Car News

Peugeot 306 GTi-6 - Built 1996-2001 Price range £500-£6000 We’d pay £2500 See Peugeot 306 GTi-6 for sale on Pistonheads

It will never quite have the cachet of its predecessor, the 205 GTi, but the
 306 GTi-6 was the hot hatch to beat for most of the 1990s. Combined with its near-perfect proportions, that’s going to make it a desirable car soon – and with top examples starting to crest the £5k mark, prices are creeping northwards. There are still plenty of tatty snotters around, though, so only buy clean, tidy, standard cars with a reasonable mileage. 

Mercedes-Benz CL55 AMG - Produced 2001-2006 Price range £7000-£13,000 We’d pay £9950 See Mercedes CL55 for sale on Pistonheads  

It was with its 55-badged generation of tuned factory Mercedes models that the growth spurt that has taken AMG to the brink of launching its own hypercar started. Having been known for a handful of ultra-rare-groove saloons throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the company showed us the SL55 in 2002, and followed it with supercharged versions of the contemporary E-Class, S-Class and CL coupé. CL55s tend to be the most affordable of the lot today, and they pack a hulking 493bhp. 

Merc’s famous M113K supercharged V8s have been known to develop cooling problems, so check for a healthy radiator (and no coolant leaking into the transmission lubricant) in any car you’re considering.