My 1988 Peugeot 205 GTi, a lot of blood sweat and happy tears

"duurtlang" (duurtlang) 12/22/2014 at 09:24 • Filed to: Peugeot 205 GTi, Peugeot, 205, GTi, Jalopnik Fantasy Garage

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Mr. Orlove !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! to become a Peugeot 205 GTi owner. Thanks Raphael. Really, thank you. I can now say from experience they're truly great cars. I bought mine in August this year, a car that provided a solid basis but which needed a lot of love. And love it received.
I haven't driven it that much just yet, but I think I can now form an informed opinion.

As it sat on the seller's property.

As evidenced by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! on the Fantasy Garage article on the Jalopnik front page article from last August the article motivated me to look for 205 GTis for sale. I found very few, but I did find this one car that looked promising. It had been owned by an 18 year old guy (red flag!) for one year at that time, but he did seem sympathetic. The car was priced right for an utterly original, nice-ish but certainly not perfect car. Because I hadn't done my homework properly and I'm far from a mechanic I missed a number of items I could haggle the seller down on, but I was already in love so what can I say? My second offer was accepted and I had bought an icon.

After driving it for about 1200 km in 1 week I brought it to my mechanic friend. He worked on it for a few hours a week for months , in his spare time in his large shed. The following things were done:

Drive shaft, left and right.

Rear tires replaced, old ones had enough thread but were ancient. Front tires are from 2013, so I kept those.

Anti-roll bar left. The one on the right had been replaced recently already

Transmission oil, engine oil, brake oil, coolant and filters/seals

Part of a brake line

Unstuck stuck power window

Brake shoe

Brake cylinder

Strut bearing

Spark plugs + one spark plug cable

Serpentine belt

Valve cover gasket

Rear window washer fluid pump

Rear window wiper motor

EGR, which was already broken, delete

Made front right headlight water proof

Door side seat bolster foam for both front seats

Front blinker lenses. Amber in stead of the later model year clear ones

Mismatched door, ignition and hatch locks replaced by a single set

Installed seatbelts (3) for the back seat, which apparently was merely an option in the 80s

Rebalanced the doors

Fixed one (surface) rust spot caused by a not properly hung door and one other similar spot.

Repainted passenger side below side trim, as that's where the two rust spots were. Remounted trim panels with brackets that seamed to be made of unobtanium.

Replaced limp dashboard compartment lid

As my mechanic only worked on the car for a few hours a week he took multiple months. I dropped the car off late August, I picked it up December 9th. It was worth the wait though. Gone were the vibrations when accelerating when cornering. No more rough starts that required some throttle. Crumbled bolster cushions were a thing of the past. The two (surface) rust spots on the passenger side? Gone too. It wasn't cheap, but was certainly worth it.

The car is a blast to drive. It's not the fastest car on the road, but it's just so eager and direct. The throttle reacts when you think about touching it. The handling and the acceleration feel great. It's just so direct, pure. It doesn't even have power steering, as it was optional for this car. I don't miss it for a second, the car doesn't weigh a thing. I'm sure many modern vehicles perform better when measured by a stopwatch, but they don't even come close to the enjoyment, the perception of speed and agility this car provides. And that's what it's all about. It's a great car for city driving and, more importantly, back roads. It can hold its own on the highway and I've had the speedometer on 180 km/h (112 mph) on the German Autobahn, but that's not what this car is meant for. The gearing is too short and the sound deadening doesn't comply with modern expectations. But on back roads it shines. Even today, especially today.

So thanks again Raphael.

Sadly I've not been able to snap some high quality pictures of the car as it is now. It's winter, the weather sucks, days are short and workdays are long. The pictures below don't do the car justice, due to the lighting and the partially wet plastic trim.

Do you still see the rust spots? I don't.

As it was before:

As above, but cleaned up. Before paint. Clearly a shallow ( former ) rust spot.

One big bonus of this 1980s car is that there's this little compartment located above the center HVAC openings. It's meant for storing coins and other small stuff. It, however, also perfectly mounts a smart phone. This is usefull when you want to use it as navigation or as a music player with an AUX cable. Taking a picture of your camera is hard, hence the crappy picture taken by some ancient Nokia at night, but with some effort I think you can make out what I mean.

505Turbeaux > duurtlang 12/22/2014 at 09:25

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hell yes

KatzManDu > duurtlang 12/22/2014 at 09:37

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Well done, mate. It makes me think of getting one for my 2nd car, even if it is FF :)

Jobjoris > duurtlang 12/22/2014 at 09:49

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Awesome! The seats of these are always pretty bad, these look nice enough to enjoy!

Bird > duurtlang 12/22/2014 at 11:09

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Very nice!

