give Real Madrid permission to talk to the player.’

As part of the deal it’s expected Ronaldo’s agent, Jorge Mendes, will get something in the region of 10 per cent (£8 million) while the Portuguese star will get a handsome signing-on fee as well as a bumper wage packet in excess of £150,000-a-week.

We reckon Ronaldo will be flogging his UK-based right-hand drive motors on Auto Trader over the next few months so he’ll need something to park on the drive of his flash new Madrid pad. 

Here’s what we think he should look at buying:

Bentley Continental Supersports

Debuting at this year’s Geneva Motor Show, the Continental Supersports is the fastest ever Bentley. And it’s green, sort of.

Capable of running on biofuel, the Conti Super will accelerate from 0-62mph in 3.7 seconds and hit 204mph. Ronaldo has owned a GTC and a GTC Speed so we think it would be nostalgic for the Portuguese star to get his hands on the ultimate performance Bentley.  It goes on sale in Autumn with the price-tag yet to be announced.

GTA Spano

With the Bentley reminding Ronaldo of his six-year stint in the Premier League, the Spanish GTA could point to his next six years in Madrid. The Spano is a 780bhp hypercar which will accelerate from 0-62mph in less than 3 seconds before hitting a top speed of 217mph.

Ronaldo likes to look different and with the Spano’s production limited to 99, this might well be the performance car for him.

Audi Q7 V12

As with Man United, Audi sponsors Real Madrid so the car maker would love to see Ronaldo driving one of its cars. In the past he’s had an R8 so we don’t think he’d want another one – even with the new V10 engine.

So it leaves him with one model – the obscenely powerful Q7 V12 SUV. Powered by a 6-litre V12 engine, the £94,000 Q7 will rocket from 0-62mph in 4.9 seconds. That should be quick enough for him to get away from the Spanish paparazzo.

Seat Bocanegra

After Ronaldo’s Ferrari crash, The AA said it couldn’t find anyone who would insure the footballer.

Even though he’ll have enough money to fill a king size bed with fifties and sleep on it, it doesn’t mean he’ll pay any price for car insurance. As a result he may be on the lookout for something a bit cheaper which also boasts a bit of get-up-and-go. We think the Bocanegra hot hatch will be ideal.

Based on the Ibiza, the Bocanegra made its debut at last month’s Barcelona Motor Show and looks pretty damn cool. With 180bhp it should also be fairly nippy too, capable of 0-62mph in 7 seconds and a top speed of 140mph.