Thursday 9th July 2015

Peugeot 106 Rallye: Spotted

205 GTIs spiralled out of reach? Very nice 106 Rallyes are still under £3K...

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It's in Fife. The cigarette lighter isn't standard. Other than that? Nothing. It's perfect. Buy it.

The Series 1 Peugeot 106 Rallye is a far more significant car than many give it credit for. As has been discussed on here previously, and indeed in the PH office amongst those of us with fast French previous, it's a genuine homologation special. The kind of car collectors and enthusiasts are tripping over themselves to own because it reminds them of when 'win on Sunday, sell on Monday' really applied. Plus many motorsport-inspired cars are deeply cool and very, very good.

A lightweight hero and some poxy Porsche

Back in the early 90s the sub-1,400cc class in international rallying was very popular and Peugeot wanted to win. Group N and Group A regs stipulated a certain amount of cars must be homologated and the Rallye launched in the UK at the London motor show in October 1993.

Its vitals must have looked silly then; 22 years later they're borderline ridiculous. 101hp from 1,294cc revving to 7,400rpm, 80lb ft and 825kg. ABS was an option. Power steering wasn't available. All that driver interaction and challenge we're always crowing on about in a dinky little Peugeot!

Predictably enough the press adored the Rallye and the public didn't get it. It's not just a modern problem. Too hardcore, not fast enough and so on. See the PHer who bought a car brand new with £1,500 off...

The appeal to enthusiasts has always been high with the Rallye thanks to all the reasons listed above, plus the fact it looks brilliant. Now though, the apparently inexorable rise of the 205 has drawn attention to the value offered by the other Peugeot pocket rockets. You want a standard 205 GTI with comfortably less than 100,000 miles? Nearly £7,000. This Rallye? £2,600. Exactly.

Black just is the best colour

The ad reads just how you would want - the owner has clearly enjoyed the car but cared for it also, with a recent cambelt and water pump always nice to see. The photos are good, the service history is comprehensive and he's even knowledgeable enough to point out the rare colour and non-sunroof shell. Result.

There is no way old, fast Peugeots will get any cheaper. These and 306 Rallyes are incredibly affordable still, particularly when compared with 205s. The 309 is even starting to get some recognition. Remember when the 106 Rallye was at Shed money? Won't happen again. 'Future classic' is always a hard one to predict but the Rallye is surely due some recognition soon. Buy it quick and enjoy it. No really, before someone here does...

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PEUGEOT 106 RALLYE (SERIES 1)
Engine: 1,294cc 4-cyl
Transmission: 5-speed manual, front-wheel drive
Power (hp): 100@7,200rpm
Torque (lb ft): 80@5,400rpm
MPG: N/A
CO2: N/A
First registered: 1996
Recorded mileage: 85,896
Price new: £8,995
Yours for: £2,600

View the advert here.

 

[Source: 106RallyeRegister]

 

[cerb4.5lee]

For some reason I never really liked these and I just found the white wheels offensive but I would imagine its decent fun to drive with it not carrying much weight.

[Ben Lowden]

If only this one was £800 like the SOTW, I'd snap it up in a heartbeat. Damn!

[srob]

I had one identical to that in the late 90s.

Kept spinning it, then sold it and the chap pulled out in front of someone and wrote it off.

Sad really, it was a great little car.

[suffolk009]

A couple of years ago I had a big crush on these. Tried very hard to find a standard one - they seemed to all have been rebodied, GTi engine swopped, or just slammed and stanced. In the end I had to buy something else.

I'd still like one, but have absolutely no space for it.

Does Dickie Meaden still have his S2?

[PorkRind]

How much?!

[Itsallicanafford]

..god i want this so much, but its 450 miles away. If it was a reasonable distance, i would buy this straight away...

[Turbobanana]

In 1994 I was working for a Peugeot dealer. Each dealer was encouraged to take a Rallye: ours was white. Everyone looked at it but no one bought it. Probably because I used to put them off. Why? Because I wanted it as a demonstrator, that's why!

I eventually got my way, just before it went fully paid, and loved every one of the 12,000 miles I did in it. Even when I span it going round a roundabout in the wet.

I couldn't really fault the car, and at 7,400 rpm it sounded great. I recall the wet wether handling being among the best I've ever experienced (above incident notwithstanding).

