Best French cars – all-time greats from Alpine to Bugatti
From hot hatches to sports cars, none do light weight, delicate and danceable quite like the French
While the French may have struggled to compete with other countries when it comes to luxo-barges or supremely focused supersaloons, it has a long history of being able to finely hone and massage a great drive from the seemingly mundane. There’s a reason for that clichéd French farmer howling along an N-road at the wheel of an underpowered shopping hatch, and that’s the ability of French manufacturers to create great driver’s cars from quite ordinary machinery.
We’ve long been fans of Renaultsport hatches and in the 205 GTI you could quite happily argue that Peugeot perfected the hot hatch over three decades ago. But while there’s a huge back catalogue of French performance machinery to choose from, the country’s manufacturers are lagging behind these days. Renaultsport is no more with Alpine in its place, while Peugeot Sport is on hiatus, at least on the road, with its troubled 9X8 hypercar continuing to fly the be-lioned flag at Le Mans.
There are still plenty to choose from though and there are signs of electrified life coming out of Dieppe – in the R5 Renault has created perhaps the most desirable electric car yet made. Here follows a selection of France’s best ever efforts – both old and new – from the new Renault 5 and the sublime Alpine A110 R, to the Peugeot 205 GTI and Renaultsport Clio Trophy.
Bugatti Chiron
Values from £3 million
It would be unfair to call the Chiron merely a development of the earlier Veyron, as it was vastly redeveloped, but conceptually speaking, it was effectively a refinement of the Veyron formula: enormous, world-shifting speed, wrapped up in startling styling and the kind of luxury that would make VW Group stablemate Bentley sweat.
Central to the Chiron, in so many interpretations of the word, was a revised version of the 8-litre quad-turbo W16 engine, now making 1479bhp and 1180lb ft of torque. Top speed? A limited - limited - 261mph, though an uncorked version of the special Chiron Super Sport topped 304mph in 2019, with Le Mans winner and long-time Bugatti test driver Andy Wallace at the wheel. That if nothing else will secure the Chiron a place in history, but the tech-packed car is also amazingly intuitive to drive at road-car speeds for something with so much potential.
Renault Clio 16v
Values from £4000
Perhaps unfairly overlooked in context of the Clio Williams it spawned, the Clio 16v was still one of the best hot hatchbacks of the 1990s in its own right. That’s why we gave it a chance to shine in the 1990s section of evo’s recent “eras” tests; it deserved its place in the limelight. Arriving shortly after the Clio itself launched in 1991, the 16v nabbed its 1.8-litre, 137bhp engine from the Renault 19 16v (itself an oft-overlooked Golf GTI-beater) and could spring to 62mph in 7.7 seconds.
With a bonnet scoop and a set of turbine-style alloys it looked the part too, and the interior got a fab three-spoke steering wheel and a set of hooded dials atop the dash denied to lesser Clios. Even prior to its Williams remake, the 16v had a tighter, more composed feel than the Peugeot 205 GTI, and while it’d happily pitch onto three wheels in a tight turn, it didn’t feel as edgy as contemporary Pugs. It remains great value today - one benefit of being ignored in favour of the Williams or those old Peugeots.
Peugeot 205 Rallye
Values from £15,000
Before the Peugeot 106 Rallye, there was the 205 Rallye. It was the 205 that lent the 106 its recipe, not least because, like the mid-90s lightweight special, the 205 Rallye was also homologated for rallying, fitting neatly into the sport’s 1.3-litre class thanks to a bored and stroked version of the 1.1-litre TU-series found in cooking 205s. Throw in a big cam and a couple of sizeable carbs and the little 1.3 made 102bhp at a growling 6800rpm.
As a small French hot hatch though, handling was the 205’s real domain. The underpinnings were mostly GTI, just with a lot less weight to carry, and skinny 165-section tyres for both abundant adjustability, and light steering that was dripping with feedback. It’s arguably the best 205 of an incredibly strong bunch, though these days you’ll need to cut down on the wine and cheese budget to put one on the drive, as their brilliance is no secret, and values are accordingly high…
Renault Twingo Sport 133
Values from £2500
The idea of taking the Renault Sport Clio formula and condensing it into a smaller, more affordable package seems like a fabulous one. And so it proved with the Twingo Renault Sport 133 when it debuted in 2008. The second-gen Twingo was built upon the second-gen Clio platform which gave us the 172 and 182, so the bones were good, and a raw, revvy 1.6-litre 131bhp engine provided the power.
