Potential 205 owner..

[SR20]

Here's the situation. I'm 17, I currently own a '01 Micra and a '94 Legacy wagon. I'm pretty sure I want to sell both and find a nice 205. I was looking at the the XS, but insurance is a killer, more so than the 2.0 Subaru.. For whatever reason.
I was just wondering if anyone had any do's and don't's when shopping for 205s, and just general advice would be appreciated!

[robminiman]

cracking cars, but due to the age of them now rust can be an issue mainly on the front inner wings and under the rear seat squab. also the bearings in the rear axle have a habit of breaking up, to check this jack the car put grab the wheel at 2 and 8 and push/pull. if there is play its not the end of the world but budget a couple hundred quid to sort it. the XS models are fitted with the tu3s engine with are tough little engines but do have a habit of leaky head gaskets, look on the osf corner of the engine head to block join for oil leaking. if there leaking its not to bad they still keep going, again couple hundred quid to sort.

other than that just the usual wear and tear items. ive got a 1990 205 gr 1.4 petrol in the field, done 150,000 miles and the last 10,000 were done by me got abused for 25 miles every day floged from cold etc, did some autotest and a couple of road rallies! i that time the only failure was the ignition module and a coolant hose burst.

Rob

[Slowped]

Try and buy a later model, rust proofing is much better after 1992/K reg IIRC. I managed to find a rare P reg.

[750turbo]

robminiman said:

cracking cars, but due to the age of them now rust can be an issue mainly on the front inner wings and under the rear seat squab. also the bearings in the rear axle have a habit of breaking up, to check this jack the car put grab the wheel at 2 and 8 and push/pull. if there is play its not the end of the world but budget a couple hundred quid to sort it. the XS models are fitted with the tu3s engine with are tough little engines but do have a habit of leaky head gaskets, look on the osf corner of the engine head to block join for oil leaking. if there leaking its not to bad they still keep going, again couple hundred quid to sort.

other than that just the usual wear and tear items. ive got a 1990 205 gr 1.4 petrol in the field, done 150,000 miles and the last 10,000 were done by me got abused for 25 miles every day floged from cold etc, did some autotest and a couple of road rallies! i that time the only failure was the ignition module and a coolant hose burst.

Rob

The pre facelift (1988?) had the XV series 1360 engine.

/Anorak

[robminiman]

750turbo said:

The pre facelift (1988?) had the XV series 1360 engine.

/Anorak

sorry, im not that old!

[Simes205]

Best built cars are g/h.
Later ones suffer more rust and poor quality paint.

[C. Grimsley]

Simes205 said:

Best built cars are g/h.
Later ones suffer more rust and poor quality paint.

Agreed, later cars seem to rust a lot quicker.

Carl