Peugeot 205 Blondemobile
Discussion
My wife needed a cheapo car with low insurance, and it's her birthday to boot, so five hundred quid has netted me this shiny bargain of a 1996 205 diesel.
With just 59 BHP claimed, it's no GTi, despite the addition of 1.6 GTi alloys and side fenders, but it does 60 mpg, and is actually surprisingly nippy and pleasant to drive, displaying that classic 205 wheel at each corner quality. The rust content of the car appears, as far as I can tell, to be zero.
The poverty spec interior is fine, with power steering to heave the heavy engine about, nowt else that might break (the clock is already broken), and BANGIN' CHOONZE available on the poshed up stereo.
The car has its handbook and service book in their original wallet, and has dealer stamps up to 2008. Now it has done 137,000 miles, but that, I gather, is nothing for one of these Peugeot 1.8 non turbo diesels.
Wife happy, wallet happy. The only snag now is that the car is so much fun to drive that I want to steal it off her.
With just 59 BHP claimed, it's no GTi, despite the addition of 1.6 GTi alloys and side fenders, but it does 60 mpg, and is actually surprisingly nippy and pleasant to drive, displaying that classic 205 wheel at each corner quality. The rust content of the car appears, as far as I can tell, to be zero.
The poverty spec interior is fine, with power steering to heave the heavy engine about, nowt else that might break (the clock is already broken), and BANGIN' CHOONZE available on the poshed up stereo.
The car has its handbook and service book in their original wallet, and has dealer stamps up to 2008. Now it has done 137,000 miles, but that, I gather, is nothing for one of these Peugeot 1.8 non turbo diesels.
Wife happy, wallet happy. The only snag now is that the car is so much fun to drive that I want to steal it off her.
Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 30th March 21:15
You have to stir the stick about to pass traffic on the motorway, but in town, or on a country road, the car is a blast. No rev counter, but the engine lets you know when it needs to change up. The seats are indeed comfortable, and the fabric on them is evidently hard wearing. Overall, the car feels tight and right, and does seem like another well spent monkey. If only all my car choices were so sensible.
It drives like one too, within reason. Ok, not much vroom, and not much straight line speed, but delightful nippiness and handliness.
Late in any model's life, with its replacement already available or waiting in the wings, the manufacturer will of course try to move units by conjuring up all sorts of special editions. This one was called an Inca, and has jazzy pseudo-mesoamerican details on the fabric. It would originally have had thin side stripes with Inca-ish patterns on them, but at some point in the car's life someone has done a minor bit of GTI fakery on it, albeit fooling no-one. My wife had GTis back in her younger days, and, natch, ragged them rotten, just as everyone did.
I would have preferred a 1.3 petrol GTX, but missed a couple of those, and they seem to go for a bit more money than the old smokers. The diesels are blessed with longevity, good mpg, and the virtues of low tech.
Late in any model's life, with its replacement already available or waiting in the wings, the manufacturer will of course try to move units by conjuring up all sorts of special editions. This one was called an Inca, and has jazzy pseudo-mesoamerican details on the fabric. It would originally have had thin side stripes with Inca-ish patterns on them, but at some point in the car's life someone has done a minor bit of GTI fakery on it, albeit fooling no-one. My wife had GTis back in her younger days, and, natch, ragged them rotten, just as everyone did.
I would have preferred a 1.3 petrol GTX, but missed a couple of those, and they seem to go for a bit more money than the old smokers. The diesels are blessed with longevity, good mpg, and the virtues of low tech.
Edited by anonymous-user on Saturday 30th March 21:39
"kinnel!
There are some cars that make you think "why did they ever stop making this car?' When I drove an Alfa GT junior 1300 some years ago, that thought entered my head, and the same can be said of the 205.
BTW, I hear tell of some bloke opp Cheshire who may have 205 non GTi cabrio to flog off, in case anyone is interested.
There are some cars that make you think "why did they ever stop making this car?' When I drove an Alfa GT junior 1300 some years ago, that thought entered my head, and the same can be said of the 205.
BTW, I hear tell of some bloke opp Cheshire who may have 205 non GTi cabrio to flog off, in case anyone is interested.