It was a car that needed working hard, since the 1.6 didn’t have the torque of the Clio’s 2-litre engine, but few of its tiny, lightweight hot hatch rivals could touch it for fun - the Fiesta Zetec S, Swift Sport, Fiat Panda 100HP and Abarth 500 just didn’t have the focus that Renault seems to extract from its hot small cars. If you feel unease at how modern hot hatches are so big, powerful, and insulated, then the Twingo 133 is worth a look - it’s among the last that feel like they have a direct connection to the real 1980s featherweights.
Alpine A110 GT
Prices from £66,170
Operating on the Lotus principle of adding lightness, Alpine’s A110 has been a stunning success. Its styling brings evocative memories of Alpines from days gone by without in any way seeming like a retro pastiche, and while its 1.8-litre ‘four’ might seem like a less than glamorous power plant, just under 296bhp in the GT is plenty to be getting on with when you’ve only got around 1120kg to haul around.
Where the A110 GT really scores is with its chassis, retaining as it does the softer setup of a standard A110, yet it’s still a match for Porsche’s evergreen Cayman in its responses. The steering’s light yet accurate and has a crisp precision on turn-in, while the rear end is controlled and well balanced. The A110 GT has an uncanny ability to glide down a road and not be thrown off course by dips and ruts, although in extremis slightly more precision from the rear end wouldn’t go amiss. It’s not the roomiest of coupes, nor the fastest, but if you value driver satisfaction above all else, the A110 GT – or any A110 for that matter – is the car to have.
Renault 5
Prices from £22,995
It’s electric, we know. We know the problems with the electric cars – nearly all of them have them. But the Renault 5 is head and shoulders ahead of all of them in terms of one of the toughest battles of all – desirability. Inside and out, it’s a tour de force of French style.
Then you drive it, and realise it’s been properly engineered too. It’s relatively light, for an EV, it’s got the right amount of battery, for over 200 miles of real-world range and it has a personality of its own, but with the spirit of old Clios alive and well within it. You look at it and you drive it, and you see the price – from £22,995 – and you try to make sense of how much you want it.
No, it’s not a hot hatch. The A290 GTS, Alpine’s fettled, 217bhp faster version of the Renault 5, is charged with offering that. But by our findings, it’s a little lukewarm, with the style and appeal of the standard Renault 5 not built upon with the kind of exuberance you’d hope for the extra cash. And the Alpine is a great car, so that speaks enormously about just how appealing the Renault 5 is. La renaissance Française!
Peugeot 106 Rallye
Values from £8k
Compared to the Renault 5, the Peugeot 106 Rallye could be from another century. Well, it technically is, debuting as it did in the one before, over three decades ago, in 1994. A bonafide homologation special, the original 106 Rallye was conceived to inform the competition eligibility of a sub-1300cc rally car. Its raspy 1.3-litre engine featured high compression, a hot cam, a special intake and a redline of 7200rpm, for 100bhp. The later phase 2 car got a 3bhp bump but crucially, a 17lb ft jump in torque from its 1.6-litre motor – noticeable in an 865kg car.
Both are so typically French and so alien to what we’re used to today. Their kerb weights are closer to the battery packs of some of today’s EVs, than the kerb weight of say, a base Peugeot 208, which is commendably light by today’s standards being under 1200kg.
Their unassisted steering is the definition of a direct connection to the front wheels, quite the opposite to the steer-by-wire systems breaking cover today, that eliminate all physical links between pilot and pavement. They’re unrecognisably modest by comparison to the cars of today in almost every way – their (lack of) power, the space they take up on the road, their mass and their relative simplicity. And they are so fun as a direct result. You really have to drive a 106 Rallye to build, and maintain, reasonable pace. Then once you find a flow, they’re talkative and mobile. Cars of this type are surely never to come again.
Renault Clio V6
Values from £25,000
They say lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice, but that’s just silly. Not only is it demonstrably false with actual lightning, but it doesn’t even work as a metaphor. How else could you explain Renault sticking an engine in the back of one of its shopping cars not once, with the 5 Turbo, but twice, doing so with the Clio V6?
