Best French cars – all-time greats from Alpine to Venturi
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 selectionof 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.
Best French cars
- Alpine A110 GT
- Renault 5
- Peugeot 106 Rallye
- Alpine A110 R
- Renaultsport Mégane 275 Cup S
- Peugeot 306 Rallye
- Renaultsport Clio 182 Trophy
- Peugeot 205 GTI
- Renaultsport Mégane R26.R
- Venturi Atlantique
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.
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.
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.
