Autocar's top performance car bargains, from £10k

 It’s amazing just how many horses can gallop into your life for less than £10,000, never mind £20,000 or £50,000. And they come in a wide range of bodystyles. Given that we’re going mad for power, we aren’t looking at anything with less than 500bhp under the lid.

Autotrader is listing 9739 cars above that mark, the most expensive of them a £1,399,000 McLaren P1. But to keep things slightly more realistic, our upper limit here is £250,000 – which still leaves 9241 cars to choose from. Without further ado then, let's take a look at the best 500bhp buys on the road today.

If you need to carry your luggage very fast, this 580bhp twin-turbo V10 estate should do the job. Handsome styling and a fine interior are further lures, if you can tolerate 20mpg and numb steering. A weak oil pump seal can produce a £1500 bill, rotten coolant pipes another £700. A failed oil temperature sensor is expensive to replace. Eats brakes and servicing is quite costly, but it’s fundamentally reliable, with few big-bill weaknesses.

A huge chunk of car for £11,000, this 503bhp V8 SUV combines the climbing ability of a mountain goat with useful thrust, decent practicality and excellent towing ability. Quite thirsty but relatively inexpensive, and our rare 5.0-litre petrol post-facelift example has twin rear screens for the kids. Range Rovers can be unreliable, so check everything works. Engines are sound, transmissions less so. Electrical irritations quite possible.

More reliable than the BMW or Mercedes-Benz equivalents and betterlooking. Fabulous supercharged V8 and – for the most part – the chassis to go with it. Regular maintenance is vital to prevent variable valve timing failure. Otherwise the V8 is tough. New dampers and wishbones may be needed at 60,000-plus miles. Swift, elegant, good value and plenty of choice. Our car has low mileage, is fully serviced and has the 2009-model-year-on connectivity and cabin quality upgrades.

Never mind this one’s low mileage, the V10 E60 (and its E63/E64 Coupé and Convertible siblings) is a high-jeopardy buy. Regard big-end bearings as a service item, the 10 throttle bodies are failure-prone and the SMG paddleshift transmission is troublesome. To that near-indigestible main meal you can add a garnish of electrical impediments. But there are M5s and M6s that have seen more than 100,000 miles, and they’re a madly exciting drive. 

Much the same money as the identically powered XKR but with four doors and a more modern dash and infotainment system. Rare but very capable. This one has very low mileage and has a substantial history. Reliable and its few weak bits are inexpensive to fix.

Robust, but any serious W12 malady – a blown head gasket, say – is an engine-out job. Happily, that’s rare. Service items are pricey – 12 hard-to-access plugs, massive tyres and brakes – and 17mpg is typical. But hard to beat for style, pomp and that sybaritic cabin. Buy as young as you can. It’s an indulgence, as our colourful low-miler attests, but not entirely reckless.

Never mind an SUV: if you want space, utter luxury and discreet performance for Dacia money, this is it. Heated and cooled massage seats all round, rear screens, head-up display, night vision, coolbox… Oh, and it has a 544bhp V12 under the bonnet, of course.

An indomitable autobahn cruiser that’s sumptuous, elegant and crammed with kit – although that can be an invoice hazard, especially the ABC suspension. But our particular fastidiously maintained example looks like it could be a high-value winner.

A huge amount of unnecessarily large car for the money, but the X6 M’s turbocharged 4.4-litre petrol V8 shifts it with an alacrity belying its bulk. Ours has a full service history, while goodies include a panoramic roof, parking camera, DAB and plenty more. Pretty reliable, too.

The first CLS is still the most handsome, and this is the ultimate, pre-facelift version, equipped with the addictive AMG V8. Watch for corrosion to the arches, door bottoms and, critically, underside. And beware air suspension, which can trigger big bills.

