Faults:

At 78500,the left engine mounting broke as I went over a hump and it cost me £250 to repair. This is because when the engine mounting broke, a bolt got broken into the water-pump housing so I had to replace that too.

At 78700, the exhaust downpipe happened to be so rusty, the power from the engine blew a hole in the rusty part. Initially I ignored it in hope that it would not cause many problems, but I was forced to quickly replace it when it was losing power and consuming more fuel. This cost me just £50 because I fitted it myself.

General Comments:

This is the best budget 1.4 you can get your hands on if you cannot afford GTi insurance. It is comfortable, quick and a pleasure to drive. Can leave a lot of modern 1.6s trailing from 0-60mph.

Faults:

Only minor things, due to the previous owners neglect/misuse (it had been serviced regularly).

General Comments:

Apart from the dirty/yukky condition I got it in (all covered in wet look gloss just to make things worse), I fell in love with it as soon as I drove it.

Low end performance is brilliant and the torque is excellent. High end doesn't really matter as the maximum speed limit is 70 mph after all (yes really!). It's exceptionally well set up and very comfortable for virtually any style of driving. I've simply never loved a car the way I love this one.

It's a pretty little car on the outside and very nice (with comprehensive instrumentation) on the inside.

Rust is non-existent, and considering the treatment the bodywork has had in the past this is truly amazing. I was just looking for any 205 to start with due to their "non rust" reputation... but I'm soooooo glad I got the XS.

Faults:

Starter motor went after a few weeks.

Driver's door stuck.

Leaking radiator.

Worn water pipe

Leaking oil.

Had to have whole new set of brakes, brake drums etc.

General Comments:

The car is pretty reliable once started.

Doesn't like cold or wet starts and especially in the cold, stalls when stopping.

Very nippy, and easily reaches 85mph.

Very noisy when traveling over 60mph.

Inside comfortable, especially the seats.

Interior well set out and the boot space is OK.

Faults:

Dead battery needed replacing, after extensive Pioneer car stereo use.

A gasket blew at 140,000 miles, cost £15 to fix.

Brake pads needed replacing after 142,000 miles due to hard-core braking. Cost £25 to replace.

Hose split, being fixed now, I'm not sure of the cost yet.

General Comments:

The quickest 1.4 about and it's still running well after all these miles, not only has it skinned your boy racer Nova 1.3 SR's, but I have also skinned many a Vectra on acceleration, although when reaching speeds over 100mph the fleet cars fly past.

Handles very well round the country bends due to a wheel on each corner, though the body roll is quite bad.

Fuel consumption can also very good reaching 35 miles per gallon.

For a first car you can't go wrong with the 205 XS, they are cheap, when things go wrong there's many parts available, and they can handle the miles. Well done Peugeot on a cracking car.