Faults:

Head gasket completely blew on 99,000 miles which cost £300 to fix.

New radiator & thermostat - The old radiator had rotten through totally and the thermostat was sticking.

New clutch on 96,000.

General Comments:

I love this car!

OK, the insurance can sting (group 14 for the 1.9) if, like me you're under 25. but for the money I don't think you can get a better hot hatch.

The handling cannot be beaten - the GTi will take everything you throw at it; It thinks it's on rails!

Some get rattly after high miles, beware of older GTi's as they can rattle like hell.

Can be picked up fairly cheap now as they're getting on a bit, but it still looks the business and will leave most other cars standing at the lights.

Avoid Peugeot dealers for working on 205's. They charge silly money for work that any normal garage can do.

Having spent cash on the head/cam belt/clutch & radiator, I'm going to keep this car to the end.

Unusual, fast, eye catching & surprises a lot of other GTi drivers.

Faults:

In a bit of a state when purchased. It's going to take a bit of TLC to get it how I want.

Drive shafts (both sides) needed replacing due to bad knocking noises under hard cornering.

Central locking motor ceased - replaced.

Electrical failures (screws through wires etc) Re-wired some circuits.

Horn stopped working (coin in cigarette lighter).

Needed T-cut and polish all-round.

Serious amounts of "Back to Black " applied.

General Comments:

I fell in love with this car even in the state it was in.

After fixing the faults listed above, this came to approximately £300 - still a bargain considering what I paid for it - I concentrated on polishing, touching up paintwork, re-spraying the wheels and servicing.

Never once let me down, performance is astonishing for just a 1.4. consumption can be as good as 40mpg.

Looks the business and is a firm base on which to add a variety of modifications.

Cheap to buy.

Cheap to run/maintain.

Cheap insurance.

Good performance.

Good handling.

Comfortable ride.

Looks good.

Top car.

What more do you want?

Faults:

Baffles blown in the exhaust rear silencer.

General Comments:

I have owned GTi's in the past, and driven many of the new equivalents, but nothing has ever surpassed the performance of the 205. VW may have got there first with the Golf, but Peugeot did it right with the 205.

If you can drive this car and not get a huge cheesy grin on your face, then you are doing something wrong.

Don't be tempted to add after market 'performance' parts. These only detract from the overall package. I was lucky enough to get a low mileage, one owner from new, Miami blue 1.9, which is the holy grail of Peugeots these days.

Buy one, you'll never regret it!!

Faults:

Boot lock seal had gone causing a water leak. This was easily fixed with sealant gel on the lock.

The master brake cylinder went on 75,000 miles and the radiator hose split on 78,000 miles spraying coolant all over the engine (at least it didn't overheat, or blow up).

Watch out for the driver's side bucket seat having wear and tear from people who don't care about cars.

Watch out for poorly kept GTI's with no service history, or boy racer modified versions that have been hammered.

General Comments:

These cars are awesome to drive, have not found a quicker sports hatch back with the same engine size (1600cc).

Had the engine performance tuned and now the car kicks out 122BHP instead of the standard 115BHP. Before tuning it was running at only 105BHP!!!

There are a lot of squeaky noises from the interior of the car, but this is a well known factor of the 205 range.