The 205 Gti - A Dying Breed?

[Andy_C 50]

Sorry, back up a little.... but what?

 

I know that BMW recently started doing factory restores (for £££££'s) but I'd not heard that Peugeot were doing it.

 

Interesting to see how they're planning to do that also, when every week more and more 205 parts are listed as NLP and I can't see them adapting and making do with parts from later cars in the same vain that many of us do, nor can I see them hunting in scrapyard or scouring forums like this for those needed parts.

 

Was in Octane recently - Mr Simister's 205 went to the factory for some TLC and he reported that they're offering this as a "factory" service in future. Suspect it may not last once they see how much NLA stuff is needed.

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

That's interesting to know, But I bet not one of them know anymore about a 205 than me or a few others on here,

One of those thing's of why start now as none of the older models are covered unless they go back to France which would cost well 'allot'

[johnsimister 10]

Was in Octane recently - Mr Simister's 205 went to the factory for some TLC and he reported that they're offering this as a "factory" service in future. Suspect it may not last once they see how much NLA stuff is needed.

 

It was a tentative idea, and since they did my car not a lot else seems to have happened. The plan was to market and advertise the service and I hope they do get on and do this. There has just been a change of body shop manager which could explain why the scheme hasn't progressed.

 

One problem is the lack of older-car knowledge among the younger workshop staff. Some of them had barely seen a 205 GTI before so working on my car was a voyage of discovery for them. Some things weren't put back quite right - door speakers wired back to front, window switches upside down, that sort of thing - but it's a learning curve for them. They also lost a little piece of dashboard trim which is of course no longer available. All that said, the paintwork was lovely.

 

I hope the restoration scheme does get off the ground. There's enthusiasm there, and it makes business sense because it uses up slack time in the bodyshop which normally deals with press demonstrators and management cars.

 

Ben Allen wrote a good story, and it's interesting to look at howmanyleft.co.uk to see the decline in greater detail. I still use my 205 regularly, despite often having new cars to test and write about. The 205 is a great antidote to over-complicated modern stuff, and sometimes I just need a 205 purity-fix. I took it to a Lancia Motor Club trackday at Goodwood recently (having sold my Fulvia HF) and the club members loved it.

 

John

 

John

[johnsimister 10]

Just to make it clear, BTW, my car didn't go to the factory. The work was done by Peugeot UK in Coventry.

 

John

[RichF 1 2 Cars]

Checked both 'my' cars the other day, I know it's not conclusive but it doesn't look good:

 

G435UFG (red 1.6) Date of Liability - 01 09 2006, Status - Unlicensed.

H352WYY (black 1.9) - Date of Liability - 01 08 2007, Status - Unlicensed.

 

The 1.6 has Export Marker = Export, what does that mean? That it's gone abroad?!

 

I'm posting this in the hope that someone has got them and can tell me that they're still 'alive', I can't remember the rules on posting reg numbers, hope it's ok to do so in these circumstances?

 

Oh and all of you who look back at your cars after parking them....I still do the same it's just that I have to make do with admiring yours rather than my own

 

For example - white 1.9 in the car park of B&Q Gloucester on Saturday!

Edited July 20, 2011 by RichF

[johnsimister 10]

Yes, your 1.6 has been exported. My 1.6 went to Guernsey back in 2003 and is also on the DVLA record as 'Export marker: export'. My sold Lancia should by now have arrived in Japan and it, too, is noted as Export. Interesting that the UK numbers remain on the system.

 

Someone, somewhere is still enjoying your 1.6. Hope so, anyway.

 

John

[eck_johnston 2]

interesting stuff. i use mine regularly and although it rattles, smells, isn't entirely trustworthy or terribly comfy, it is surprisingly practical (usually it has the seats down for a bike or 2) and makes me grin. yes there is a constant list of things needing done, but i didn't buy it expecting an amazingly well put together or completely reliable car...

what i've noticed recently is that there seem to be more poverty spec 205s getting some road time.

there are 3 or 4 near me that are scabby and rusty but look ace on their really skinny wheels and so on. they make me smile every time too.

 

I see just as many (or should that be few) 205s on the roads now as I did 11 years ago when I bought my first one. In fact I've seen more GTIs/CTIs up here in Edinburgh in the last few months than I've seen around anywhere in ages. But you only have to look around the forum to notice that there seems to be hotspots around the UK where there are a lot more GTIs still going strong than in other areas.

 

.. so who might i see driving round edinburgh?

a few times i've seen a black ph1 (i think) that is always packed with stuff and looking quite low. then there are a couple of red 1.6s that i see every so often, and a few others i recognise.

i'm to be seen charging around in a graphite 1.6 on nice white 106 rallye steels..

Edited July 21, 2011 by eck_johnston

[jackflash 1]

Im gotta say my 1.9 G plate just clocked 219K today.

