1993 Peugeot 205 XS review from Argentina

Clutch. The clutch arm broke. Had to take the gearbox off and replace the arm, clutch and pusher bearing.

Rear brakes. Started leaking, replaced the piston.

Valve guides wore out, the engine smoked heavily if I pushed it. The camshaft got no oil for who knows how many km, it grooved its mains (miraculously the camshaft didn´t break). I rebuilt the head completely, changed piston rings and rod bearings, and the car regained power and accelaration.

Radiator leaks.

The stupid water level sensor or whatever it is, kept breaking down, so I just snipped the cable, so I wouldn´t have that red light on all the time (water level was OK).

Rear suspension got soft (impossible to ride with 4 people), and when I sold it, it really needed to be re-set at least 1 torsion bar-tooth up.

Central locking stopped working, removed the whole thing from the 4 doors.. Worked just fine manually. Front windows were impossible to close at more than 70km/h without them sliding off the frame.

The car rendered excellent service for 6 years, and its faults came almost exclusivelly from wear and tear.

I´d point as a design fault to be very low for entry and exit, the driver seat got rapidly worn from this too. The front doors (5 door) had a sharp corner pointed at your chest when entering the car...

The gearbox is VERY long. This, and the fast steering, made it excellent for the road, but no so good for the city.

Comfortable seats, very cheap plastics in the dashboard, clunky gearbox, good heater, good brakes (a lot front biased, for my taste), good lights, crappy radio and speakers, relatively small boot.

Rear passegner rode comfortably (except for the last year or so, when the rear suspension gave up).

It had its faults, but it started everytime. The carbureted ones seem to be more reliable than the fuel injected ones..

Rust was nonexistant. The paint wore out, but the metal was in perfect shape.