Faults:

Starter Motor has started to stick which considering it is the original that is not all that surprising!

Left CV Joint has stared to grumble.

Some wear to the leather seats on the "outside" edges, but overall the interior condition is good.

General Comments:

Comfortable seats hold you in position and even on a long journey (recently did Cheshire - Oxford and back) they are very comfortable.

Very little body problems even considering the mileage and the age of the car. A few small dings here and there and only one spot of rust where stones had chipped at the back of the front wheel arch.

Faults:

Driveshafts needed replacing due too bad knocking noise when cornering hard.

Brake pads wore out fast (but probably due to how the car was driven)

Seats show some signs of wear.

General Comments:

This car is exception value for money in terms of performance per pound. On twisty lanes, it'll keep up with the GTi, and leaves other cars for dust.

The handling is amazing, and lift-off oversteer provides roundabout fun.

The seats are decent sports seats which really help when throwing the car around, but are also very comfortable on long haul trips.

Needs driving hard to make the best of it, and peak power isn't until well into the red. Short gearbox that makes lanes fun is a bit of a drag on the motorway (4000rpm at 70mph).

Faults:

Cam-belt.

Cylinder Head.

Air flow meter.

Supplementary air device.

Exhaust.

Starter motor.

Distributer.

Coolant Hoses.

General Comments:

A 205 GTi is undoubtedly the king of hot hatches. This car is much better than your average golf, XR2/3's, saxo's and nova's. Hard to believe that this car is originally from 1985!!! Handles and goes like a go-kart, (to a point, then your in trouble!!) whether a 1.6 or a 1.9.

Reliability an issue though, and Peugeot dealers should be avoided at all costs. Go to a smaller garage to get servicing etc done. Much cheaper!!

If anybody lives in the Reading area, then go to a garage called Auto-care off the Oxford Rd. The owner used to build 205 rally cars driven by Richard Burns!

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?