Arriving in 1999 in Trophy racing form, response to the concept convinced Renault to make a road-going version too, co-developed with TWR. With a tweaked V6 from the Laguna wedged between the rear seats and rear axle, a short wheelbase, wide track, and slow steering, it could be a real handful, but from 2003 the “phase 2” models, now developed and built in-house, were a better effort, and quicker too. It finished third in 2003’s eCoty, behind only a Porsche 911 GT3 and a Lamborghini Gallardo.
Peugeot 208 GTI
Values from £2000
Some time around the early 2000s, Peugeot suffered a bout of corporate amnesia and completely forgot how to make fun cars. The unloved 206 GTI soldiered on for a while but its mainstream passenger car range was growing porky, ugly, and worst of all, none drove with any real alacrity. 2009’s Peugeot RCZ suggested an improvement, but it took 2012’s 208 GTI, and 2014’s “30th anniversary by Peugeot Sport” to convince us the brand had really got its mojo back.
The regular GTI was good, if not quite as sparkling as the contemporary Ford Fiesta ST. But the “PS” was a riot, getting 205bhp, a Torsen diff from the also-excellent RCZ-R, Brembo brakes, and a firmer setup. Guided through Peugeot’s tiny button-like steering wheel of the era, it felt a bit like piloting a modern fast jet - dynamic instability giving it hyper-agility, reined in by technology such as ESP and the fancy diff. The “coupe franche” two-tone paintwork was a bit much, but Pug later repurposed the PS as a mainstream model, which was just as good and had a few more colour options.
Renault Clio Williams
Values from £10,000
The Renault Clio Williams is indisputably one of the all-time great hot hatchbacks. As fun and involving as a 205 GTI but friendlier on the limit, better made, and more comfortable, it actually made things tough for the Clio 172 that followed at the end of the decade, as the Williams was at the time still pretty fresh in our memories and set such high standards.
The Williams badging was just a branding exercise, as the car was developed by Renault Sport, making the talents of the hot Clios that followed no surprise at all in context. Think of the difference between the Clio 16v and the Williams a little like the jump from Clio 182 Cup to 182 Trophy - both great cars, but one just a little more great courtesy of some genial fine-tuning. In the Williams, that meant bits and pieces from the Clio Cup race cars, a touch more power, and one of the best colour schemes to find its way onto a hatchback. Great seats and steering wheel too, but it’s the fluid handling that’s the Williams’ true calling card.
Bugatti Veyron
Values from £1.2 million
France has a pretty good history of game-changers, and while the Bugatti Veryon has more than a little German in its mechanical makeup, there’s no denying that it too changed the game when it arrived in 2005. After a tortuous development schedule, under the slightly terrifying gaze of Ferdinand Piëch, it arrived as nothing less than the fastest car in the world. But while previously such a title might have made something a bit tricky to actually use (McLaren F1 aside), the Veyron was, at low speeds at least, as docile as a Golf.
The earliest Veyrons made more than 1000 metric horsepower and by using a special “speed key” to adjust the aerodynamics just-so, could be pushed to speeds of over 213mph, and as verified, up to 253mph. The 8-litre quad-turbo W16 - source of plenty of those development nightmares - has an almost otherworldly sound, but allows you to trickle around at everyday speeds in a manner befitting the car’s luxuriously-trimmed cabin.
Alpine A110 R
Prices from £92,170
You wait decades for a new Alpine to arrive… and then, like buses, you get a load that arrive at once. The standard A110 has quite rightly been lauded as a fantastic performance car, opting for lightness and a deft touch, so we were understandably nervous about the arrival of a more hardcore model, that could bonfire all the suppleness for which the A110 is celebrated.
The A110 R was no such car, rather such a deftly executed high-performance variant that it scored second place at eCoty 2023. A small power hike was almost obligatory, while trick carbon wheels and seats, bespoke suspension and fettled, exotic aero added the perfect edge to the A110.
The R ultimately enhances the standard car’s abilities without spoiling its excellent ride and skill at flowing and dancing down any given stretch of road. There’s a little less body roll and a sharper feel to the steering, turning in with more precision yet not destroying the original car’s adjustability on the throttle mid-corner. It’s perhaps not perfect – the twin-clutch ’box isn’t up to Porsche standards, we’d still love the option of a manual and it’s mighty expensive – but as an overall proposition the Alpine A110 R really does offer a sublime drive.
