1990 Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9 - Exceptional condition

The ultimate hot hatch? – quite possibly. I remember so clearly the first time I drove one of these back in the period, my everyday Golf GTi at the time was good but the 1.9 was in a different league with so much verve, style, speed and great character. To this day I’m not sure it has been bettered and of course now legislation means we are unlikely to see anything like this again.

Unfortunately the very attributes that make the 1.9 GTi a world beater mean that it’s very hard to find a really great non-abused example today. They encouraged shall we say, an extrovert style of driving, which didn’t lend itself to preservation! I’m always happy to buy a great example but am normally always disappointed by what I find, this example however is great.

It’s a rare UK supplied limited edition model finished in the great shade Sorrento Green with an Anthracite full leather interior. One of the second series examples it also features power steering, making the steering more precise and the car more chuckable and the sunroof, and no(!) it works perfectly and doesn’t squeak or leak.

Delivered new in August 1990 by Peugeot main dealer Lex in Nottingham, the first local owner obviously liked the GTi as he remains the sole registered keeper from new. His appreciation of the car is further shown by a full and comprehensive service history with all invoices and MOT certificates on file.

The original owner offered the car for sale several years ago and we bought it. At this point it had covered 74,000 miles was in excellent original condition and had clearly been very carefully driven and maintained, indeed it looked like a much lower mileage example. Following a full inspection and maintenance as required by the highly regarded 205 GTi specialist Pug It Off in Brackley we sold the car to a regular and loyal Hairpin customer who has only the finest cars in his notable collection, most being rather more exotic than the Peugeot.

Sometime after purchase this second owner decided to have the mechanicals rebuilt with a slightly warmer engine cam, to this end the engine and gearbox were fully rebuilt and all ancillaries fully checked and replaced or refurbished as required. This project was over seen by the specialist who normally looks after this customer's Group C racing cars! Invoices on file amounting to around £7,000 details the work completed.

The car is now for sale with us again with just a further 1,000 miles added, however the car goes like no other with an alacrity, turn of speed and lovely taut fluent gearbox. It comes with all books, tools, keys and comprehensive history file.

Must be one of the best.