What Car Would Karl Pilkington Drive?

Karl Pilkington is a very private man, so when the team got together to create this blog post on one of our favourite comedians, we started to brainstorm and research. This man is a recluse. He is rarely seen and snapped by paparazzi, and his car collection seems to be non-existent. So, after a lot of consideration and some strong arguments for creating a blog post on Pilkington, here you are - What Car Would Karl Pilkington Drive - by the Carmoola team.

Karl Pilkington is a presenter, comedian and author. He presented the Sky travel comedy series An Idiot Abroad and the Sky 1 travel comedy series The Moaning of Life. He is best mates with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, creators of The Office, and creates a lot of their content in partnership with them.

Karl Pilkington's Rise To Fame

As mentioned above, Karl has always been friends with Ricky - and featured in his podcast show - The Ricky Gervais Show. He was often mentioned by Gervais, and the majority of his fame stemmed from his relationship with Ricky and Stephen Merchant.

Karl Pilkington & Cars

Karl documented his journey touring the UK’s car parks in a 1970s caravan for his book promotion in 2012. The book was following on from his hit seller ‘An Idiot Abroad’ that stayed as number 1 hit seller for over 3 months after release. 

Something else he mentions is his relationship with cars. He stated that he is an average driver; “I drive a car, like an adult. Not brilliantly. I'm not great.” In our experience with drivers, if someone tells you they aren’t good, they usually aren’t, we will keep that in mind when it comes to picking the perfect car for him 🚗

Another car he has been spotted in was the taxi in sitcom ‘Sick of It’. He was worried that people might find the comedy more ‘sad than funny’, but what we are worried about most is getting into Karl’s taxi in the first place! In the series, Karl plays an out-of-luck taxi driver, who meets ‘Inner Self’ - the grouchy voice inside Karl’s head. We would recommend giving it a watch, in parts it is hilarious. 

Aspects of Karl's Personality 

We thought that the best way to split up finding Karl’s dream car would be to split up aspects of his character and merge them together to create the perfect match for him.

Creativity

Yes, we know that this car was on our Ricky Gervais list as well, but we truly believe it is one of the most creative cars on the market at the moment. You guessed it, its the BMW Gina Light Visionary Model. Just like Gervais, Pilkington has revolutionised the industry with a new style that not many have mastered. The Gina Visionary is exactly the same, there are very few cars out there with the same levels of innovation.

Intelligence

Although Pilkington comes across as ‘An Idiot Abroad’, the way he hooks people in with his content is nothing short of genius, and for us, when it comes to intelligent cars, we can’t look past the Tesla. From it’s self driving features (Karl might need this after watching Sick of It) 😂, to the amazing battery, Tesla are in their own bracket when it comes to automobiles.

International Man

You didn’t think we wouldn’t mention Karl’s trip abroad in his car choice did you? Yes it’s boring, but the only way we could think of measuring this is by finding the most popular car internationally. That car is….the Toyota Corolla. Not the most exciting car we have ever had on the celebrity cars blog, however, still important on the mission to find Karl Pilkington’s dream car.

Unique

We don’t think there is a character, personality or celebrity quite like Karl Pilkington. I mean his take on life is just hilarious, and going back to his XFM days with Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais, they thought exactly the same thing. So how do we relate this to cars? For me it has to be the DeLorean DMC-12. Yes, the car from Back to the Future. The car has never hid from the limelight, appearing in the films, and on Keith Lemon’s Lemonaid, so we could see Karl Pilkington doing a tour of the UK’s car parks in a Delorean next time. Let us know what you think down in the comment box below!

Comedy

For the comedy aspect, we are going for another spaceship-like car, the Ferrari 512S Modulo. It’s not often that you mention Ferrari in a negative manner, but this design was truly hideous. And back in the 70s it ‘landed’ somewhat well, but we have a good idea what people would have to say about the design nowadays.

Karl Pilkington's Dream Car

Now is the time to round up the blog post, what car would Karl Pilkington drive, if he was ever spotted out and about? 

A Robin Reliant. 

Yes, you read that right. The small three wheeled car that Jeremy Clarkson flipped on live TV. Possibly one of the funniest moments in motoring history, and one of the main reasons why we decided this is why Karl Pilkington should drive this car 😂

Karl is a comedian, and the Reliant definitely shows that aspect of him, and if you think there is a car better suited to Karl Pilkington, as always make sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section below.