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.

Faults:

Cracked exhaust manifold.

Failing alternator.

Starter motor often not engaging.

Leaking doors.

Drive shaft failure.

Loose/broken passenger seat.

General Comments:

In the 6 months that I have had this car there have been several quite pricey faults to contend with which was quite disappointing for a car of it's (relatively) young age.

However despite it's faults I still have a soft spot for it due to it's superb responsiveness and handling.

The handling of the car is quite unlike anything I've ever felt before. The only more responsive car I've ever driven was a Mini, but that was responsive in an almost terrifying way, whereas the Peugeot just inspires confidence - you can plough it into just about any corner at just about any speed and it will take it in its stride.

Performance too is more than acceptable - for the smaller engined (1.6) GTI it is still remarkably rapid and pulls very nicely even after this many miles. The engine may be a little rattly when cold, but it growls nicely when it has warmed up and leaves most of your sad XR2 and Nova SR boys for dead at the lights ;o)

The overall styling of the car is elegant and slightly aggressive - it still looks quite fresh and modern for a design of such advancing years (in GTI guise anyway, although the non-GTI 205s are looking more than a little dated nowadays). However the interior is a little gloomy and of dubious build quality - a rattle-and-squeak-fest no less, and the seats are not exactly comfortable on longer journeys.

Peugeot dealers are a (not very funny) joke and seem to know little if anything about the car - however there are many enthusiast garages and small independent garages that will happily keep your relatively straightforward mechanics in good shape so this is not really a problem.