[Limpet]

I think the Rallye never sold because the XSi did 95% of what it did, but was much nicer to live with day to day. I owned a phase 1 XSi and drove several Rallyes. Like all performance Pugs of this era they were fantastic cars, but to me the Rallye never offered enough of a step up in performance or ability to compensate for its considerably less attractive proposition as a daily driver. It was better, but by a smaller margin than it was more difficult to live with, in my opinion, and at under 900kg, the XSi was hardly a bloater.

That said, I love this Rallye as a memento of when Peugeot actually built cars you'd choose to drive. Still looks brilliant as well.

As for my choice of the XSi, maybe I was an old fart, even back then.

Edited by Limpet on Thursday 9th July 13:43

[lankyarcher]

Well, I have a red S1, fully skip brown modified from new...
LSD, rev's to just over 8k... wonderful.
I will be buried in it.
I was using it as a daily until 4 years ago, but its just over 140k miles now, so it's been retired to weekends.

[goodhand]

Funny how Spotted/YKYWT are often cars which dealers had difficulty shifting when new. Despite universal thumbs-up in the press and the £9k RRP, some dealers were selling these for as low as £7k back in the day.

[Dale487]

Looks great - not silly money, like 205 & MKI Golf GTIs - & it's a homologation special too.

My first car was a 106 Quicksilver - loved the looks (standard), handling & the torquey 1.4. Hated the driving position & lack of motorway refinement (you need a pack of Anadin after 1.5 hours).

Porsche 968 CSs could be picked up for around £10k a while back but now you'll need £20k - these are similar in spirit & could do the same (the modded ones will only help the original condition ones achieve this).

Shame I can't justify £2600 on what'll be a toy

[nunpuncher]

Wow! That's more than double what my 205GTi cost 2 years ago and 5x more than the perfectly useable 205XS I viewed last week.

[Matt Bird]

nunpuncher said:

Wow! That's more than double what my 205GTi cost 2 years ago and 5x more than the perfectly useable 205XS I viewed last week.

WHERE IS THE £500 205XS? I MUST KNOW!

[Leins]

What are 205 Rallyes doing pricewise these days? I remember 4 Star were selling a one-owner low-miler a couple of years ago, which I think was about £8k from memory, that took a little while to shift

[nunpuncher]

It was in Falkirk. And it was £500 on Gumtree so probably went for £300-£400 at most. Had MOT and was in daily use. It was far from a concours example but shell was solid apart from needing a new front panel. It wasn't something you'd restore lovingly but certainly something you could enjoy driving if you were willing and able to do a bit of spannering (I don't think you can own any French car of that era without some ability in this area).

[s m]

Turbobanana said:

In 1994 I was working for a Peugeot dealer. Each dealer was encouraged to take a Rallye: ours was white. Everyone looked at it but no one bought it. Probably because I used to put them off. Why? Because I wanted it as a demonstrator, that's why!

I eventually got my way, just before it went fully paid, and loved every one of the 12,000 miles I did in it. Even when I span it going round a roundabout in the wet.

I couldn't really fault the car, and at 7,400 rpm it sounded great. I recall the wet wether handling being among the best I've ever experienced (above incident notwithstanding).

When I had my 309GTi and took it into a dealer in the mid 90s for some work, I got a Rallye as a loaner.

They apologised about the noisiness of it

[PhilBarker]

It's just a shame that literally all 106's suffer from insane levels of rust & rot

[nunpuncher]

PhilBarker said:

It's just a shame that literally all 106's suffer from insane levels of rust & rot

Have you ever looked at a similarly aged VW, Ford or even BMW? Peugeot were actually pretty good with rust protection and the common issues (inner wings, boot floors) are relatively easily fixed.

[Ben Lowden]

Matt Bird said:

nunpuncher said:

Wow! That's more than double what my 205GTi cost 2 years ago and 5x more than the perfectly useable 205XS I viewed last week.

WHERE IS THE £500 205XS? I MUST KNOW!

Not if I can get there first! Oh, Falkirk is a long way away. And its got 160K on the clock.

[nunpuncher]

I actually just emailed the guy and believe it or not he still has it. It's been on for 15 days and still not sold.

Grubby but we are talking night out money here.

http://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-motorbikes/peug...