 

Its still going great and runs a 40 mile trip on some great B roads everyday. Ive run up 1000 mile in just over 5 weeks and had no problems at all. Best thing is like quite afew others have said alot of folk have stopped and chatted to me or given me the thumbs up as I've scooted past. I sold a perfectly serviceable X reg focus and bought this latest Pug..... And without a doubt its the best automotive move I've made in years!

 

Long live my (and your) 205!

[j_turnell 137 3 Cars]

 

'if I remember correctly we fitted a 1.9 and kept the 1.6 'box'.

 

 

What did you do with it in the end? When I got rid of it the interior was a lot better than it was when I bought it, was a pretty good car really!

 

Whats this 'we' business all about lol Got the engine off Pacey on here, was a strong 1.9 lump at the time!

 

I know what you did with it Ben, you swapped it for a rotten steel grey remember haha - still not forgiven you for that lol

[MikeyB13 0]

I bought mine a year ago planning to only use it on the track. Now I take it to work every day

[u47sb2 27 2 Cars]

Having not seen any on the roads around here I spotted 2 near Inverness in one afternoon earlier this week - first an F-reg 1.6 cherry red just the same as mine, then another cherry red but on 15 inch rims couldn't see if it was a 1.6 or 1.9.

[Kettmark 0]

Had mine back on the road for 2-3 months after having it garaged for 12 years. Since using it again, I've yet to pass another GTi on the road. I'm looking for one to wave at to see if I get a wave back!

[christopher 5 1 Cars]

205's are just rare in general now.

 

I have driven my 1988 205 Euro Rallye every day for the past 7 years and it has never let me down:-)

 

It is rusty had now red doors and primitive. But when I sit at the lights and look at the guy next to me in in new Audi I feel retro, I feel proud to own and drive a rare retro motoring icon. I feel sorry for the guy that doesn't know what he is missing out on by not having driven a real Drivers Car.

 

I took the family on a driving holiday for two weeks to the UK this summer. I drove around London and the south east visiting friends.

 

I saw in total maybe three 205's and no GTI's (except my mums:-)

[harryskid 193]

I saw three on one sunday afternoon a few weeks a go when i was in Hants and if i counted the one on my trailer it was four ! They are out there you just have to look a bit harder!

[cybernck 402 1 Cars]

The days of reshelling 205 GTIs because of small dents and breaking perfectly good cars due to few spots of rust are definitely (and luckily) over though!

 

And there's another big difference - back in the day, most of the 205 GTIs were daily drivers and now a lot of them are in fact second cars.

[harryskid 193]

The days of reshelling 205 GTIs because of small dents and breaking perfectly good cars due to few spots of rust are definitely (and luckily) over though!

 

And there's another big difference - back in the day, most of the 205 GTIs were daily drivers and now a lot of them are in fact second cars.

 

Thats is a fact, as mine on the trailer is far removed from a road car!

[hd_andy 2]

I've just bought another 205 after a 4 year break. I cant say I had really thought about the fact that there are less around (according to the figures)

 

What I have noticed is the spares availability (it was difficult to give away an orange indicator lens, now they are selling at good prices)

 

I do think its a shame that you put a depressive slant on the article. You could have geared it more towards the classic car argument.

 

If there was ever any doubt of the 205 GTi being a classic there certainly isn't these days.

[Ben Allen 8]

I'm glad this article is still getting read. It is all written a bit tongue-in-cheek, although unfortunately judging by a couple of the comments on the article itself it wasn't clear enough

 

Anyway I think it's a fairly important subject in 205 terms, and I'm very glad the 205 can now be considered a classic. I used to get 'boy racer' jibes a fair amount when I first had them. To be fair I was 18 when I first got one though. However now I don't think there's really an argument for them being a boy racer car.

 

It's funny thinking back to the days of raiding scrapyards for them. Back in the day there'd be four or five 205s of the GTi variety in a single yard, and parts would be easily accessible. Imagine how many parts that are now basically extinct would've gone to waste back them. I should have started my own parts barn or something. Also I wish I'd kept a 205 in storage when I moved to Canada. It'd be worth four times as much now, and earning dollars over here would basically allow me to have taken the entire summer off

 

Anyhow - long live the 205. Just doing my part for the cause

 

 

P.S. Jeez, the amount of orange indicators I had. Could've started an orange indicator farm!

[TT205 42]

However now I don't think there's really an argument for them being a boy racer car.

 

Yes there is Cameron has got one

[Alfie 6]

thats bang on, exactly what i would have wrote.

Especially after a good wash, polish, some tyre foam and autoglym the Black bits,,,'ansome!

[kingboyk 2]

Things have definitely changed a lot in the last few years mate. When I bought my 205 in 02 it was just a cheap runaround. Go shopping and every other car was some 205 base model or diesel and there were a fair few GTis about too. No problem getting parts, no waving at other drivers, nothing special about owning a GTI at all (apart from the fun of course).

