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A mixture of charm and charge, this Italian drop-top is a beautiful blend.
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Films:
This Pair Of Peugeot 205 GTIs Has Been Decades In The Making
Looking at some recent videos I am happy to see a video again with a story. The think about classic cars is that the stories about them and the passion of their owners is at least as interesting as the car itself.
Nice cinematic filming, but as a little criticism on the editing:
I really liked your dramatic editing with fast cuts that you did in the Ferrari video, but please don’t always use this style. It can be cool but don’t let it be predictable.
Still I love your site and videos!
Owned a 1.6 GTI in the 80’s. Brilliant car. Ridiculously heavy steering, but handled like it was on rails, but difficult to catch of you pushed it too hard. This car had lift-off oversteer in the extreme. I had a few moments where I found myself facing where I came from ! It wasn’t called the ‘widow maker’ for nothing! Still a brilliant car though. Peugeot went all soft and soppy after this and has never recovered the brilliance. Now own Renault Megane 225 Cup, which I think is the spiritual successor to the 205 GTI, although you have to drive it a lot faster to get near the same involvement.
I remember my 205 1.6 gti very fondly, particularly as it was my first car. The balance and delicacy of the power and handling demanded the car to be driven and revved and sped around every corner and every straight of the country roads I lived nearby. Having had no other driving experience save the nissan sunny I took my test in, the Pug was the perfect car. I revelled in the late night drive home from the pizza restaurant I cheffed in over the holidays, there were never any cops on the road and speed cameras hadn’t yet blighted the U.K. Admittedly my car did try to kill me once, turning off the A40 onto Broad lane, the road swept up to the left and over the M40 motorway, I fed in the accelerator progressively, perhaps a little enthusiastically and found myself heading up the road sideways!!! Instinctively sawing at the wheel I somehow managed to right the car, moments before being met by the oncoming traffic. Needless to say I drove with a little more caution and a little more respect from then on, especially on wet roads as had been the case that day. My love affair with that little car would no doubt have lasted to this very day, 23 years on, had it not been cut short. On a high speed treck from Buckinghamshire to Salcombe (Cornwall) it was over, all too soon. Having kept my foot planted almost as far as Bristol, I felt a small jolt through the sole of my shoe but no further response from the accelerator. My view in the rear mirror was a total white-out and after a safe if a little hair-raising return from fast lane to hard shoulder my very inexperienced perusal of the extremely oily engine bay told me that my car had indeed died….. I have so many happy memories and it was sad way to go but in summary the 205 Gti was a total blast!! One which I hope I can experience again some day soon.
It’s true that the video could offer more of the car and less “holywood”, but I was only aware of that after reading the comments, as I was enjoying the beautiness of the two cars, and the father/daughter coneection.
These are really nice cars (though the plastics could be way better…)
It’s still possible to still see them (with their various engines) on Portuguese
roads.
I had a 2 seater 1995 Peugeot XAD – 1,9 D – I don’t know if you get them in other countries besides Portugal, but it’s very common (still today) to see these variations – basically they are sold without the back seats and with a grille, separating front and back – people used them as workhorses . You have VW, PUG, Opel, etc, selling theses 2 seaters by the dozen.
Back to the 205 – there was also a XAD Turbo – 1.9 D – fast and desirable – A great little car that would get you everywhere quickly!
The best of the 80’s hot hatch bunch. Full stop.
Golf was good, but could not match the Pug, who took the concept to the next level.
The Pug 205 is peerless as a driving experience, especially in 2017. The combination of its lightness, amazing steering, controllable handling and torque from the 1.9 makes it a delight to drive. It genuinely is a car that makes you smile just sitting in it and makes you a better driver through its incredible feedback.
They will never hit on the same ingredients that make the 205 so great, all the more reason why we need to preserve the ones that are left.
Since we don’t see the 205’s here in California, I have known very little about them. Wikipedia is helpful with some of the basics, including engine sizes, suspension types and all that kind of thing. Apparently the 205 received various car of the year awards, and a car of the decade award.
Production of the 205 ran for 15 years with no major chassis changes. The coachwork looks like Pininfarina or some of Giugiaro’s designs. It is that good. However the design was the work of Peugeot’s own studio. The ‘special’ 205 GTI must have been a rather potent little car for the time, with up to 120Hp and disk brakes all around. This would have been very sporty in a car that, in the Raylle version, was as light as 1750 pounds.
The suspension was configured with McPherson struts in front and a torsion bar system in back. Torsion bar rear suspension is always an interesting choice in a hot hatch because it lowers the point of suspension load considerably, keeping it on the level of a torque into the floor pan. This both lightens and stiffens the car.
Fifteen years is a extremely long run for a substantially unchanged chassis. It sounds like the 205 is one of those designs where through hard work and happy accident the designers got absolutely everything optimal, right from the jump.
Do not hesitate to come on the website of the 205 GTI Club de France (http://www.club205gti.fr/), where Sarah and Jean-François are members. You should find some informations of this wonderfull car (it’s in French) and do not hesitate to follow the Club information on his Facebook page’s @205GTICLUBDEFRANCE. The 205 GTI was the success of the eighties in France, with the help of the 205 Turbo 16 in Group B (World Rally Championship) with as driver the most known Ari VATANEN, also Timo SALONEN or Bruno SABY. Here pictures of Sarah inside a 205 Turbo 16 Group B Evo 1, pictures taken by Jean-François of course !
This is a photo of the trailing arm rear suspension. I find the absence of any suspension connection to structure above the rear wheel very interesting. There is no spring that reacts against the upper chassis. Even the damper is inboard and horizontal. The suspension load is entirely cantilever. So all of the load, with the exception of the bump-stop load is carrier into the floor pan of the car, mostly in the form of torque. This helps explain why the car is so light in weight. The floor pan is braced against the torque load from the cantilevered wheel. The floor is an easy place to add stiffness efficiently, and the added structure is at the lowest place in the car. Even the spare is mounted at the level of the floor pan.
Very cool. Peugeot’s are delightful and the GTI looks special. The father daughter car connection is a great thing. My best friend and I pursue that with our respective daughters, he with Alfa, Audi, and BMW, me with BMW and Volvo. both girls embracing manual transmissions. Thanks for another excellent connection between man, women, and machine
Yup, tricky is an understatement. Basically , if you lost your nerve and lifted of mid corner you would find yourself spinning like a top. So basic rule on corners is read the road, commit and never lift off, because the steering so heavy you’re unlikely to recover it. It was possible to lift off just enough and the radius would magically tighten, but it wasn’t advised for mere mortals like me, the difference between on limit and over limit cornering was miniscule!
Almost as good as my video Petrolicious. https://youtu.be/93EGbVEUEC4
Petrolicious, I have been around here for a long time, and I don’t usually comment unless I have something good to say, but enough is enough.. this style of Hollywood, need for speed, blockbuster editing, with over dramatised quick edits and music, I think it spoils the video. Please use your image stabilisation! Show some shots of the cars, still, moving, sweeping, but for more than 2 seconds! It’s a shame because behind that, I can see a couple of nice looking 205 GTI’s in the background.
I agree, other Petrolicious videos have showed a more restrained editing style, with longer cuts to enjoy the look of the cars. For me the style and music didn’t add to the appreciation of the car. The music suggested some kind of epic battle, not an enjoyable drive with your daughter in the French countryside. on
You know I am pleased that they choose the 205 GTI. This is a car that I would not, otherwise, have learned much about. I have seen 205s around, when I was working briefly in Toulouse, but I never really knew anything about them. This said, I take your point. Sometimes expressive technique in editing and camera angle gets in the way of purposeful straightforward documentation.