Ferrero1911 and I look at what 205's are for sale every now and then...clean one's are definitely few and far between...

A good LHD one would be an easy sell in the US.

twochevrons > duurtlang 12/22/2014 at 11:09

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Awesome! Looks like a good one! Is it the 1.6 or 1.9?

I was lucky enough to drive a friend's 1.6 GTI, both before and after he turned it into a lightened, roll caged, 16v-swapped rally monster (yes, it is possible to make them even lighter than they already are!). It was a huge amount of fun in either form!

teampenske3 > duurtlang 12/22/2014 at 12:02

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Holy crap...I haven't been on here much in recent years, but I'm glad I saw this post. That looks like a really fun drive. Glad you're enjoying it and it lives up to the hype. Wonder what it would cost to bring one to the US?

On another note, do you still have the Citroen as well?

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > duurtlang 12/22/2014 at 12:04

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OppoBlog effect. =) Congrats on the front page!

http://oppositeblog.kinja.com/

elliott > duurtlang 12/22/2014 at 12:08

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I saw one of these going down the road in Allen, TX a couple of months ago. Same color even. No idea where it came from and I couldn't catch it by the time I got through the light.

puninhouser > duurtlang 12/22/2014 at 12:10

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your car is freaking awesome

BATC42 > duurtlang 12/22/2014 at 12:13

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Never drove a 205 GTI, but I used to own its rival. For almost a year my DD was a 1989 Golf GTI 16S. It was a blast to drive, didn't have a spot of rust and we bought it for only 700€. It was not perfect, but it was in great shape for a 21 year old car, with close to 270,000 km on it. The only things we changed on it were the suspension (for a newer kit from Bilstein) as wel as the driver and passenger seats.

Your comment on the assisted steering reminded me of it. It did not have it, but it was so easy to steer, even when getting into a parking space, much easier than anything I've driven afterwards.

I do miss this car, this is probably the one I'm going to buy as soon as I can have a second car. I loved it, the sound, the 8,000 RPM redline, .... But I drove it at a time when I needed to drive back and forth between my parents' and school, gas wasn't as cheap as it is right now.

Evil-B > twochevrons 12/22/2014 at 12:18

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Based on the wheels it's a 1.6

tapzz > duurtlang 12/22/2014 at 12:25

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Ooh, nice one!

Anti-roll bar left. The one on the right had been replaced recently already

That one had me puzzled- I thought an antiroll bar was one piece of steel tubing that went from one side of the car to another by its very nature- like the one from an Alfetta, illustrated below. It turns out that most are like that, but not all. I guess they didn't pinch francs when they designed the 205 GTI's suspension...

Good call on the blinkers, BTW.

I'm also well impressed by the rust resistance of those light little boxes. I knew 205s weren't bad in that regard, but just two spots due to badly aligned doors in 25 years or so is pretty good going.

duurtlang > Jobjoris 12/22/2014 at 12:33

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That's the before picture. I replaced the bolsters. They're perfect now. I added an after picture as well, but it's not as clear.

MarquetteLa > duurtlang 12/22/2014 at 12:42

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Your 205 GTi looks great! I bet it'd be a hoot to drive my 1988 Mazda 323 GTX alongside your 1988 Peugeot 205 GTi :)

Cris.ZH > duurtlang 12/22/2014 at 13:04

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Nice One! I have one to, and I'm in love! Mine is a 1986 1.6 GTI

fintail > duurtlang 12/22/2014 at 13:22

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Cool car. I remember I had a couple Majorette versions when I was a kid - one was even red.

I saw one parked in Munich, on French plates, needed some TLC:

RallyWrench > duurtlang 12/22/2014 at 13:50

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Envy does not even begin to describe it. Glad it's back on the road!

Jonee > duurtlang 12/22/2014 at 13:50

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Awesome car. I so wish we had gotten those in the U.S. Might have helped Peugeot stick around a little longer.

l75eya > duurtlang 12/22/2014 at 14:12

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Is that a 4x140 lug pattern?!

Máté Petrány > twochevrons 12/22/2014 at 14:31

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It's a 1.6.

CALUSA > twochevrons 12/22/2014 at 14:42

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Check the black ''things'' above the fuel cap, it states 1.6!

CALUSA > Cris.ZH 12/22/2014 at 14:42

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Nice fog lights + striping

pip bip - choose Corrour > duurtlang 12/22/2014 at 14:43

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sweet!

CALUSA > duurtlang 12/22/2014 at 14:43

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Mooie auto man! Tof ook dat je de oranje knipperlichten er weer in hebt gezet! Nederlanders onder elkaar haha

What would all the oppos think right now?

steev182 > BATC42 12/22/2014 at 14:55

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I had both. The 205 was like a little pitbull puppy. Always wanting loads of fun, but that little too much, it'd bite you (taming that lift-off oversteer made all the difference).

