peugeot 205 1.9 gti buying advice!!

[JT 0]

as the title really, anyone know any good or bad things to keep an eye out for :wink:

[vr6storm 0]

latestarter on here is probably able to help you with Q's about 205GTI's.......he's got a 205 GTI (1.6 tho) afterall

 

 

a very iconic hot hatch 8)

[JT 0]

ahh nice cheers... my knowledge is ok but would be great if someone with some experience could share there knowledge :lol:

[tricky 0]

i can give you some buying advice......... DON`T BUY ONE ...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

get a VW.............

[imyhamid 0]

Used to have one years ago, it was a 1.6 and if i am honest i loved it. had it dropped on koni's and it handled like it was on rails. Used to have so much fun on the country lanes in Scotland. They are hard to find in decent condition now as most have been ragged. In all the time i had mine it was reliable enough. Did suffer from a little rust around the rear arch. The 1.9 is fast my older brother had one for a bit and it could shift. They are not a bad wee car.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Best ones are the D reg 1900s with no PAS as they're lighter than the later ones and if you stick the 1600 gearbox in, it's quite a little flying machine - bugger all weight and a nice torquey motor.

 

Watch out for snapped rear torsion bars from poor maintenance / excessive lowering etc. Expensive to put right.

 

They can rot on the A pillars behind the doors and a couple of other obscure places, but on the whole they're pretty good and resisting rot.

 

For the money, they're a good laugh but the shocking build quality and tinny droning at motorway speeds will do your nut in after a while.

[Castro 0]

I'd like to think I'm pretty well qualified to comment on this subject. I'm currently in the middle of converting my 1.9 to accomodate the Mi16 16V engine from the 405.

 

This job is including stripping the entire car and rebuilding from the ground up.

Things I have discovered so far include...the whole front panel that forms the front part of the engine bay and which sits behind the headlamps and front bumper, had to be replaced due to corrosion. Also one of the sills had to be repaired for the same reason. Apart from this there were no real structural problems of any note (a few other minor blemishes here and there).

 

Mechanically they are surprisingly robust. In the time that I have had the car (since 1997) there have been no real problems. I'm trying to think if there has been anything at all but I don't think there has.

 

My buying advise would be to go for an earlier car as, as has already been mentioned they don't have power steering (you don't want it in this car unless you're a girl) and also they don't have the catalytic converter which robs the car of a full 10bhp. The 1.9 should have 130 bhp and 119 lbft of torque.

 

Other than this it's dificult to give advise because it's such an old car now and every one could be hugely different in terms of condition.

 

I hope you find a good one, as if you do you will fall in love with it. Its driving dynamics are in a different class to even the haloed Corrado (and that's saying something).

 

Let me know if I can be of further assistance (if I have been of any assistance).

 

Mark

[JT 0]

tricky: cheers thats really helpfull!!! :?

 

kev: yeah i'm after a totally original one with sub 100k on it for around a £1000, it's just to get me about till after xmas, i'm not really doing any motorway miles at the mo so not that fussed....

 

castro: cheers buddy all info is helpfull, and deffinately want one without a cat :wink: going from my 200+ G60 to a n/a 1.9 is gonna be hard enough let losing a further 10bhp :lol: good luck with you conversion tho.

[G60-R 0]

Buy another C. Nowt wrong with owning 6 :)

 

jokes aside the 1.9 engine was/is a fine peice of engineering from pug.

[maff 10]

Cracking cars had a couple and a 309 gti!, if it was my grand i think id have a renault clio 1.8 16v though, still love the look of a nice standard one.

[andyVR6 0]

just in the middle of converting one as well but this is gettin 2l turbo out of a 406. not a lot to check for really other than the usual stuff. have a very good listen to the bottom end if its a high miler and the boot floors that i've seen have been scabby. if the breaks are sh1t thats normal on most

[JT 0]

G60-R : leave it out dude you know how much i miss my old one:) and ownimg 6 corrado's is surely un-healthy....