A very handsome car, this four-door Six, and a 552bhp provider of mighty performance. The Gran Coupé is a steep depreciator: M6 pricing was in the Porsche 911 arena when new but certainly isn’t now. The pre-2014-model-year-facelift cars can suffer £15k’s worth of oil starvation damage and big-end bearings can spin within their caps to generate another crushing bill. If 552bhp isn’t enough for you, look for a Competition one with 600bhp.

For an F-Type to join the more-than-500bhp club, it needs to be a 543bhp V8 R, whose ferocious performance is almost too much for the nevertheless capable chassis. It still looks fabulous, especially as a coupé, and it’s pretty reliable. And it’s terrific value used. Check for rusty rear subframes, worn suspension bushes and fully functioning electrics.

Handsome, brilliant to drive and reliable, this potent, Ferrari-influenced saloon is the first properly sorted Alfa in decades. It will match an Aston Martin DB11 to 62mph, handles brilliantly and, unusually, rides well. Plus it’s practical. False-alarm warning lights and failed fuel pumps and turbo-overboost valves can colour the joy, but the QV is pretty reliable.

Blinding acceleration, eerie refinement and a decent range are hallmarks of this still handsome big saloon. Early models could torture owners with plenty of small faults, and the 2016 car here might not spare you. But it’s a low-mileage example with one of the bigger batteries and four-wheel drive. 

It looks odd, but the low seating suits the sharp dynamics and it has prodigious performance. The V8 was trouble-free by this point, the only significant risk being the air suspension, which should lift the car swiftly after start-up. Our example looks well cared for and offers fine value.

The full-on Japanese supercar experience, with rampant power, sophisticated four-wheel drive and scope for serious tuning. Gearbox can be troublesome. Look for signs of abuse. Our one is standard and comes some way into Nissan’s timetable of tweaks to provide more power and a stiffer shell.

This sleekish hatchback variation of the RS6 Avant is very accomplished, although more dramatic adjectives may fire from gaping mouths when the full 605bhp power flood is unleashed. This is a blindlingly rapid car, pulses calmed only slightly by four-wheel-drive traction and enormous brakes. It’s pretty dependable, but the turbochargers can fail.

Ours is a Performance version; the standard car, whose turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 makes do with a mere 553bhp, can be bought for less than £29,000.

The supercharged 5.4-litre V8’s addictive throttle response and sledgehammer thrust make this one of the most exciting SLs. Many are cheaper than this particular one, but they can be troubled with water in the electrics via the boot, while leaking hydraulic pipes can damage the ABC suspension’s pump. Low miles and regular maintenance are thus very desirable, as per this example.

Sleeker and more subtly styled than the original Cayenne, the Mk2 is a lot more reliable, the fluid incontinence and bore-scoring of earlier V8s being largely banished. The Turbo S has tremendous performance, which it manages to contain well given its height. A great all-rounder if you can fuel it. The example we found is very heavily optioned and apparently very well cared for.

A stretched DB9 with four doors and a hatch rear doesn’t sound brilliant, but the Rapide is a beautifully elegant saloon, if somewhat long. That many Aston buyers are James Bond wannabes has done little to bolster this saloon’s depreciation curve, but the used value is terrific.

It’s not cheap to run with its V12, unsurprisingly, but it is gratifyingly reliable and beautifully upholstered, and it sounds magnificent. Our low-miler has been Aston-dealer maintained and is a rarer Shadow Edition with the later eight-speed automatic transmission.

The most broadly able Bentley yet made, capable of surmounting steep rocky slopes, towing a horsebox or thundering along at 187mph, and all while serving a seven-star-hotel interior experience. Faults are few (minor oil leaks, possible water pump leaks), but if the electric windows hiss as they move, it could signal a larger incoming bill. Maintenance costs are surprisingly reasonable, fuel economy less so.

List price halved in only five years yet only 26,000 miles means terrific value. Not everyone like the DB11’s look, but it’s ageing well to these eyes. Better still, it is a terrific drive in either V12 or AMG twin-turbo V8 form, and it rides well. Thirsty, but few reliability issues so far. A bit of a steal, then.

