I’m fed up. It’s a horrible feeling. I was asked to use the money from our SOTW Maestro, buy another car and see if I can sell it for a profit. And then this happens.
I’ve only gone and bought arguably one of the best hot hatches ever and now I really, really don’t want to sell it. So what did I buy to cause all this grief? It’s a 1990 Peugeot 205 GTI 1.9, 66,000 miles, two previous owners, nine months MOT and a few months tax. There was even half a tank of fuel and £1.50 in the ash-tray for me to buy a packet of crisps and a can of coke on the way home. Not that I would eat or drink inside this car of course because, as you can see from the pictures, the interior is spotless.
To be honest a Pug 205 GTI wasn’t on my shopping list because I only wanted to spend £500. For that money you’d normally be looking at one that would have scraped through an MOT on its little French belly, covered in rust like it had been shot with a Tommy gun and with an interior that smelt like frog’s legs. Sure, I was setting my sights on old Audi’s and Merc 109’s but they’re not exactly motoring history. But then an ad popped up on Gumtree.com for the Pug that opened: ‘Fast, fun, very reliable and running well.’
I called affable German, Bruno, and he told me enough about the car to make me head for Hampstead sharpish to have a look, cursing the bloke who would inevitably snap it up before I arrived. When I got there the red devil was quietly sitting there minding its own business, with an ad in its window, oblivious to the hellish afternoon journey I had had across central London.
Bruno showed me around the car and told me it had been in his family for 14 years and had been brought over from Germany (did I mention it’s a left hooker?). The car started immediately from cold, the steering seemed as tight as when it left the factory and it pulled as well as you would imagine a tin can with a 1.9 engine would.
Four new-ish tyres, three months tax, no rust, electric windows, central locking, a CD player, free crooklock, decent original alloys, an immaculate interior, spotless original bodywork and one of the best chassis to come out of France were enough to seal the deal.The car had 100,000 kms (66,000 miles) on the clock and a decent bit of history with regular services to boot. I couldn’t help but think Bruno realised that he might have let the old girl go a bit cheap when he accepted 500 quid. From the sale of the Maestro we had £755 from our original £500 sum, so there is still £255 in the kitty.
Since then I’ve been driving it and it’s becoming more and more difficult to peel myself out of the half-leather chairs. Who cares it’s a left hooker when it’s this much fun? The best thing about the car is it makes you feel 19 again and with the PistonHeads team four-up we could have easily been heading off down the chippy to hang out on a Friday night.
Now I’ve got to sell it, so it’s going to get a polish and a couple of missing badges stuck back on. So if you want to make me an offer before it goes you can, but I’d rather you didn’t bother. That way I get to drive it for a little bit longer…
Fast, fun very reliable and running well.
- 1900 cc, 120 bhp, runs 125 mph!
- MOT August 08 (always sailed through)
- Check-book maintenance record
- Minor scratches/dents, otherwise very good condition
This has been a family car and we are only the second owners. It comes from the time of small, fun, over-motorised cars (like the original Golf GTI)
Selling since we are leaving the country (and sadly cannot take it with us).
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