The coupe, sadly, seems to be a dying breed in 2025, another victim of the unstoppable rise of the SUV. Very few manufacturers offer a two-door of any kind in their lineup these days, a stark contrast to a couple of decades ago when they were ten a penny.
Of course, lots of the coupes of that bygone era are now firmly in bargain territory, with everything from zippy four-pot sports cars to enormous 12-cylinder grand tourers available used for four figures. Join us for a look at 10 used coupes you can buy for under £10,000.
Alfa Romeo GTV
Alfa Romeo GTV
It may have had fairly unremarkable front-wheel drive bones, but what the Alfa GTV of the ’90s lacked in hardcore sports car cred, it made up for with astonishing style. A wedgy Pininfarina-shaped body was paired with an interior packed with some of the finest leather this side of a Rolls, and topped off with either a zingy Twin-Spark four-cylinder or an operatic Busso V6.
Both engine options now fall well under £10k, and while it won’t be as sharp to drive as some of its rear-drive contemporaries, by all accounts, the GTV wasn’t half bad as front-wheel drive stuff went. Naturally, it comes with the usual used Alfa warning sticker attached, but at this point, you surely know what you might be getting yourself in for.
Audi S5 (B8)
Audi S5 (B8)
The first Audi S5 is surely now one of the very cheapest ways into that rarefied combo of a V8 engine and manual gearbox, and what an engine it was – the 4.2-litre unit that also saw use in the game-changing first-gen R8 (although in a significantly lower state of tune in the A4-based car).
Later versions swapped it out for a supercharged V6, which has an appeal all of its own, and either way, you’re getting a handsome all-wheel drive coupe with a plush interior that still looks reasonably fresh today. Set some savings aside for some potentially hefty bills, and passersby will think you’ve spent a lot more on your car than you really did.
BMW 6 Series (E63)
BMW 6 Series (E63)
You’ll likely have your own views on the ‘Flame Surfacing’ design revolution BMW underwent in the 2000s with Chris Bangle as its styling boss, but the era’s brutish-looking revival of the 6 Series is unquestionably one of the more successful applications of this approach.
For £10k, your choice is enormous. You could go for a straight-six-powered 630i, a 645Ci or 650i with a burbly V8, or even a 635d with its grunt twin-turbo diesel six-pot. Once again, going in cheap on a heavily depreciated luxury coupe is always going to carry some risk, so don’t forget to check out our buying guide first.
Honda Prelude
Honda Prelude
The Honda Prelude is making a comeback, and unlike some coupe nameplates that have been brought back from the dead, it’s going to be on a proper, honest-to-goodness two-door, too.
All well and good, but with the new one set to be based on Civic Hybrid mechanicals, it won’t have that much-missed Honda combo of a free-revving engine and a super-slick manual gearbox. That’s a recipe you can find with plenty of used examples, most commonly the fifth and, until recently, final generation. Prices of these are going the same way as pretty much every other ’90s Japanese performance car, so we’d act sooner rather than later.
Maserati Coupe
Maserati Coupe
Imaginative name, right? Although Fiat and Hyundai are both guilty of this, too, and their capital-C Coupes are likely to carry far less risk than Maserati’s. The Coupe also ditched the gorgeous ‘Boomerang’ tail lights of its 3200GT predecessor, and while a manual was available, most came with the clunky Cambiocorsa semi-auto.
All those negatives kind of fade into the background, though, when you realise that for four figures, you can have a suave GT with one of the coolest badges in the business and a knee-trembling 4.2-litre V8 very closely related to the one found in the Ferrari F430. With that recipe on the table, you’ll give up one of your kidneys without thinking twice when you get hit with a repair bill.
Volkswagen Corrado
VW Corrado
VW Corrados were dirt cheap not so long ago, but have swiftly attained modern classic status and become victims of the ’90s nostalgia tax. That’s reflected in the rising prices of this plusher, more upmarket replacement for the second-gen Scirocco, although you can still easily find them for four figures.
You’ll likely be shopping for one of two engines – the 1.8-litre supercharged G60 four-pot, or the 2.9-litre VR6. Both have their advantages, but we reckon the six-pot is the one to get, especially because it also has a wider stance and improved suspension setup.
Mercedes CL-Class (C216)
Mercedes CL-Class (C216)
Essentially a two-door S-Class, the third-generation CL sat at the very pinnacle of Mercedes’ range in the late noughties, making it all the more impressive that nowadays, you can buy one for similar money to a tidy A-Class from the same era. Depreciation’s a hell of a thing.
At this price, most of the examples you find will be the CL500 with its 5.5-litre, 382bhp V8, but if you’re patient – and brave – you might find yourself a twin-turbo V12-powered, 517bhp CL600. You might also need to remortgage your house or take up some light bank robbery if anything goes wrong with it, but for a slab of leather-clad, 12-cylinder magnificence, it almost feels worth it.
Peugeot 406 Coupe
Peugeot 406 Coupe
Insert your own S15 Nissan Silvia reference here. Reminiscent of a Japanese sports car of the same era it may be, but there’s no denying that the Peugeot 406 Coupe – like the Alfa, styled by Pininfarina – is incredibly pretty.
In fact, you might argue that its looks wrote cheques that its humble underpinnings couldn’t cash, but especially with the optional 3.0-litre V6, it was a remarkably sweet thing to drive. Still highly attainable too, but with numbers dwindling, it feels more and more like a candidate for a future classic. Now might be the perfect time to buy.
Toyota Celica
Toyota Celica
It looks increasingly likely that the Toyota Celica is joining the Honda Prelude in the ongoing classic Japanese coupe revival, and it too is set to be a proper two-door. That’s inevitably going to drive more interest in the numerous classic Celicas, the final generation of which is the most common and attainable in Britain.
Sold between 1999 and 2006, it featured a pair of zesty 1.8-litre four-pots with variable valve timing. In its more powerful guise, it packed a healthy 192bhp, plenty in a car that weighed a touch over 1100kg. Pair that with sharp handling and Toyota dependability, and there’s really very little to dislike here.
Ford Puma
Ford Puma
If we’re happy that the Prelude and Celica are coming back in forms that respect the originals, we can’t say the same about the reborn Ford Puma. Still, the name being slapped on a generic crossover hasn’t suddenly stopped all the original Pumas from existing.
No, that’s rust’s job, which is why numbers of these pretty Fiesta-based coupes have dropped so sharply, and perhaps why they’re still such bargains. Get crafty with the Waxoyl, though, and you have yourself a Yamaha-fettled engine and a chassis signed off by Richard Parry-Jones, the man who made sure even the most normal of Fords of this era were exceptional to drive. Plus the ability to really throw non-car people off when you say you own a Ford Puma.
#Stylish #Coupes