The special mats are said to replicate the pattern that was ritually inscribed onto the scrotum of Inca Warlord Pachacuti-Cusi Yupanqui using a blunt stone knife, in an annual ceremony to celebrate the sun not exploding, or something.
Early this morning, the streets of Islington were deserted and sunny, so I went for a minor urban hoon on the spurious pretext of buying the paper. This little sweetie will fly around Highbury Corner almost as well as any Lotus that I have owned.
I will go and check later whether the pump is Bosch (in which case running veggie is reported to be straightforward) or Lucas (in which case it is reported to be less so). Peugeot used both types, more or less at random.
Early this morning, the streets of Islington were deserted and sunny, so I went for a minor urban hoon on the spurious pretext of buying the paper. This little sweetie will fly around Highbury Corner almost as well as any Lotus that I have owned.
I will go and check later whether the pump is Bosch (in which case running veggie is reported to be straightforward) or Lucas (in which case it is reported to be less so). Peugeot used both types, more or less at random.
gforceg said:
Is that your Beta hiding under the car cover?
Yup. The Lancia was due out to play today but has popped its clutch pedal linkage, again. The search for a replacement part goes on, via the scrappies and websites of Europe, with some help from PH, via another thread. We decided to throw Planet Earth a bone, and therefore left my Rangeyshed behind and blatted, en famille, in the 205 across London from Highbury to Epsom, to hang out with some friends at a location notionally connected with motoring but mainly inhabited by dull and snooty golfers. We shared a hilarious hoon with them on the M25 on the way back (they were in a very spiffy late 90s TVR with the customary bazillion BHP V8, so Planet Earth got screwed after all; with us in the 59 BHP smoketastic Pug Tug - what a contest!)
AKindSoul, I know a bloke who might be interested in the GTX (not me - I will stick with the oilburner), so please post a linky, and I will point him in its direction.
Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 31st March 20:58
Dr Mike, I hoped you noticed me whipping the dashboard of the poor ChuggaPug as we smoked and splurted and shaked and groaned our way past while you sauntered along at idle. It seemed apt, as we had just been at Epsom. Luckily, I know how to say "PUTAIN!" in the right way to add 10 BHP.
Oooh, er, CTi. Top money, but looks pretty spiffy:-
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C374095
There is a cheaper and rattier one going on Autotrader.
http://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C374095
There is a cheaper and rattier one going on Autotrader.
My wife wanted something faster and less tinny, as although she used to love her old 205 GTi back in the 90s, she now felt vulnerable on busy motorways in a slow and lightly built machine (this one being no GTi).
The 206 CC is actually a good enough girlie car. It is much more solid than a 205 (indeed arguably possessed of the modern car vices of excessive weight and unduly PHAT wheels and tyres). It is nippy enough in two litre guise, and it allows me to release my inner hairdresser from time to time. I got a good deal on it because the large northern bloke selling it had not realised that it is (after the MX 5) the world's most crimper-ish car, and was being ribbed about this by his pub mates.
This one feels fresh enough after 103K miles, is not silver or black (unusually), and has some added on chrome bits for girlie/hairdresser pose value. There is a twin car in a nearby village, driven by a slim young man who is, shall I say, very neatly dressed.
The 206 CC is actually a good enough girlie car. It is much more solid than a 205 (indeed arguably possessed of the modern car vices of excessive weight and unduly PHAT wheels and tyres). It is nippy enough in two litre guise, and it allows me to release my inner hairdresser from time to time. I got a good deal on it because the large northern bloke selling it had not realised that it is (after the MX 5) the world's most crimper-ish car, and was being ribbed about this by his pub mates.
This one feels fresh enough after 103K miles, is not silver or black (unusually), and has some added on chrome bits for girlie/hairdresser pose value. There is a twin car in a nearby village, driven by a slim young man who is, shall I say, very neatly dressed.
Perhaps I am just lucky with these heaps, but my ex wife has a 2002 206 CC that I bought her new as a birthday present and that has given few problems (loose exhaust and failed auto windscreen wipers being basically it apart from usual wear and tear stuff). The current wife's one has done much higher mileage than the ex's but is less scruffy, feels tighter because it has been driven more and sat on its arse less than the other one*, and thus far has given no problems at all in four months of use.
- all of this is also true of the respective spouses
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