10 Cool Used French Cars For Under £10,000

France has always been very good at building some very specific types of car. Small, simple hatchbacks are its pain et beurre, and it’s always been very handy at turning them into feisty hot hatches too. At the other end of the scale, big, often weird but oddly appealing luxury cars have always rolled out of the factories of France too.

With such a rich history of enticing and often strange vehicles, we’ve narrowed it down to 10 French cars you can pick up used for under £10,000 these days.

Peugeot 406 Coupe

Hailing from the days when stylish coupes were not only commonplace among manufacturers’ lineups but reasonably obtainable, the Peugeot 406 Coupe might be the best of the lot.

Yes, it was based on a fairly humdrum front-wheel drive saloon, but it did have some proper suspension changes, and was available with a meaty V6 engine. Best of all, though, was that handsome Pininfarina-styled body. All of this loveliness can be yours for as little as £3000, with V6 examples barely commanding any more.

Renault Megane F1 Team R26

For years, hot versions of the Renault Megane were the darlings of car magazines across Europe, and it was the R26 that helped establish that reputation. If you can get around the big-bummed styling of the second-gen Megane and the R26’s (thankfully optional) stickers, you have a car that built on the promising Megane Trophy with a modest power boost to 227bhp and, crucially, a limited-slip diff on the front axle.

The R26 also spawned the legendary stripped-out R26.R, and while they’re now silly money, the ‘regular’ R26 will be nearly as much fun. Decent examples start at around £5000.

Citroen C6

Whether it was the original DS, the CX or the XM, Citroen spent decades churning out big, soft and slightly odd executive saloons. The C6 was its noughties entry to this market, providing a delightfully left-field alternative to the 5 Series, A6 and E-Class of the day.

It had Citroen’s legendarily comfy hydropneumatic suspension, and the usual bits of esoteric design, like that concave rear windscreen. You can find examples with both four-pot and V6 diesel engines for as little as £2500. The one you really want for maximum waft is the 3.0-litre petrol V6, but good luck finding one in the UK.

Citroen DS3 Racing

Before DS became its own slightly confusing sub-brand, slightly posher, more design-oriented Citroens brought back the name in the early 2010s. The original and by far the best remembered was the DS3 supermini, which gained its own rare hot hatch version in 2010.

Dubbed the Racing and developed by Citroen’s then-dominant World Rally Team, it paired a grunty little 1.6-litre, 204bhp turbo four-pot with some welcome chassis tweaks and a couple of fairly in-yer-face colour schemes. Since only around 200 came to the UK, they’re tricky to come by and prices can vary massively depending on condition, but at the time of writing, there’s one listed at £8250.

Peugeot 205 XS

We know what you’re thinking, and yes, you can just about still get a 205 GTi for under £10,000. But any at that price are likely to be ongoing projects these days. Thankfully, there are other, cheaper ways of having fun in a 205.

Take the XS, an example of the type of car later referred to as a ‘warm hatch’. It had a throaty little twin-carb 1.4-litre engine making 79bhp, which was more than enough for entertainment in a car that weighed only 820kg, especially when paired with the brilliant chassis that all 205s enjoyed. Again, rarity might be a hurdle here, but if you can track one down, there’s a good chance it’ll be for four figures.

Image: Calreyn88, CC BY-SA 4.0

Renault Clio 172

France invented the hot hatch with the Simca 1100 Ti, so it’s no wonder the nation got rather good at them over the years. The Renaultsport versions of the second-gen Renault Clio are some of the finest examples of the recipe – big engine (in this case, a nat-asp 2.0-litre four-banger), low weight, and finely-honed chassis.

There were plenty of derivatives, including the sensational Cup and Trophy versions, but we’re fairly smitten with the original ‘Phase 1’ 172, with its extremely ’90s pre-facelift front end. Budget around £5000 for a tidy one, and go absolutely everywhere on three wheels and with a huge, dopey grin on your face.

Renault Twingo

The UK was cruelly denied one of the best bits of small car design ever, the almost unbearably cute first-generation Renault Twingo. It was such a cult hit, though, that an increasing number are being shipped across the channel to be used as zippy runabouts in Britain.

You won’t get a lot of performance, but you will get a light, chuckable chassis, a deceptively roomy and highly modular interior, and a face that you just can’t say no to. You could go to the effort of sourcing one from mainland Europe’s plentiful supply and importing it yourself, but if you want to wait for one that someone else has done all the boring paperwork on, you shouldn’t need more than a few grand.

Peugeot RCZ

The 2000s were not a brilliant time for Peugeot, but right at the end of the decade, it redeemed itself with the RCZ coupe. It may have been based on humble 308 underpinnings, but it was clothed in a very pretty body topped off by that distinctive double-bubble roof.

The suspension was fettled too for a decent driving experience, and it came with a 1.6-litre turbo four-pot with various outputs, or even a 2.0-litre diesel. Prices start at a couple of grand and run up to and beyond our £10k budget where, if you’re really lucky, you might find one of the mega-rare 266bhp R models – easily the best of the bunch.

Renault Avantime

We’re not sure what the croissants in Renault’s canteen were being laced with at the turn of the century, but whatever it was made the company come up with the Avantime, a practical people carrier that was also a two-door grand touring coupe.

The combination of nicheness, largeness and Frenchness made the Avantime a total flop in the UK, with only around 450 sold over three years. As is so often the case with these things, it’s now a cult classic. If you can track one down, it’ll probably be well in budget, even if it’s one of the lusty V6 versions.

Peugeot 208 GTi by Peugeot Sport

If the RCZ was a hint at a return to form for Peugeot, then the 208 GTi confirmed it, and the more hardcore Peugeot Sport version solidified it. With a punchy 205bhp 1.6-litre turbo mill, low weight, and a properly focused chassis, it was one of the last small, chuckable hot hatches to come out of France. As a result, it feels like a sure-fire future classic.

For now, though, it’s just a used, 10-year-old Peugeot, and is therefore temptingly cheap. There aren’t a huge amount of them around, but the ones that are for sale start at around £6000, and £10k will get you a really lovely example. Hopefully, you can find one without the slightly garish two-tone paint scheme.