Peugeot 308 GTI
Values from £7000
On a bit of a roll, Peugeot followed up the 208 GTI and Peugeot Sport with a 308 GTI, also appended with “by Peugeot Sport”, and a car capable of giving a Golf GTI a real duffing-up. Ample power helped: Peugeot extracted the mad 266bhp version of its 1.6-litre THP engine from the RCZ-R and dropped it straight into the sensible 308 body, a figure that still wouldn’t look too shabby among 2025 hot hatches.
Outside, the 308 GTI was quite handsome, and while not everyone got on with Peugeot’s “i-Cockpit” interior layout (and some still don’t), it looked and felt special, and a bit less dour than a Golf or a Hyundai i30N. When we group-tested the trio, the Pug got very close indeed to the excellent Hyundai, being commendably light, adjustable like the best French hatches, and incredibly quick; we timed our test car from 0-60mph in six seconds flat.
Renaultsport Mégane 275 Cup-S
Values from £12k
The Renaultsport Mégane didn’t depart in its finest form with the final generation. The car before it however – the Mk3, spanning the RS250, 265 and 275 – was a sublime hot hatch. It wasn’t overly sophisticated in terms of its platform – it still had a torsion beam rear axle, a decade on from Ford’s introduction of its remarkable ‘control blade’ setup. It was still front-wheel-drive and available exclusively with a manual gearbox, just as Audi and Volkswagen were proving the performance (if not driver sensation) benefits of all-wheel-drive and dual-clutch transmissions, in their S3 and Golf R.
Antiquity was the making of the Mk3 Mégane RS, though. Its tail end was mobile, its gear shift was engaging, its engine powerful and willing and its front-end responsive. It got certain toys that elevated its game – a limited-slip diff up front and an Öhlins road and track suspension option on the Trophy and 275 Cup S – but the relative simplicity of the third-generation Mégane RS informed how enjoyable it was, in addition to the performance trinketry. Even as cars like the third-generation four-wheel-drive Focus RS and Mk7 Golf R arrived, the Mégane’s distinction only brightened.
Peugeot 306 Rallye
Values from £6k
The 306 Rallye used the 306 GTi 6 as its base and ditched the unnecessary to focus on getting the very best from its 167bhp four-cylinder and its excellent chassis. Weight-saving measures included losing the air conditioning, front fog lights, electric windows and sunroof for a 52-kilo drop in kerb weight, but otherwise it was nigh-on identical to the more generously appointed version. If you can’t find a decent Rallye, a GTi 6 isn’t a bad substitute.
What the Rallye did so effectively was to make the absolute best of its perhaps somewhat humdrum underpinnings with a wonderful ability to flow down any given road with plenty of compliance, especially on bumpy back roads. It turned in well and offered plenty of grip, although like its 205 GTI ancestor it wasn’t averse to some lift-off oversteer. Driven with precision though and it rewarded with superb grip and plenty of feedback. Today it’s still something of a bargain, too.
Renaultsport Clio Trophy
Values from £12k
In any of its incarnations the Renaultsport Clio 182 still punches above its weight even today, nigh on 15 years since its production came to an end. But it’s the 182’s swansong, the limited-edition Clio Trophy, that offers the ultimate Clio experience. All were painted in Capsicum red and featured Recaro seats, Sachs suspension and 16-inch Speedline Turini wheels and, most importantly, offered a divine drive.
The 180bhp 2-litre four-pot is punchy and with just 1090kg to haul around it’s plenty fast enough. The slightly notchy ’box doesn’t detract from the experience of keeping it on the boil, but it’s the combination of superb chassis control, oodles of grip and balance and a steering set-up that’s bordering on the telepathic that makes the Trophy such a hoot to drive quickly. If there’s a French hot hatch with a greater depth of talent we’ve yet to encounter it.
> Renaultsport Clio 182 buying guide
Peugeot 205 GTI 1.9
Values from £16k
How can the Peugeot 205 GTI possibly be over 40 years old? For a hatch from that era to still be touted as one of the all-time greats, a template for everything a hot hatch should stand for, is a testament to its intrinsic ‘rightness’. Weighing in at a featherweight 800kg in its original 1.6-litre form it had added a few kilos by the time the more powerful 1.9 arrived, but the additional grunt more than made up for the slight weight gain.