The Golf was different. More planted and composed. Both were so much fun around country lanes, but the Pug had some very close ratio gears and next to no sound deadening, so was like a little rally car.

Tentacle, Dutchman, drives French > duurtlang 12/22/2014 at 15:15

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If you're near Rotterdam sometime, Duurtlang, let me know. I have a Canon EOS 5D Mk III with a bit of assorted glass (lenses) and a tiny bit of photograhpy skill. We can work something out, weather permitting.

But, given that I'm not around here very often, drop me a line at Geert a-met-een-staart strikerz klein-rond-dingetje net.

Argentine jalop in Kosovo > duurtlang 12/22/2014 at 15:46

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Congrats! The GTI is on my shortlist of a dream-garage, and yours is simply spectacular. In your place I'd say a little thanksgiving prayer to Mr. Orlove (being an atheist myself).

Enjoy your jewel!

Argentine jalop in Kosovo > fintail 12/22/2014 at 15:49

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Mine was red, then black. Even better looking than my Majorette Escort XR3.

fintail > Argentine jalop in Kosovo 12/22/2014 at 17:27

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Hmm, I have one of those:

The 205 was a newer and more detailed casting, I remember it had headlight lenses.

If you're into diecast cars, some of us here participate in a little board:

http://liveandletdiecast.kinja.com/

_Mécanicien > duurtlang 12/22/2014 at 17:46

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NICE!

Argentine jalop in Kosovo > fintail 12/22/2014 at 19:24

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Yes! The one with the umbrella and the candy box!

My collection was stolen from granny's house some 10 years ago. I hope some poor kids enjoyed them as I did at their age.

fintail > Argentine jalop in Kosovo 12/22/2014 at 21:47

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Yep. the stuff in the back. I think there's also a handbag back there. I'll eventually post more pics of it on the forum I linked. These classic era Majorette are nice cars. Too bad about yours - my brother ruined some of mine.

bobrayner > duurtlang 12/23/2014 at 04:03

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duurtlang is wise.

duurtlang > tapzz 12/23/2014 at 07:11

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Something probably got lost in translation. It's a stabilizor or something like that. It's a normal wear item for higher mileage vehicles.

duurtlang > puninhouser 12/23/2014 at 07:13

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Thanks!

duurtlang > l75eya 12/23/2014 at 07:18

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4x108 I believe. The same as many other Peugeot and Citroën vehicles. I've got 205 GTi 1.9 wheels with winter tires on my daily driver 406 coupe, to name an example.

I believe the Saab 9000 and Volvo 850 have the same pattern, but a very different offset.

eamonnwilliamobrien > duurtlang 12/23/2014 at 08:03

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I've a fully restored one of these with a 160bhp+ Mi16 transplant cooling its heels in my garage. It's the third Peugeot 205 I've owned. It is mental. Truly, epically, purely 80's mental. It doesn't even nod in the direction of safety. I do hope you've experienced your first incident of snap lift off oversteer and learned to tell the tale ;)

PS. That 'surface rust' is nothing of the sort. What happens is the rear-seal on the wheel arch fails, as it's just adhesive, and the rear wheel acts like a giant water pump which sprays water up against the arch and this then slowly fills the inside of the rear quarter panels. The only way for the water to get out is via the weld at the bottom of the B-pillar. The fix is to reseal the rear arches with a modern sealant and then pump the inner quarter panels full of clear WaxOyl or similar.

vc-10 > duurtlang 12/23/2014 at 08:24

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I am so jealous. These things are awesome.

duurtlang > eamonnwilliamobrien 12/24/2014 at 03:21

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I didn't fix it myself, by my mechanic told me the passenger door wasn't hung right and as a result scraped against the exact spot where the rust was located. It stripped it of paint.

eamonnwilliamobrien > duurtlang 12/29/2014 at 08:33

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The good old Peugeot 205 and its forever poorly aligned doors ;) Your mechanic is partially right but I'm willing to bet that if you pull off the doorcards in the rear you'll find water ingress. No kidding I found about an inch and a half of standing water sloshing around in mine... then again I'm based in Ireland so that's pretty normal behaviour for most cars ;) Still... if you look closely at the 'pre painted' photograph above you'll see the rust is underneath the weld where the b-pillar joins the sill and likely underneath that joint.

Another extremely strange place they rust is beneath the rear seats, if you manage to solve that particular mystery let me know ;)

monkeymd > elliott 01/08/2015 at 08:17

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Hey. They passed the 25 year rule. What would it take to import one of these.

Granted that one was probably on Mexico plates.