 

Fast forward to the last couple of years: I drove 2500 miles in Europe and saw ONE other GTi. We all now wave at each other and get comments from random strangers usually along the lines of "I used to have one of them! Now I drive a people carrier". 90% of the cars known to the DVLA 10 years ago have disappeared (some were taken to the race track, some are future barn finds, most went to the breakers yard ). Parts are getting harder to come by. Seriously, in a few years we could well be looking at under 1000 roadworthy examples left in the entire country!

 

The cheap runaround has become a modern classic. Lots of us have or are thinking of spending more money restoring our cars than they're actually worth, although I expect values to catch up with restoration costs before this decade is out.

 

I was prompted to find this thread when I recieved an email from Pistonheads just now with the headline "PEUGEOT 205 MI16 CTI BREAKING". OK, I accept some cars are going to be rotten to the core by now or accident damaged. Let's use them for parts. But PLEASE, no more scrapping of any 205 GTI that is capable of being repaired! Certainly not while most parts can still be bought *somewhere* even if Pug don't sell them any more (although they still sell a surprising amount of bits).

 

I don't want my car to be rare. I want to wave to other GTi drivers and have meet ups and be part of a community of petrol heads who love these French tin cans like I do. No can do if they're all scrapped!

[Ben Allen 8]

Things have definitely changed a lot in the last few years mate. When I bought my 205 in 02 it was just a cheap runaround. Go shopping and every other car was some 205 base model or diesel and there were a fair few GTis about too. No problem getting parts, no waving at other drivers, nothing special about owning a GTI at all (apart from the fun of course).

 

Fast forward to the last couple of years: I drove 2500 miles in Europe and saw ONE other GTi. We all now wave at each other and get comments from random strangers usually along the lines of "I used to have one of them! Now I drive a people carrier". 90% of the cars known to the DVLA 10 years ago have disappeared (some were taken to the race track, some are future barn finds, most went to the breakers yard ). Parts are getting harder to come by. Seriously, in a few years we could well be looking at under 1000 roadworthy examples left in the entire country!

 

The cheap runaround has become a modern classic. Lots of us have or are thinking of spending more money restoring our cars than they're actually worth, although I expect values to catch up with restoration costs before this decade is out.

 

I was prompted to find this thread when I recieved an email from Pistonheads just now with the headline "PEUGEOT 205 MI16 CTI BREAKING". OK, I accept some cars are going to be rotten to the core by now or accident damaged. Let's use them for parts. But PLEASE, no more scrapping of any 205 GTI that is capable of being repaired! Certainly not while most parts can still be bought *somewhere* even if Pug don't sell them any more (although they still sell a surprising amount of bits).

 

I don't want my car to be rare. I want to wave to other GTi drivers and have meet ups and be part of a community of petrol heads who love these French tin cans like I do. No can do if they're all scrapped!

 

Yeah I totally hear you man. It makes me feel awful to know what reason we broke cars for back in the day, and left parts to be scrapped with them. Something like a dodgy rear beam, or a little rust here or there would be a terminal problem. Hindsight is a wonderful thing for sure.

 

One day I am determined to ship a GTi out to Vancouver. I doubt there's any around. In three and a half years I've never even seen a Peugeot of the same era (I believe they stopped selling them in Canada in the early '80s, so whatever there is after that over here is imported).

 

I guess I'd go for a left-hooker. It's the sensible thing to do over here after all. Perhaps I should get me a Griffe!

[Daviewonder 533 3 Cars]

It's true about them getting rarer but if you compare them to any other 80's hot hatch they're pretty common still. I had a look on howmanyleft.com and all other 80's hatch numbers are in the Hundreds whereas the 205 gti's are still up in the thousands. I'd hate to think how much they'll be worth when there's only a few hundred left.

 

I can go 6 months+ without seeing another 205 Gti now. So I feel very proud driving around in mine and still have to look back at it several times after parking it I've got the urge to get the 1.6 back on the road as to me thats what the 205's all about. My 2.0 Turbo just doesn't give me the same warm glow as a standard Gti does.

[daneldridge23 15]

i nearly shed a tear then! mine will be done soon and back out on the b roads !

[1.9er 1]

I remember coming home from playing footie earlier this year, when at the traffic lights, someone in another car was blowing their horn to get my attention.I opened the window and he said "Not seen one of those cars for years.....Look after it....That is a bad boys car"

Then another incident where someone on my road actually flagged me down to tell me how much he loves my car and what a classic it is. I deffo get more attention in my Pug than my unmarked street sleeper Audi A3 3.2 V6.

I still get a buzz from driving it after 13 years of ownership.And I also look back it after I've parked and got out.

Edited December 4, 2011 by 1.9er