10 Cool Used German Cars For Under £10,000

It’s generally accepted that the first ever car as we understand it was the 1886 Benz Patent-Motorwagen. Sure, there are a few earlier creations that could arguably lay claim to getting there first, but that’s what the history books tend to say.

That rudimentary motorised trike hailed from the German city of Mannheim, and nearly 140 years later, Germany remains one of the world’s centres of car making. Those many decades the country’s had to perfect the recipe mean it’s produced some rather good cars over the years, many of which are now temptingly cheap.

From beefy SUVs to lithe sports cars, then, here are 10 cool German cars you can buy used for under £10,000.

Porsche Boxster 986

Here’s the usual disclaimer: yes, £10,000 will just about still buy you a 911, but it’ll be a ropey example in an undesirable spec. Better, we think, to go for the quote-unquote lesser Porsche Boxster, which, in its first-generation 986 guise, was pretty much a 996 911 at the front anyway.

For £10k, the world is well and truly your oyster when it comes to 986s. Whatever that means. Everything from early 2.5-litre cars with delightfully low mileage numbers to still tidy examples of the 3.2-litre, 260bhp S are available. All share a few key things: a fantastic nat-asp flat-six, a wonderful chassis and the simple pleasure of being able to throw the roof back on a summer’s day. Lovely.

Volkswagen Golf GTI Mk5

The original VW Golf GTI may have been the car that catapulted the hot hatch genre into the mainstream, but the later Mk3 and Mk4 iterations had lost much of their mojo. Thankfully, the Mk5 regained it in one fell swoop thanks to its delicately balanced chassis, gutsy 2.0-litre turbocharged engine and throwback looks.

One of the best of the GTI family, £10k will once again buy you some ultra-clean examples. You could find a standard 197bhp car or an Edition 30 with its boost to 227bhp and tasty BBS alloys. Whatever you do, we suggest you get yourself a manual with the excellent tartan cloth seats.

Mercedes SL R129

The Mercedes SL nameplate has been around for over 70 years in one form or another and has quite possibly the biggest span of used values of any automotive badge. An original gullwing-doored 300SL, for instance, will set you back well over £1 million these days.

Some of that SL classiness can be captured on a much smaller budget, though. Take the R129 generation of the 1990s. This was one of the last Mercs to be hilariously over-engineered and came complete with some crisp, modernist styling courtesy of Bruno Sacco. If you just want the look, there are plenty of tidy 3.2-litre SL320s in our budget, but if you want some go to match the show, you should be able to stretch to an SL500 and its 320bhp, 5.0-litre V8.

BMW 330Ci Clubsport

Disclaimer time again: any full-fat BMW M cars bought for under £10,000 these days are likely to be complete headache factories. You don’t necessarily need the full M to get a handsome BMW coupe with a silken straight-six and wonderful handling, though.

Take the E46 330Ci Clubsport. The normal 330Ci was a good starting point, with its icy-smooth 3.0-litre, 227bhp six-pot, but the Clubsport did away with some sound deadening to save weight and threw in sports suspension and a nifty aero package. As E46 M3 prices continue to go only one way, this is looking less and less like a poor relation.

Audi S8 D3

A V10 engine is a special thing and usually reserved for mega-money, mid-engined exotica. Happily, the VW Group’s infatuation with the engine layout during the noughties, combined with our good friend depreciation, has made this rarefied configuration a lot more attainable.

The second-generation Audi S8 featured a 5.2-litre V10 that may or may not have been closely related to the one from the Lamborghini Gallardo. Either way, it produced a healthy 444bhp, handy for getting this enormous, plush Autobahn pounder to 62mph in 5.1 seconds. It really is an astonishing amount of car for a four figure sum, fuel bills be damned.

Porsche Cayenne E1

The appearance of a Porsche badge on an enormous luxury SUV back in 2002 caused plenty of outrage, but it’s not a stretch to say the original Cayenne helped make Porsche the company it is today.

What’s more, because manufacturers hadn’t yet figured out that they could get away with selling an off-road-style car without any actual off-road ability, the original Cayenne is actually pretty handy in the rough stuff. It’s good on-road too, especially if you go for any of the V8-powered variants that fall under our budget. Heck, even the 514bhp Turbo S can be found for under £10k if you’re feeling particularly brave.

Alpina D3 E90

Owning an Alpina is one of the ultimate car person badges of honour. Passersby might just see a BMW with some weird wheels and pinstripes, but those who know, know. The rarity and cult status of the Buchloe-based tuner’s products means they don’t usually come cheap, but there is one exception.

The E90 3 Series-based Alpina D3 was one of the company’s first cracks at a fast diesel. All the Alpina staples are present and correct, and the package is topped off by a 2.0-litre turbodiesel four-pot with 197bhp but, more importantly, a meaty 302lb ft of torque. These figures would rise to 211bhp and 332lb ft with the later Bi-Turbo version, but either way, not much else nails the oddly specific combination of pace, fuel economy and left-field coolness like a D3.

Mercedes CLS55 AMG

The original Mercedes CLS caught everyone off guard when it was unveiled in 2004. Although basically an E-Class underneath, it swapped its dowdy sibling’s silhouette for a sculptural, low-slung four-door body that still looks striking today.

Naturally, you want the right sort of engine to back up those looks, and happily, £10k will just about get you a CLS55 AMG. This came with AMG’s lusty 5.4-litre supercharged V8, complete with 469bhp and a soundtrack capable of waking the dead.

Audi S1

Hot hatches aren’t necessarily the first things that come to mind when you think of fast Audis, but that doesn’t mean the company hasn’t produced a couple of corkers in its time.

Though based on humble VW Polo underpinnings, the S1 packed a 227bhp punch courtesy of its 2.0-litre turbocharged four-pot, sent (naturally) through all four wheels, exclusively via a manual gearbox. Good for 62mph in 5.8 seconds and a limited 155mph top speed, it also featured one of the nicest interiors of any hot hatch of its era.

VW Passat W8

Oh, to have been a fly on the wall during VW board meetings during the late ’90s and early ’00s. This was a period when the company was simultaneously trying to develop a 1000hp, 250mph car (that would eventually become the Bugatti Veyron) and one that would travel 100km on a single litre of diesel (that one would become the VW XL1).

Amid this sheer madness, the company decided to go to the effort of developing a 4.0-litre W8 engine (essentially half of the 8.0-litre W16 it was working on for the Veyron. Sort of), which found its way into a grand total of one vehicle – the sales rep’s favourite, the Passat. This 271bhp engine appeals not only for its rarity and utter weirdness but also because it makes a heck of a noise. Just please don’t ask us about sourcing parts.