1990 Peugeot 205 XS from UK and Ireland - Comments

Had to replace the hose from the header tank cos it split.

A little seat wear, but to be expected on a 12 year old car.

Clutch had to be replaced when I bought it.

The car is unexpectedly quick for a 1400cc engine.

Beats almost any other 1.4 out there and surprises a lot of bigger engined cars.

The acceleration is absolutely awesome.

I have beaten my mates 1.4 Ford Fiesta, Various SR novas, kept up with a GSi one time, a Ford Orion 1.6i, a few Fiesta Si's (1.4 and 1.6), Fiesta Mk4 1.6 Zetec and this is with no modifications to the engine at all.

The car is now lowered 60mm on 15's and is looking pretty phat, I got a Peugeot 106 Gti (16v) engine ready to be put in, can't wait for a 0 - 60 time of less than 8 seconds, may surprise a few people with that one.

The XS is an incredibly quick car and my next will definately be a 1.6 GTi with 1.9 engine conversion (just don't tell my insurers :-) OK)

Planned mods for the XS after engine; De-catted exhaust System, Custom made twin 6 x 4 oval exhaust tailpipes made by powerflow, K & N air filter plus lots of others.

After a bit of saving, may get a supercharger conversion for even quicker 0 - 60, possibly NOS, but it will be a while before I do these sort of mods because of cash shortage.

In conclusion I would advise this car to anyone as it is group 7/8 insurance and relatively cheap for an 18 year old (as I am) and you will not get a better deal, Cheap car, mine cost £400, cheap insurance: £440 under my dads name, sports seats also found in the GTi, just a different material.

The XS is a quick car ill give you that, however it is not as fast as an AX GT. Same engine as the XS, but in a lighter car! The reason why I know this is that my mate has an XS and I have a GT and we thought of racing each other too see if they both had the same performance. Not quite, I killed him up to 65 mph and then he started gaining. I was always in front, just couldn't get away from him. Topped out at 125mph. Both were standard cars with the addition of K&N's and back-boxes. But if I didn't have my AX GT I would have an XS as they are nippy, fun and cheap to run!

The 205 XS, is one of the greatest cars to come out of Peugeots sports hatch arsenal for some time. Group insurance 7, twin webber 35 carbs (on early models) and twin solex's when they revised the model in 1987. I have now sold mine, and am buying another one finally after several different cars, and I can't wait, just to feel the raw power and the look on peoples faces when you completely nail them on b roads and off the lights.

The XS was in honesty 'was' the VTR of the 80's/90's, cheap insurance, good fuel economy and sporty looks. Find a good one and it will keep going for a long time, rag them too much, things start going wrong. Like to be revved, mind you wouldn't go into the red line too much, unless you want to be replacing head gaskets every 10 thousand miles. twin choke cuts in at 4000 rpm and power keeps coming till around 6000 rpm, the close ratio gearing is a giggle, and when your on your favourite b road, you will outclass a lot of bigger things.

After 18,000 miles of pure ragging, my xs's unfortunately died. but in that space of time NOTHING, went wrong, it suffered from an oil leak, I replaced the clutch at 110,000 miles, brake disc and pads at 115,000 miles and finally the exhaust at 120,000, before the big bang at 122,000.

Will eat... nova sr's, corsa's, many of the new 106's, keeps up with xsi's. and even out classed R5 turbos.

Hello there.

My third car was a 205 XS, before that a GTi, and a Polo 1.0spi, but really I got the GTi to rally, and I had no way to afford the insurance, so I got the XS. Cheap insurance and a good cheap runabout if you don't boot it.

Problems with the car; rear beam, the n/s swing arm bush kept going, I replaced the beam because it's a hell of a job to fix the bush. And it did the same again, but this may have just been a verr worn seccond hand beam.

Everyones comments are true, the XS is a hell of a car for acceleration, you can't stop it spinning, due to the alloy block.

I am not putting mine back on the road to road rally, considering twin 40's, omp rally exhaust, and high lift cam, just to give it some more grunt, and to counter the weight of the roll cage and things.

I recommend some sticky tyres, to stop the front spinning and the back end overtaking you when you take your foot off the accelerator half way around a corner, and end up backwards in a hedge!! Not nice.

I've had an XS for about 1 and a half years now, I've lowered it all round with Bilstein shocks and springs, and just shocks on the back, taken rear seats out mainly to fit DH bike in, but to shed a bit of weight, decatted it and added green cotton filter and put some 106 Rallye wheels on it, which look cool with a dark grey car!!

Problems: Insurance companies hate me!! I'm only 18!! Had to replace the clutch twice, but that's about it. But the weirdest thing is they come stock with 85bhp, but I had mine dyno'd with the filter and no cat and it read 97bhp?? The cars done 92000 miles with an engine rebuild at 65000, so I was quite impressed at how its kept its power like that! Anyway, I love it LOL.