The pert GTI still looks great today, fresh and lithe, and it has a deftness of touch about the way it handles too. It needs respect though – it was renowned for lift-off oversteer in its day – but that’s part of its charm, an antidote to more modern machines that can be driven nigh-on flat out with their built-in stability control safety net.
You need to concentrate to drive the 205 GTI quickly, but do so and it will reward with fantastic turn-in and delightful throttle adjustability. We were reacquainted with the 205 GTi in 1.9 form on the ‘80s evo eras test, which you can read about in issue 334. Compared to the comparatively heavy, powerful, aloof performance cars we’re used to today, it’s a tonic.
Renault Sport Mégane R26.R
Values from £20k
Not the most practical of hatches, the R26.R does without fripperies such as rear seats and a radio in favour of carbon-shelled front seats and an unfiltered driving experience that’s just about as good as it gets from a track-orientated hatchback. With a diet programme that saw it lose 125kg, the R26.R is dripping with feedback and driver appeal and is one of the most grin-inducing machines to have graced the planet.
It eggs you on, getting better the faster and harder you drive it, the suspension (that’s actually softer than on the standard Mégane R26 thanks to carrying less weight) offering perfect levels of compliance yet still doling out the sort of precision that’s missing from so many of today’s offerings. Well-weighted, quick-witted steering is perfectly matched to the rest of the car, and while its 227bhp might be nothing to write home about these days it’s still a ferociously quick companion on a back road foray.
> Renaultsport Megane R26.R (2009) review - an all-time great hot hatch
Venturi Atlantique
Values from £50k
Produced throughout the 1990s, the Venturi Atlantique is one of France’s best-kept secrets and offers a viable alternative to similar mid-engined exotics from the period. Perhaps not the fastest or best-handling car to have graced the planet, it was still quick and looked good and best of all offered the sort of exclusivity you just wouldn’t get with a contemporary Ferrari.
Powered by a variety of French V6 engines – the 300 sported a 3-litre Peugeot/Citroen with either 210 (naturally aspirated) or 281bhp (when turbocharged), while the Biturbo version offered 306bhp along with a 4.7sec 0-62mph time and a 170mph top end. While its performance was impressive it was also a relaxing machine to drive with decent visibility and modest dimensions. A compliant ride along with decent handling made it a viable alternative to other glassfibre sportscars such as the Lotus Esprit.
Renault 5 Turbo
Values from £100,000
Making a rally car used to be simple - you make a road car and then swap out a few bits until it can cover unpaved roads at a decent speed without falling to bits. Then Lancia brought out the purpose-built Stratos, and the rules changed. Renault, in response, took its chic but very sensible Renault 5, stuck an engine in the back, bolted a large turbocharger to said engine, and then built thousands of road cars for homologation.
The Renault 5 Turbo, as it was known, had a pretty good run in Group 3 and 4 rallying, especially on tarmac stages, but it made for a loopy road car too. Handling could be interesting, the rear-biased weight quickly taking over should the driver lift off at the wrong moment, but with 158bhp and enough traction to put it to the pavement it’s still a brisk car by the standards of its era, and certainly involving to drive. The box-arched styling and the bonkers Gandini-designed interior of the early cars contribute to making it one of the coolest hatches ever to hit the road (and the stages).
Peugeot RCZ-R
Values from £8500
If the 208 GTI was the first sign Peugeot finally remembered how to make a performance car, the RCZ-R of 2013 was the brand, and Peugeot Sport especially, really flexing its muscles. The RCZ already drove well in standard form, but with a mighty new 1.6-litre engine with a stronger block, Mahle pistons, stronger connecting rods and more, the now 266bhp Audi TT rival had become a serious driver’s car.
Clues were littered throughout its spec list, from the Torsen diff to floating Alcon brakes to suspension 14 per cent stiffer up front and 44 per cent stiffer at the rear. A short-shifting gearbox, fantastic body control and a mobile tail made every drive exciting. It looked the part too, with just a little more aggression to the distinctive, double-bubble-roofed RCZ shape.
