1992 Peugeot 205 GTi from UK and Ireland - Comments

These are the problems that the car had when I purchased it:

Front brake pads too low.

Front brake discs too low.

Rocker cover loose and leaking oil.

Rear brake cylinders leaking.

Rear wheel bearing seized.

When you are buying a Peugeot 205 GTI you should already be aware that things are going to go wrong with it and it will be comparatively expensive to maintain and insure. 205 GTI drivers do not care about these things because they become trivial as soon as you turn the key. It is a fantastic car and nobody has made one like it since. We know its not a sensible car to buy, but if you want sensible, fuel economy, boot space and a nodding dog go and buy a Daewoo not a 205 GTI.

Highly recommended.

I disagree that the 205 GTi is expensive to run.

I run a Phase 1 1.6 and the bills are relatively low.

Because of its age, it's cheaper to insure than my 1.1 Saxo. Parts are common and my local garage gives me 10% off work because of the age (they say it's such a simple design that they can spend much less time on it).

Fuel economy is about 30mpg which is par for the course on a performance car.

Plus I've not had to take out a loan to buy it and the previous owner suffered almost all the depreciation.

The 1989 Peugeot 205 1.6 GTi is an absolute bargain. They were made for a while with 115bhp and no power-sapping catalytic convertor. They're a lot more friendly to drive than the 1.9 with the higher-profile tyres absorbing more of the bumps and providing better feedback. The power balance is almost perfect -- the 1.9 can be a bit too much at times.

Not, of course that the 1.9 is a bad car... just the 2nd best performance bargain on the market!

"Because of its age, it's cheaper to insure than my 1.1 Saxo. " Your having a laugh mate, I'm sorry, but I have owned both a 1.6 and a 1.9 GTi and am part of the main 205GTi forum on the net. Comparatively the car *is* expensive to run and saying it is cheaper than a 1.1 saxo to insure is absolute fiction. You speak to 90% of GTi drivers or read the reviews on this site and look at the list of problems people have had. This car is getting old now and thus reliability suffers as it is a highly tuned and often hard driven engine.

Gaz.

i've got a 205 1.9,its a j reg and i know its been looked after thats why i brought it.Anyway i was driving along giving it a good thrashing and it just lost nearly all power.i've checked spark plugs,the car just sounds like its not runnuning on all 4 cylinders.when you rev it it burns petrol,i think the problem is with the fuel,any advice would be appreciated.

ben