Where Have All The 205S Gone?

[JoshGti 8]

So ive been messing around in mx5s for a while and that usually leads into an S chassis purchase but Id rather go back to my 205. I have loads of spares left in the garage so feel like buying another.

 

But the prices! I've seen down the general chat that the nearest 205 to me in wimborne is advertised at £22k which is mental.

 

Can't seem to find any on ebay close, barely any on piston heads.

 

Have you guys broken them all for spares in the last 6-8 years haha? Doesn't even seem to be many for sale on here, what am I missing?

 

Josh

[Anthony 1,003]

Welcome back

 

Still plenty of 205's out there, just I suspect that more people than ever are starting to hang onto them for the longer term - which coupled with the time of year is probably why you're not seeing that many for sale currently on the open market. I suspect that come the spring when people drag the cars out of winter storage that you'll start seeing a few more on the market.

 

Price wise, they've unquestionably shot up in the last few years, and I would guess that an average condition 205 GTi is probably £2-3k these days and about twice that for a very tidy example. If you look at eBay selling prices there's still plenty of cheaper examples out there selling for less than £1500, although many of them needed a reasonable amount of work at that sort of price. I would imagine that most of the £10k+ examples are investment cars that will likely barely be driven, and on the back of that, you've lots of sellers of middling examples thinking that theirs are also worth top money.

 

The days of them being routinely broken for parts has passed now, with those tired examples that would have been broken previously now being restored, which whilst great on one hand is I fear going to have a very negative effect on parts availability going forwards (particularly coupled with loads of bits now being NFP from Peugeot)

[speno 239 2 Cars]

They are still out there . Just be pro active. Last couple of months I've picked up 3 gti's and 4 309 gti's

[commievid 8]

I'm in that awkward position of thinking whether my 205 GTI6 is worth cashing in, versus keeping it, it's not exactly original so won't command those prices, nor will get what I really want I suspect. Those really expensive examples will be really low mileage so aren't for driving really, just museum pieces, saw a Clio Williams for 22k, similar example. You are right though, that when I was looking for one originally almost 4 years ago, there were quite a few around at a spectrum of prices, £500 - £5000.

 

It is the middle of winter though, quite hard to clean up a car and also to make sure it starts up reasonably well, so that could be another factor? I was looking around June/July.

[nomis 12]

I was looking for a GTi from summer to end of the year 2014 and bought my mine at the end of December.

I noticed a real seasonality in them for sale before and after I bought. The number of decent ones evaporated through autumn to winter and stayed low until about April time.

 

They seemed to be more expensive through the winter due to the fact that decent ones were thinner on the ground and the ones you were seeing were the higher priced ones.

 

I got mine at a fair price but had I passed it up could have been waiting a fair few months for another to come up, whereas in spring summer there seemed much more choice.

[JoshGti 8]

Cheers Anthony!

 

Good to be back, hopefully soon with a car. What you said about the breakers being restored is good to hear! I remember when I was last active on the forum that there were always comments when people were breaking cars for what was such little amounts of rust by comparison to the ford and mini guys.

 

A pattern in the answers seems to be buy a car when the warmer weather comes about then! I'll keep my ear to the ground. There's a poor Miami blue 1.6 that's been neglected in a marks and Spencer's car park locally to me for the last 12 years. Paints shagged but seems solid, owner never wants to sell which is annoying.

 

I've also been wanting to MP3.1 a car again, Ill bet that finding the parts for that again will be near impossible!

Edited February 17, 2016 by JoshGti

[nomis 12]

It's the opposite to what you;d think isn't it - surely more demand in nicer months, but actually it seems supply is the issue.

[speno 239 2 Cars]

Personally I think you get a lot more in the winter months and a better deal , some folk need cash after xmas and whilst the car is sat up they fall out of love with it too

[JoshGti 8]

Possibly a matter of locality? Nothing local except that one that's £22k. I'll keep my eyes peeled in all the usual places, Id love a laser green car but that's just high hopes!

[speno 239 2 Cars]

They don't appear on your door step like they used to do ,You have to be prepared to travel

[dynacord 6 1 Cars]

In our country, there are only a few moving 205 GTIs, I know almost all of them, no more than 7-8. I was also looking for something in decent condition, but there isn't any.

 

If you want to get a decent, free of rust, with clean interior 205, check out the cars for sale in the Netherlands. They have LOTS of ads for non-GTIs, LHD. They have like 50 ads for 97-98 made Peugeot 205 (I thought 95s are the latest..). You can get a decent one for less than 400GBP and if then find RHD dashboard, GTI trims, etc.

 

A popular site for cars for sale there is

 

cheers,

Alex

[mowflow 67]

Welcome back :)Still plenty of 205's out there, just I suspect that more people than ever are starting to hang onto them for the longer term - which coupled with the time of year is probably why you're not seeing that many for sale currently on the open market. I suspect that come the spring when people drag the cars out of winter storage that you'll start seeing a few more on the market.Price wise, they've unquestionably shot up in the last few years, and I would guess that an average condition 205 GTi is probably £2-3k these days and about twice that for a very tidy example. If you look at eBay selling prices there's still plenty of cheaper examples out there selling for less than £1500, although many of them needed a reasonable amount of work at that sort of price. I would imagine that most of the £10k+ examples are investment cars that will likely barely be driven, and on the back of that, you've lots of sellers of middling examples thinking that theirs are also worth top money.The days of them being routinely broken for parts has passed now, with those tired examples that would have been broken previously now being restored, which whilst great on one hand is I fear going to have a very negative effect on parts availability going forwards (particularly coupled with loads of bits now being NFP from Peugeot)

The point about parts prices is a concern. Some parts are already very difficult to find and ridiculously expensive when they do turn up.

 

I have a friend who bought a certain car many many years ago when there was very little interest in them. The car is now so popular and worth so much that he really struggles to afford parts. It will get to a point where he will be priced out of ownership.