Faults:

Brake pipes Corroded.

Wear and tear on the drivers seat.

Fog light dead.

Headlights insecure (missing clips)

Few other minor things.

General Comments:

One amazing car, I've drove many cars before, yet this seems to just be perfect.

One thing I've noticed is you actually feel like your driving the car, rather with more modern ones it feels like the car drives you.

Extremely Quick for a 1.4, especially on the mark, Would probably beat any boy racer loony on the road :)

Nice car features as well, These include, Alarm, Central locking, Electric windows, Sunroof.

Faults:

3 clutch cables.

New seats.

Engine!

2 engine mounts.

Alternator fell off!

Wiring loom.

Choke plate.

General Comments:

Right, this car is very very quick for what it is. I push this car very hard on a daily basis, hence a lot of problems with consumable parts.

The car will beat bigger engine cars up to about 70-90, but if you are racing round town, then you will munch them, I raced a Lotus Elise 1.8 and killed it, and a 320 BMW and killed it! But to be honest, this car becomes annoying. It's a bit like my girlfriend. One week everything will be going OK, then the next everything will seem to go wrong!

My 205 is lowered 60mm on Avo adjustables, and on GTI 1.9 alloys with Pirelli P6000s, and it does handle well, but if you are proper taking a roundabout, the back end does get a bit jiggy.

Other mods are straight through Janspeed system with 4 inch back box.

It's quick, but I am not making this up, something has gone wrong on this car every week! I am not joking when I say this!

Faults:

Squeaks and rattles caused by a combination of comedy build quality, cheap materials and 14 years of hard use.

Full suspension and steering rebuild at 140k to eradicate some play and a few odd clonks that were creeping in. I used original parts because you can't improve the handling of these things!

A few odds and ends here and there - a couple of wheel bearings, a clutch, handbrake cable - nothing major.

General Comments:

I just cannot bring myself to sell this car, despite owning it for a decade and 150,000 miles. It's old, it rattles, it needs ongoing repairs, but it's such a hoot to drive I just don't care.

The 1.9 8v engine is laughable bhp-wise by the standards of modern hatches, but in just 800kg of superbly set up chassis, it's a driving tool that has few rivals. The 8 valve design might hamper outright power, but it has far superior torque, meaning the Pug feels quick enough.

And the handling. Oh, the handling! Steering that oozes feel, an absolute refusal to understeer, and an agile, mobile tail which responds to throttle and steering inputs like no other hot hatch before or since. In a 205, the tail can always be called upon to tighten the line or induce a bit of oversteer just for the hell of it, and the whole car has a lithe, agile feel that no 1100kg + hot hatch can touch.

Of all the new rivals I've driven, only the new Clio 182 Cup gets close, but even this will ultimately understeer more, feel less willing to turn, and seem to somehow need coercing more into doing what you want instead of responding almost by telepathy like the Pug does. Once you've taken a 205 GTi to its limit, and beyond on a track or your favourite B-road, be prepared for any likely replacement to spectacularly fail to make the grade.

There are faster hot hatches and there are better built hot hatches, and the new 200 bhp cars would leave it off the lights. However, with the possible exception of the mk1 Golf GTI, this breathed on version of a cheap, tinny, plasticky 14 year old French shopping trolley just somehow captures the spirit of the hot hatch concept better than anything else. Find a good, standard one and prepare to be reminded just how much traction control, ESP, EBD, crash regs and 1100kg+ kerbweights have ruined our fun. Oh and just how far today's Pugs have lost the plot.