# Greatest car in What Car's 47 year history



## Rakti

Great little article and pictures of the iconic Peugeot 205 on their website.

Brings back spine tingling memories of my SR, 1.6 GTI and GR (all in Cherry Red) esp when you see them looking mint.

https://www.whatcar.com/news/peugeo...WCAR Enews bulletin - 23.04.20::story4_button


----------



## Steveom2

Rakti said:


> Great little article and pictures of the iconic Peugeot 205 on their website.
> 
> Brings back spine tingling memories of my SR, 1.6 GTI and GR (all in Cherry Red) esp when you see them looking mint.
> 
> https://www.whatcar.com/news/peugeo...WCAR Enews bulletin - 23.04.20::story4_button


I remember my pal had a 205 1.9 gti,he used to lend it to me (if I washed it) it was brilliant 👌


----------



## Derekh929

I remember my 309gti for all the wrong reasons :lol: , first FWD came in to hot to a roundabout after years of RWD rear started to loosen then my auto reaction lift off:tumbleweed: next I know I was heading the wrong way on the roundabout:lol:

So its been RWD nearly every car there on in But I may wish to dabble in an AWD next top see what all the fuss is about


----------



## Shiny

I drove my mates 1.9GTi from Oxford to Swindon, it was a scary thing on the twisties, very twitchy! Fun, but scary.


----------



## pt1

I had a lovely sorento green 1.9 205gti...it was brilliant on a country road at speed but was a pig driving round town with the heavy steering .used to get lots of attention in a good way....sold it just before they shot up in price 

Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk


----------



## Y25dps

I had a Fiat uno turbo and a ren 5 gt turbo. They where good fun.


----------



## organgrinder

Derekh929 said:


> So its been RWD nearly every car there on in But I may wish to dabble in an AWD next top see what all the fuss is about


You wouldn't go back if you get a good one!


----------



## Sean66

My very first car was a 205 GR and I loved it . 
Eventually traded it in For a 405 1.6 which was a pile of crap.


----------



## kingswood

makes me happy one is sat in my garage  

alas i havnt actually used it yet since i bought it in noevember. all its done is cost me money!


----------



## Rakti

Sean66 said:


> My very first car was a 205 GR and I loved it .
> Eventually traded it in For a 405 1.6 which was a pile of crap.


Mine was written off. I was going straight-on in the right hand of two straight-on lanes when a car on the other side of the road, wanting to turn right, hit my off-side front wing. Turned out the driver was an illegal immigrant. Even though he was illegal, he'd attempted to insure the car online the night before so his insurer paid out even though his policy was invalid. Their was an off-duty police officer in the car behind me that saw everything, which helped with the claim.

I'd just put a new battery in it and had (still have) a service kit ready to fit.

What didn't you like about the 405 Sean? Was it underpowered?


----------



## Kenan

I had 2 205 GTI's, the second had a fully built engine with twin 45's to then be replaced with a MI16 and used as a daily. My last car was a 306 Rallye which I sold about 6 months ago. 

So now you understand I have a lot of love of Peugeot's I can say I think peoples memory's are warm and fuzzy. They were great cars in their day and offer a great driving experience but now show their age. I will always have a soft spot for the 205, but could not live with one now and prefer my more modern hot hatch.


----------



## Leezo

My father in law has a 1.9 205 Gti in red tucked away in the garage under 7 years worth of dust since it last seen sunlight and Tarmac.
75k miles on it, been pestering for him to get it out on the road.


----------



## Sean66

Rakti said:


> Mine was written off. I was going straight-on in the right hand of two straight-on lanes when a car on the other side of the road, wanting to turn right, hit my off-side front wing. Turned out the driver was an illegal immigrant. Even though he was illegal, he'd attempted to insure the car online the night before so his insurer paid out even though his policy was invalid. Their was an off-duty police officer in the car behind me that saw everything, which helped with the claim.
> 
> I'd just put a new battery in it and had (still have) a service kit ready to fit.
> 
> What didn't you like about the 405 Sean? Was it underpowered?


Hi! 
After such a wonderful introduction to cars with the 205 GR the 405 was a let down due to shocking build quality such water leaks in the boot ,rear window area and footwell plus rattles and squeaks all day long and number one cylinder fouling its plug due to excessive oil passing the valve seal which needed regular road side plug cleaning to finish the journey. 
I did still manage a few trips to south of France for the Bol dor 24 hr bike race which went smoothly after regular stops to clean number one plug lol ! 
Apparently this model was built in Ryton UK not in France like the 205 which could explain things. 
It did put me off Pugs for life which was a shame .


----------



## karlp606

I thought they would have gone for an Audi Quattro, Golf GTI or a Cosworth.


----------



## Rakti

karlp606 said:


> I thought they would have gone for an Audi Quattro, Golf GTI or a Cosworth.


To be fair, and I didn't realise when I posted, it's *just one of the candidates for Greatest car*. They put up a new one every day for the daily email.


----------



## kingswood

Leezo said:


> My father in law has a 1.9 205 Gti in red tucked away in the garage under 7 years worth of dust since it last seen sunlight and Tarmac.
> 75k miles on it, been pestering for him to get it out on the road.


after 7 years tucked up it will prob need a load of work. no cars like being stood.

has it been started and moved etc or literally parked and left?


----------



## Rakti

Rakti said:


> To be fair, and I didn't realise when I posted, it's *just one of the candidates for Greatest car*. They put up a new one every day for the daily email.


Here's the contenders (which you can vote for by 04/05/20), one from each decade;

https://www.whatcar.com/news/best-c...WCAR Enews bulletin - 03.05.20::story1_button

_We're also focusing on mainstream cars that genuinely moved things on and made a difference for real car buyers, rather than hypercars that sold in tiny numbers (that's why there's no McLaren F1 or Ferrari F40, for instance)._


----------



## Stoner

Steve0rs6 said:


> I remember my pal had a 205 1.9 gti,he used to lend it to me (if I washed it) it was brilliant ��


My girlfriend had the 205GTi (1.9) and I had the Ford Fiesta XR2 (we were young!). The XR2 was so much more refined in terms of build quality but was only 1/2 as much fun to drive as the 205GTi. Fantastic hot hatch - its a shame that Peugeot have turned out so much rubbish since!


----------



## Rakti

Stoner said:


> My girlfriend had the 209GT and I had the Ford Fiesta XR2 (we were young!). The XR2 was so much more refined in terms of build quality but was only 1/2 as much fun to drive as the 209GTi. Fantastic hot hatch - its a shame that Peugeot have turned out so much rubbish since!


205GT or 205 1.9GTI (you typed 209)?

The 205GT was the 1.4 pre-cursor to the 1.4 SR I had and not to be confused with the 205 GTI (1.6 or 1.9 for that matter).


----------



## Leezo

kingswood said:


> after 7 years tucked up it will prob need a load of work. no cars like being stood.
> 
> has it been started and moved etc or literally parked and left?


It's been run. Leaves it tick over in the garage. 
It moves too, albeit from one end of garage to the other.


----------



## Rakti

And the winner is:

There's obviously no right or wrong answer to a question like this. However, *a clear winner emerged in our online polls, with the Peugeot 205 edging out the Mercedes-Benz W123* and Renault Espace for the title of best car launched in the early years of What Car?, before attracting almost half of all support (47%) in the vote for the overall champion.

Explaining their votes, some readers pointed to the fact that "there was a model in the 205 range for everyone"; others said "it still looks fresh today"; and some chose it because "every version drove brilliantly".


----------

