Big French cars. I’m not talking about adapted vans or even the wonderful old-model Renault Espace, but those great big saloons and hatches designed to shame the boring Germans. Are they worth a go? Well, it is worth daring to be different, even if you do have to be prepared for the worst. My local garage used to be a Citroën main agent, who had to explain to owners of old high-spec XMs that it was a £30k car when brand new so fixing them isn’t necessarily cheap. Remember that.
Sticking with Citroën, the obvious choice is the C6. You might be super-scared of one, like me, but there are some big-mileage examples up for grabs, which I always find very reassuring. So let’s go for a cheap and cheerful one with a whopping 188,000 miles on the clock: a 2006 2.7 HDi V6 Exclusive that’s up for £2795. There’s lots to go wrong, but it is with a dealer, who is obliged to make sure that it all works. Otherwise, there’s another Exclusive but from 2009 with a full service history and a barely believable 35,000 miles – for a fairly whopping £8995. It’s worth it, though, because we will never see its like again. Sadly.
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We can always go old-school if we don’t want to take too much of a chance. The Peugeot 605 is a straightforward and stylish way to travel, but they’re becoming increasingly difficult to find. Still, you won’t have to pay much and they will mostly be HDis. I saw a great 2002 SE-spec automatic with leather and everything, 109,000 miles and three previous owners at a dealer. The asking price was a very reasonable £1900 and it looked dead smart.
Just for fun, I went on one of those European websites where they have about one picture and barely any details and just expect you to turn up and buy. I was extremely tempted to get on a ferry to Belgium, where a magnificent 605 V6 manual petrol lived. It had covered a kilometre-converted 93,000 miles and was up for the euro equivalent of £1287.
When it comes to Renault, the Vel Satis and Avantime are the two oddities that always spring to mind, but the firm’s last proper traditional barge was the Safrane. These seem to be almost obsolete. You can find some real cheapies, but I rather liked a 1998 2.5 V6 automatic with just 42,000 miles and a seemingly optimistic £2500 asking price. Another option is to hop over the Channel, where the choice of left-hooker Safranes is far bigger. What I really loved was a 1994 Biturbo in the Netherlands, a properly rare super-saloon as only 806 were built. So the almost £16k asking was probably fairly reasonable for that particular big French car.
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I don't quite understand this article either. You can buy a 2005 BMW 730d with 121K on the clock for £194 more than the C6 that James mentions. I think that is £194 well spent!
I assume that you will say the same about the Mercedes S Class then? You can buy a 2008 S320 diesel with 136k on the clock for £2995.
No.
Autocar to its readers in 2021: "French luxury, we will never see its like again, sadly"
Am I allowed to notice the grotesque hypocrisy? I guess now, 10+ later, there is no advertising loss is admitting they were brilliant cars.
@Andrew1. Completely agree. For the last 25 years big French cars were well made and drove well. More importantly they were reliable. Sadly few were bought, and most were diesel. Almost none are left, but those that are tend to comand a good price. Of course the French have always kept the best versions for them selves too, like the V6 manual 607 mentioned that PSA would not let us have.
And now they dont make large cars any longer.
Fun fact: some years ago I made a dealer happy my swapping a 2.0l Citroen for his 3.0l. He said he can't sell a 3.0 Citroen but he will find a buyer for the 2.0l. It was a win-win situation, as I drove off in a smooth and comfortable 3.0 big Citroen.