Wednesday 12th March 2014

Peugeot 205 GTI: PH Ad Break

Peugeot previews the 205's rallying success by hooning through the desert in a GTI. With missiles

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Can you imagine seeing a car advert that's five minutes long in 2014? An outpouring of disaffection on Twitter would surely result after about forty seconds as our short attention spans struggled to cope with such a lengthy commercial.

And in all honesty this launch film for the Peugeot 205 GTI could probably be about half the length, endearing and enjoyable though it is. Or is that the short attention span again? It essentially involves a rather suave gent driving a lovely little GTI around the desert for quite a while, adeptly showing off its lift-off oversteer qualities before narrowly missing a train and then reaching the edge of a cliff... we'll leave you in suspense as to the end as it really is quite special.

As is often the case, the older days of car advertising provide a refreshing alternative to modern marketing. There's absolutely no mention of efficiency or prices or safety in this 311 seconds of film. It just says 'here's our pretty new car being driven very fast and here's its name in large font' with nothing more. Peugeot is confident you'll want it with nothing more than a visual display. Which we do actually. To the classifieds!

Watch it here

 

[N.B. Press image used rather than screengrab because, well, the quality of the vid isn't great and it would look a bit naff].

[Hellbound]

Peugeot 108 GTI conceptualization:





I'd love a 108 GTI-R with reinforced engine block, specific turbo and exhaust manifolds, stronger conrods and new forged pistons developed with Mahle Motorsport, just like with the RCZ-R. Not to mention upgraded brakes and dampers.

Perhaps then we can consign the 205 GTI to history and leave this misplaced sense of nostalgia behind.

[benters]

is that Ron Burgundy on Jazz Flute ??

[Mr2Mike]

That advert, shown today, would have Brake and the ASA frothing at the mouth

[TonyHetherington]

How unnecessarily brilliant

[Ag51bye]

benters said:

is that Ron Burgundy on Jazz Flute ??

Best watched on mute!

[anonymous-user]

How close was that train?!

[cheesesliceking]

Hellbound said:

Peugeot 108 GTI conceptualization:





I'd love a 108 GTI-R with reinforced engine block, specific turbo and exhaust manifolds, stronger conrods and new forged pistons developed with Mahle Motorsport, just like with the RCZ-R. Not to mention upgraded brakes and dampers.

Perhaps then we can consign the 205 GTI to history and leave this misplaced sense of nostalgia behind.

constipated?

[mike-r]

Ironically I stopped reading this article halfway down and didn't watch the video.

[Garlick]

NSF valance doesn't stand up well to being driven on the railway track....

[Garlick]

benters said:

is that Ron Burgundy on Jazz Flute ??

Niiiiiiice.

[KMB]

Quite surprising they let the helicopter come down that low into the dust cloud, EH&S wasn't around at that point

[peteA]

Loved my 205 Gti's...would have another! The ad is 'period' great...the car / train shot is all CGi right...

[Ollieb7]

Extras are for Jessies - Only one wing mirror for me thank you! :-D

[thatguy11]

Who else remembers this from being featured in Mr Clarkson's very first video???

[r1ch]

Classic advert!

[slipstream 1985]

micheal bay said:

Hmm loads of random explosions... not a bad idea

[ajh38]

Today I took in part exchange a one owner from new 205 STDT with 55,000 on the clock. Imagine what it would be worth if a GTi!

[macdeb]

Fab little cars, had a 1.9 with a turbo technics conversion and wish I still had it.

[Peter Ward]

I had a white GTI 1.6 (115bhp) for many years. It was a great car and we loved it. I recall that we bought unidirectional Bridgestone RE71s to replace the original Contis and dramatically improved grip while reducing road noise -- strange what you remember! We didn't get the external sunroof but eventually got a pop-up fitted. Unfortunately we went for one without PAS and it became hard work. We sold it about 5 years ago and didn't get as much for it as we expected -- they seem to go for a few thousand, nothing more. Perhaps one day they'll be worth millions but not yet! But it brings back happy memories of a simpler age...

[HereBeMonsters]

ajh38 said:

Today I took in part exchange a one owner from new 205 STDT with 55,000 on the clock. Imagine what it would be worth if a GTi!

Er, I know a lot of people who would be interested in that. Me for one. PM me if you want to move it on, been looking for a good STDT for a while.