Must-try, French-bred heroes | Six of the Best
Pastries, cheese, trains, wine, nuclear power, viaducts - the French are good at lots of things. Fast cars, too...
Peugeot 106 Rallye, 1995, 70k, £15,000
When you think about France, cars are not necessarily the first thing that springs to mind. Which is curious given its implacable place in automotive history and its splendid knack for doing things its own way. Appropriately for a nation that effectively invented front-wheel drive, the one thing it has excelled at is the flighty, featherweight hot hatch. Its back catalogue in an admittedly niche segment knows no serious rival, and is typified by cars like the homologated Peugeot 106 Rallye. Tiny, rev-happy 100hp engine, tiny 825kg kerbweight, big character. This one looks terrific in seldom-seen black and has covered less than 70k. Pricey, mind. But there are very few left in this kind of condition. C’est la vie.
Citroen AX GT, 1988, 77k, £10,000
Anyone with an especially good memory might recall that we actually spotted this AX GT for sale a couple of years ago - the fact that it remains with the same dealer suggests that the response has not been overwhelming. Nevertheless, the GT is a prime example of what we’re talking about: it has even less power than the Peugeot, was built with the kind of laissez-faire approach that makes a baked bean tin seem solid and was remarkably easy to put in a ditch. It was considered rudimentary in its day; in 2025, it is the mechanical equivalent of going wild swimming in your birthday suit. Which is to say freeing and enlivening. Also, it’s up for three grand less than last time around. Funny that.
Renaultsport Clio 182 Trophy, 2006, 37k, PH Auction
From pauper to prince. The Clio 182 Trophy needs no introduction here - not on a website that has previously voted it hot hatch of the century. In the pantheon of front-drive greats, it occupies a hallowed spot (alongside several other Renaultsport models). Of those left, the one up for auction this week easily ranks among the very best, not just because it’s unmodified and has only covered 37k in 20 years, but because it’s the very last of the 500 produced and was originally gifted to its first owner in a Renault-organised raffle. For appreciators of provenance, it is a fantastic hook. For anyone going to Bicester Scramble this weekend, there's a chance to ogle it for yourself: it’ll take pride of place on the PH stand. Mon dieu!
Alpine A110, 2022, 11k, £49,795
The brilliance of the A110 is now so long-standing that its critical (if not commercial) success almost seems like a fait accompli. But it was not: in fact, the idea that Renault would suddenly know how best to execute a mid-engined, rear-drive sports car from something like a standing start is preposterous. Unless you took into consideration Dieppe’s flair for handling nuance, of course, which shone through like a Tricolor searchlight. The result is unquestionably one of the few truly great cars of the last ten years and will be sorely missed. The GT, with its standard (and therefore wonderfully pliant) chassis and uprated 300hp output, is arguably the one to go for - especially in paint as eye-catching as Orange Feu Metallic.
Bugatti Veyron, 2007, 22k, £1,350,000
Granted, the Phoenix-like resurgence of Bugatti owes more to the Germanic strategising of the VW Group than homegrown trailblazing - but that doesn’t diminish the fact that for 25 years the world’s most famous (and quite often fastest) hypercars have been hand-built in Molsheim. Astonishing things they are, too: the Veyron was 20 years old last month, yet its raw statistics, most of them bewildering, remain a segment benchmark even today. It is partly for that reason that secondhand values, even for one as comparatively well used as this 22k-old, UK-supplied example, remain comfortably in the seven-figure range. There’s little reason to think they won’t remain that way for éternité.
Venturi 400 Trophy, 1993, 3k, £324,995
No supercar tome of the '90s was complete without mention of a Venturi. From a standing start in the mid-'80s, former Heuliez employees Gérard Godfroy and Claude Poiraud were soon attracting attention in supercar circles with their V6-powered, mid-engined coupes; the 400 GT of 1994 featured carbon ceramic brakes, too, years before they became part of the mainstream. Motorsport was always part of the Venturi plan, hence the frequent appearance of Venturis in global sportscar series back in the day as well as the Trophy single-make series that spawned this 400. It’s one of the last ones made, and notable as one of just 10 that were converted for road use - another modern trend that Venturi was years ahead of. While slightly less extreme than it once was, this Trophy promises a Francophile thrill like little else.
Maybe they are were all abused and hard to find a good one now?
Just dug out a photo of my old red one, wonder where that is now.
My choice from the list would probably still be the Rallye.
A good list, I love my AX (not a GT, more of a Forte tribute) for the simplicity and feel of it. I didn't realise they had the hedge finding reputation though, I have always found them to be very predictable in all guises.
Of the others, there's something about the Venturi that has a real draw, probably Gran Tourismo memories. Back in the real world of conceivable ownership though, I've always thought the 182 represented amazing value for the overall package you get.
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