Here’s your chance to drive a Formula 1 safety car-alike machine in the somewhat phallic shape of AMG’s GT coupé. You won’t get the R version seen on the F1 circuit for this money, but the S is still good for 193mph and a 3.7sec shout to 62mph. Sometimes busily exciting to drive, but it’s extremely reliable.

Late for a meeting? Well, 2.8sec to 62mph should help, so long as you don’t need a recharge on the way. Currently the most potent Taycan and one of the most fulfilling EVs out there. Not without software and battery bugs, the latter producing some unhappy owners in rare cases, but a sensational device.

The most complete McLaren at launch and a five-star road test car. Fantastically good, from the superb steering to its soaring performance, on-track agility and surprising suppleness. More reliable than the old 12C, but minor issues can annoy. Our one is on the cheap side but has low miles and a full Macca history.

A five-star car when tested back in 2006 and hardly outclassed 17 years later. More than 600bhp was big news back then and not disappointing now, especially when the rest of this alloy-bodied car is so magnificently capable.

Dismal sat-nav apart, it’s not impractical, either. This low-mileage example originates from Singapore, that fact and some non-franchise service history lowering the price. It’s thirsty and servicing costs are predictably high, but it’s reliable.

It’s far from the best luxury SUV, misses the dynamic finesse of British and German rivals and has the ambience of its rich leather upholstery punctuated with infotainment and switchgear borrowed from much cheaper cars, but this V8 Trofeo is now almost half its list price, comes with a sonorous Ferrari V8 and is rompingly fast. If you want a different SUV, step this way.

This car has lost around half its value in two years and only 15,000 miles. That aside, the RS E-tron GT is mightily impressive, being highly refined, rapid and very well finished. Failed heaters are a common problem, gradually being fixed. Most other issues have been covered by recalls.

This is the facelifted Gallardo and a lot better for it, with more power and sharper dynamics. Be fussy: there’s plenty of choice. Beware abused cars, body wraps and clocking, and ensure that the seller is the owner. Seriously.

McLaren’s most capable car yet at the time of its launch, although that descriptor completely fails to illustrate the manic drama of the 720S’s performance and the ability of its carbonfibre structure and trick suspension to handle such outpourings of power.

It’s a superb supercar, insanely quick and very sorted. Suspension accumulators can leak, shockers too, and interior trim can loosen, but these cars are essentially reliable. Servicing and parts are expensive. That may explain the excellent used value.

Here’s a pre-facelift example of few miles and, compared with some cars here, it seems quite good value for something so special. Then again, it has the E-Gear automated manual gearbox, whose clutch, quite easily burned out, costs £5000 to replace

Specialists can service it for semi-sensible money. The V12 is tough, but its variable valve timing can cause trouble.

Loses the drama and inconvenience of the coupé’s gullwing doors but is more handsome and cheaper as a soft-top. Gargantuan bonnet and matching performance from AMG’s 6.3-litre V8, as you’d expect from the sub-brand’s first bespoke model. Dynamically excellent, but tyre roar and a firm ride can be wearing. Afficionados prefer gullwings and the rare GT and Black Series.

It’s a two-tonne car with four-wheel drive, but don’t be put off. It’s as fast as a 2013 Porsche 911 Turbo and its handling belies its mass. Fake engine noise, sub-optimal steering and brake feel are mild spoilers. Will this M5 prove as troublesome as recent generations? The news so far is good. Depreciation perhaps less so: our car is one of several new M5s discounted by £20,000.

For crazed performance with the rough edges buffed out, the 911 Turbo is your car. Its savage performance is safely deployed, while a generous measure of kit makes this an effortless and mostly refined (bar road roar) but quite uneconomical map-compacter. It lacks the joyful dynamic finesse of the rest of the 911 range, but for some, that’s just fine.

Aston Martin got its SUV right first time by building a high-rider with the character of its brand rather than trying to create the last word in accommodation or off-road ability.

This is a driver’s SUV, then, and beautifully furnished with it. The model is too new to have much of a service record, but at least that means there will be second-hand cars for sale that are still covered by their manufacturer warranties.