 

mattman : i've already had a clio 16v a few years back really great cars but it did fall apart reguarly :) it's deffinately gonna go a 1.9

[bigbluec 0]

Step outside and have a word with yourself!

Stop being a tight ar** and buy something that has some power and could survive an impact from a 2cv :)

[skinnyman9000 0]

I know it's nothing like a GTi but a mate of mine has a 205 diesel as his runaround. Its done well over 200k and is still as strong as ever. It gets plenty of abuse, never gets washed, gets very little maintenance, and yet still kicks out 45-50mpg and is running strong.

[chubbybrown 0]

Make sure its got 19' alloys and not the 1600 ones

DOnt they all have half leather as well?

[vr6storm 0]

take it ya mean the 1.9 15inch rims as opposed to the 1.6's 14inch affairs

[chubbybrown 0]

yep I dont think they look the same either though.

You can bypass the Rev limiter as well with a paper clip 8)

I did some casual driving at a peugeot dealer :-D

[Pickard1 0]

There was an episode of 'wheeler dealers' on sky last week that featured a 205 gti. They are always repeating them. In that Mike Brewer goes through some buying tips in his del-boy style cockney manner. Not sure if any of it was of any use though - that guy certainly speaks some bull when he's selling the cars on!! :lol:

[vr6storm 0]

oh and if memory serves me right............don't worry if the front slam panel isn't body colour..........thats how it comes from the factory when they were new........if it is body coloured then its either been replaced or just painted to match the rest

[Pickard1 0]

^^ That was one of the cockney charmers top tips :lol:

[vr6storm 0]

^^ That was one of the cockney charmers top tips :lol:

 

 

its probably one of his only correct facts :wink:

[greengti 0]

Hello,

 

don't know if you have brought one yet but if not and you are still looking i may be able to give some good advice (i had 9 205 Gti's before my 14a Nissan 200sx and Corrado).

 

General info on 1.9:

 

the 205 Gti came in three phases:

phase 1 Up to 89' F' - Nasty Grey half leather to-tone sets and very nasty early style Grey dash, with red carpets. all had Grey bumpers and body kits with amber front indicators and old style rear lights. Some say that this version was not galvanized and rusts badly under the boot, rear sill corner near the back wheels and bottom of the doors.

 

Phase 1.5 late F - late G?? - Same nasty Grey half leather seats but it has a updated and much nicer dash (still Grey unfortunately). all had Grey body kits with amber front indicators and old style rear lights. Body wise in may ways the 1.5 was the best being galvanized and not suffering the same extent of rust issues as the Phase 1.

 

Phase 2 G' - K I think - They started to get the interior right with black dash, black half leather seats and some had dark carpets. All had nice black plastic bumpers and body kits nice clear front indicator lenses and nice new style rear lights, reverse gear also changed from being next to 1st to below 5th. The main problem with the phase 2 was really bad rust on the inner wings at the front, a key place being under the jack and wheel brace. It is also correct that some of the very very last of the line 1.9 Gti's had CAT's, i however have only ever seen one 205 with a cat and i am a confessed 205 geek, they are that rare that unless your looking you probably wont find one. It is also correct that some not all of the phase 2's had power steering, i had one once and it was rubbish, avoide it if you can. Oh and very very very very few have air con and ABS but i have never seen it.

 

 

You will probably find a lot of 205 Gti's suffer from Valve stem smoke and very poor idling (usually the airflow meter or blocked hoses). The engines are ok but IMO the VW 1.8 16v is far stronger and more consistently powerful, with the 1.9 Gti engine results may vary from car to car. It is also true that the rear torsion bar can seize up and ion my experience of bashing around B roads they eat through ball joints and suspension arms.

 

If you can its worth trying to find one without a sunroof as they are much sought after and meant to drive better (rigidity) and also try and get a limited edition version, my personal favorite being the phase 1.5 Miami blue with full leather..

 

 

I hope this helps. from memory that is accurate but if i have got anything wrong or missed anything i am sorry.

 

Good luck.