205 Gti 1.9 Vs Golf Gti Mk2

[jdb1964 0]

thanks guys and girls

stirred up quite a debate hasn't it ?

no doubt been debated to death over the years

but having looked at that pic with them both in you still can't beat a 205 GTI for its looks can you ?

oh what to do...

 

J

[Batfink 201]

The 205 is no doubt the better drivers car but the golf does feel a lot more solid. Both are old so will need maintaining more than a newer car but the Mk2 is roughly in the era when VW did have very good reliability and build quality.

 

Kev

[Lan 24 1 Cars]

vw

better built

goes forever

safer

always starts

dont need to do jobs on it all the time

 

 

first hand experience on any of the above? Me and my dad have a mk2 GTI campaign special

 

better built - there is less rattles yes but.. they rot everywhere wheel arches, bootlid, sills, inner wings, alot worse than both my 205s

goes forever - yeah but like any old car they need maintenance and regular running to keep them going we rebuilt the engine in ours because it was tired at 169k

safer - no no no there just not you crash in this your as dead as you would be in a 205

always starts - providing you keep it maintained yes

dont need to do jobs on it all the time - most are 20+year old cars there will always be something

 

unlike the 205 though there bigger and not as fun to drive a bit wallowy even with koni's allround

Edited March 8, 2010 by Lan

[steble 1]

at the risk of getting shouted at

 

i couldn't reconmend a mk2 gti enough, i had a 16v one and it was a brilliant brilliant car, handled really well (maybe not quite as well as the 205), was nice and quick great fun to drive, reliable only reason it left me was cos of the insurance hence me now having a 205gti

 

my 16v looked battered, i swapped it for a rover216sli lol

 

it had been sat for a long long time and on the way home the clutch and gearbox went (was my 3rd car at the time lol) didn't have money to repair it straight away and had other cars to play with so it sat on my drive

 

fixed it eventually but it still sat there as i didn't think i'd have money to get it through a MOT

 

8 months had passed i decided it was about time to take it to MOT station and see the damage i gave it a going over checking everything, replaced one tail light bulb and took it started fine drove there perfectly not a problem and it went STRAIGHT THROUGH!!!!!! it was 1988 car as old as me and went straight through after being sat roting for 8 months

 

i miss it very much and would love to have it back but oh well you win some you lose some

[stutto 0]

My mkII had starting issues one wet, dark Friday night after work. This combined with a cracked windscreen, a few other electrical gremlins (nothing too major - had to replace the indicator stalk and the windows were always iffy) and pending MoT made me decide to move on. Whilst I was looking for a new car, I changed the dizzy cap, rotor and plugs.

 

Once I had another car, I removed anything I could sell and left it at the bottom of the garden. Two weeks later the scrapman came to collect. I turned the key and the old bugger started first time!

 

I abused that car and god knows what state my 205 would be in if I treated it the same way. Apart from the above and chewing up a couple of fanbelts, a seized rear caliper plus the sunroof deflectors rusting I can't remember anything going wrong in four years. I've had my 205 that long now and it has had its fair share of problems.

[badj 0]

I've had many marques of car over the last two years and more recently BMWs and Mercedes.

 

The German cars are built well and seem to be made with smaller tolerances - visavis the panel gaps, trim etc. - which makes the car feel more solid. However...

I found this incredibly boring, and if a job needed doing, which inevitably it will, incredibly frustrating removing dozens of screws to remove one peice of dash. To sum the experience up, if you know nothing about cars and have no interest in cars then the german built cars are ideal, of course only in my opinion.

I've gone from some very nice cars down to a base model 205 which is 19 years old just because I prefer it to anything I've had before. No over engineered parts to struggle with removing for a start, but mainly the heritage with motorsport peugeot has had, especially with the 205. I personally think that it shows and can be felt when you drive the car, even though mine is definately not a patch on a Gti..yet. lol.

I enjoy the squeaks and rattles, it gives the car personality. More importantly, I enjoy driving it and feel like I am part of the car when I drive it, which is what I personally beleive the PSA engineers wanted drivers to experience.

This is something which I personally like in a car, other people may be different. Of all the cars I've had so far I would say that a 1.1 206 I had is the best a-to-z hatch I've owned (I never liked them till I owned one), and the 145 cloverleaf was the most mental hatch (in standard form). I've never felt anything other than plain and bland experiences from VW.

 

Apologies for the essay, but I don't feel that a Golf GTI can ever have the passion, looks, or driveability of a 205 Gti. And if you note the recent thread about how many GTI's are left, they are certainly not going to be as saught after in a couple of years time.

 

EDIT - Might add that after taking up the carpet and soundproofing in the 205 today, there was seemingly absolutely no rust whatsoever on the floorpan at all and the paint looked factory fresh.. apart from a few spots of surface rust in the engine bay and behind the front bumper the body is the same. I'd certainly like to see any VW of similar age and usage be anything other than welded or rotten in major areas..

Edited March 13, 2010 by badj