Yes but French hot hatches aren't built for the track as such as you're suggesting, French cars are absolutely perfect on British roads. You need only look at the Clio Williams, Peugeot 306 Rallye, 1.6 Rallye and of course ye olde 205 GTi to see that quick french cars aren't rock hard like a 500 Essesse or even a 1.2 and are just magical on British b-roads.
Truth be told aside from being slower in the engine department over the 500, my 406 is was a better drivers car than my 500 is. It gives more feedback through the wheel, it's more progressive, handles bumps better and so on and so forth thanks mostly to the far more sophisticated multilink rear suspension and matched spring rates and dampers. Hopefully some Bilstein's in a year or two's time will sort the handling out and just make it a more enjoyable car.
