RE: PH Heroes: Peugeot 205 GTI 1.9

[collateral]

iirc the consensus was it was due to them being designed to be LHD so the cable was routed stupidly for us righties

[r1ch]

I've just got in from a 5 hour drive in my 205 gti 1.9 and you'd think it'd ruin your back but im just fine. Great fun, every time you drive it is like a little adventure. Granted sometimes you don't want an adventure you just want to get from A to B in comfort, but its not bothered me as my daily driver for the past 18 months. The 1.9 gear ratios are just nice on the motorway.

[g3org3y]

rallycross said:

Never had an Elan but did have the Corrado VR6 at the same time as the others, was a really nice low mileage (45k) one owner (fsh) manual VR6, it was good but no where close to what a DC2 is capable of (although the VR6 is nicer on motorway trips)

Sorry, OT but what colour is that E36? Factory or respray?

[heebeegeetee]

Great thread. I never had one, unfortunately, but we did buy a new R5 GTTurbo at the time which was also a bloody great car, a fantastic drive.

Back in the period though i did get to drive a a fair few miles in a 309GTi, and that was a bloody good car too, albeit hit with the ugly stick.

[rallycross]

G reg 1.6
[/quote]

Best one I ever had looked like this one, was a 1.6 base model with no pas, no elecs or sun roof just as light weight as you could get and was a one lady owner with 54,000 miles and fsh. I only bought it to use for spares as needed for the racing car but when I drove it home I realised it still felt like a new car!

It had lived such an easy life it was perfect, but at that time (2001) it had little value being such a basic model I sold it at the end of the season - wish I'd just mothballed it safely for a rainy day. None left like that now and was such a hoot to drive on the lanes.

[OlberJ]

The ph1.5 1.6GTi's seem to have survived the best.

Certainly what i'd be looking for as a base car to add the right bits too.

[trackerjack]

We used one for grass tracking and trackdays.............bloody marvelous nail it = understeer, liftoff = oversteer, just play it on the throttle and point it where you want to go.
A cheap £180 1.9 GTI and our first event (Smeartharpe)outrite win over lots of expensive wheels........I would love a pristine one for the road to keep.

[adycav]

My missus had one of these (it was her first car) when I met her over 12 years ago.

It was love at first sight and she wasn't bad either.

Sadly the car has long gone, but the missus is still around.

[boobles]

Owned 2 of them & both were shi*e.

[TonyHetherington]

sootyrumble said:

Galaxy Bob said:

joz8968 said:

Oh, and there were these colours for the Pug:-

Red
Black
Charcoal grey
White
Miami Blue
Sorrento Green

Edited by joz8968 on Tuesday 29th March 14:47

Lhasa Green? I'm sure there was a Lhasa Green too.

I googled just before submitting this and google shows it to be a VW colour, but I'm sure Pugeot did it too. It was a very light metallic, nearly mint green.
I remember it because I thought it was a bit girly at the time.

Also, wasn't the black a flat black and the metallic one was a special edition? MTV or Radio one or something like that?

Your right about the mint green i think it was called Laser Green but it deffinitely wasn't Lhasa as that is a dark Veedub metallic from the Mk1 GTI's, they also did a Roland Garros which was effectively BRG with white leather interior which you may be confusing it with

As well as charcoal grey (which was the darker one) there was also graphite grey (which i think the one in the article is)

[TonyHetherington]

Chuffing awesome.

I had a Graphite Grey E-reg 205 GTi 1.9. Absolutely brilliant car, I loved it to bits. Bought it in around '98 (was my first car). Registration was E838 CRO if anyone knows of it? I will, without doubt, own another 205 GTi in my life

[Psimpson7]

My 3 were:

Firstly a mint 1991 J registered pre cat 1.9 in sorrento green with green carpets.



I only had it for 9 months, then sold it to buy an Integrale evo. My brother bought it, then after a few years he sold it to buy a new 147gta. Then my youngest brother had it for a while. I think when it finally left the family it had done about 180k miles.

I then had a 1988 D registered one for commuting / hacking around in. I bought it for next to nothing as someone had lightly tapped the rear end. Fixed it and did about 60k miles in 2 years in it commuting from the Cotswolds to Witton in Birmingham every day. I could do the entire trip, only changing gear 6 times, including parking. Used to get over 40mpg out of it too!

I did a load of trackdays in it aswell. It was huge fun. Lots of great memories in that back in the day.

It was a sad day when I scrapped it - couldn't get the emmisions down for an MOT so dismantled it and got another one. That had also done about 180k miles at the end.

Finally I bought a 1989 G registered 1.9 in red, again damaged, for next to nothing, repaired all the damage, and ran it for a year or so before selling it.

For a long time I had an entire 405mi16x4 stored away which I had intended to transplant the entire drive train from into the D registered shell, but it was one of those projects that dragged on, and I then emigrated!

Still awesome memeories. One of my all time favourite cars.

Huge oversteer at any speed, any time, anywhere, simply lift, or for even more dramatic results push to under steer, and then lift

Edited by Psimpson7 on Wednesday 30th March 08:08

[TonyHetherington]

Psimpson7 said:

I could do the entire trip, only changing gear 6 times, including parking. Used to get over 40mpg out of it too!

Superb

[TomTVR500]

tom felty said:

mine is white its emensely quick and i hink its a good example

It looks like a good one. Also I really hope you can get insurance on it when you pass your test but insurance companies charge you off the road until your at least 21. I think the insurance on a 205 GTI for me would still be a silly ammount compared to the car I have now which is actually a bit faster. Purely because it has the letters G..T and I in It's name.
Here's hoping things change soon though......

[TonyHetherington]

Psimpson7 said:

Firstly a mint 1991 J registered pre cat 1.9 in sorrento green with green carpets.

A lovely car, however - if I may be honest (and use it for a point of discussion!) I never really liked those later style mid-wrap around spoilers, and the differently styled rear blank plate in red. I always preferred this rear end;



rather than this one;

[MC Bodge]

I remember travelling along in my Dad's Cavalier in the mid-80s. A 1.9 GTI and a Porsche 944 shot past.
"Ha! Look at that, Dad, a Peugeot is trying to race that Porsche."
"I think the bloke in the Porsche might just get a surprise. thos 1.9s are quite fast" My Dad replied.

I've never owned one, but I've been tempted to buy a sheddy one many times...

[Psimpson7]

TonyHetherington said:

A lovely car, however - if I may be honest (and use it for a point of discussion!) I never really liked those later style mid-wrap around spoilers, and the differently styled rear blank plate in red.

I totally agree with you Tony! Unfortunately I wanted the best condition one I could find and that was how it came!

I did remove the spoiler but the ham fisted person who had fitted it, had dented the boot lid so I had to put it back on.

[the_stoat]

I just got my 1.9 out at the weekend after a year off the road. I only drove it to and from the MOT station but I was giggling like a teenager. Mine has the now obligatory Mi16 engine swap, a dash of lumpy cam and lower final drive from a 1.6.

My daily car is a Megane R26 and can confirm that if speed is all you care about this kicks the 205 into the weeds, but if you want fun and a sense of driver involvement the 205 is leagues ahead. Also I forgot how nice it was to drive a lightweight car and have no electronics between you and the throttle body.

Also apologies to the Z4 driver who started to indicate to overtake me as we came out of the 30 limit, I could not resist the temptation!

[TonyHetherington]

Ah I see. A man of perfect taste

I bet classified values have all just gone up by £500

[Psimpson7]

Indeed! I am now going through carsales.com.au looking at the very limited, expensive, options!

Damn you all