Swift and decidedly less brutal than many of the cars here, the Wraith may be considered an off-centre buy by some, but it’s certainly not short of appeal. It’s fabulously finished, as you’d expect, and when new was Rolls’ most sporting model as well as one of the most beautiful. Costly to run, of course, but reliable, and our example has a full Rolls history.

Sensational looks and sound from a normally aspirated V10 are alluring, but the four-wheel-drive handling of early cars is a little tame, if safe. Reliability issues are relatively few and minor. Later variants improve on the original, but early cars are good value and plentiful. Be picky.

A second-generation Conti GT in Supersports form gets you 700bhp-plus and the opportunity to propel well over two tonnes to 62mph in four imperious seconds. Ours is one of the 710 Supersports and has full Bentley history and a low mileage.

It’s not exactly subtle and neither is it entirely convenient, coming in left-hand-drive only, but this is a different, collectible and mighty thing to experience from behind the wheel. Only 300 were built, 15 of them in the subtler (wingless) Touring specification that will cost you even more than this.

At the time, we reckoned this generation of GT3 (the 991.2) was the best driver’s car you could get your hands on. So biddable, so agile, so rich with feedback, so snarlingly rapid that only Caterhams and Radicals could better it.

Yet it’s not so extreme that you can’t live with it on the road, unlike the current 992-generation GT3, whose track bias makes it too strong for regular use. Reliability is excellent and servicing costs reasonable. Our example is about as close to new as you can get.

This was an oddball car when it was born as the FF, and it’s no less strange as the facelifted GTC4 Lusso. But now it can be had with a V8 turbo as well as a V12. In its lesser form, with a make-do 602bhp and rear- rather than four-wheel drive, this mildly lithe sports estate obliterates corners like a band of Roman civil engineers. A key V8T advantage is the deletion of the troublesome power take-up transmission driving the V12’s front wheels.

Dramas visual, aural, sensory and, when showing off to your passenger, vocal are what Lamborghini’s XXL supercars are about – and the Aventador doesn’t fall short.

Taming such bombast is a large part of the appeal. Its flaw is its transmission, both for its rude shifts and capacity for failure, an engine-out job with obvious fiscal implications. Warning lights are often of the baying wolf variety. The 2013 cars are reckoned to offer the best balance of reliability and usability.

There are only 44 of these in the world, five of them in the UK, so it’s quite the collectible. Propelled by a magnificent normally aspirated V10 yet genuinely usable as daily transport. Reliable, too.

As subtle as a flamethrower yet lacking the flamboyance of regular Sant’Agata fare. Monumental go, though, and a chassis that handles it with true composure. Mechanically a bit too similar to the Volkswagen Group SUV family it’s from, but at least that makes it reliable.

Aston has produced many a beautiful car, but this 50-off On Her Majesty’s Secret Service version of the DBS will stop you in your tracks. Its turbocharged V12 issues 715bhp for a 211mph rampage.

The most beautiful Ferrari in decades is also a better thing to drive than its slightly troubled 812 Superfast big brother. A hugely enjoyable car that’s also usable and practical. Our find is in an attractive specification and being sold by a Ferrari main dealer.

A substantial update of an already brilliant car, the 488 GTB, the F8 Tributo managed to extract yet more brilliance from a package that around the Fiorano test track is almost as quick as the seven-figure LaFerrari. It’s a better car than its McLaren and Lamborghini shadows, too. Ours is a low-mileage example (as are most), Ferrari Approved and one of the least expensive currently on sale.

The most highly praised Maserati for decades and quite simply a terrific drive, underpinned with plenty of civility. Punching performance in every gear, a stiff carbonfibre core and a calmingly supple ride provide beguiling entertainment. Not the most practical yet entirely liveable. Ours isn’t the cheapest you can find, but it has heaps of extras including an e-diff, a front lift, ceramic brakes, extended carbonfibre and paint-protection film.